Thirteen still vying for PPT glory

With the blinds reaching 4,000/8,000 with an 800 chip ante, the players are feeling the heat ahead of the final table.

Kostadin Ivanov was our most recent departure, having been forced to try his luck with 3♦4♠ after losing a crucial race for all but 3,400 of his stack.

That hand had seen him ship with pocket sevens and when his opponent made the call with K♠9♠, it was left to a turned 9 to paralyze him. Nonetheless, Kostadin walks away with €1,995 to ease his woes.

Before him it was Daniel Todorov making an exit, the local player finding Aces blocking his path after shoving with A10.

Meanwhile our chip leader at the last interval, Aske Muff, continued to make his presence felt at the table.

Having tangled with an aggressive player to his left more than once, the Dane got into another blind battle with his foe and came out on top.

Raising from the small blind with J♥10♠, he bet top pair on the flop, checked with his opponent on the turn and induced a bet from middle pair by checking the river.

With the average stack now standing 161,538 chips high, we still await our final table line-up.

Aske and thou shalt receive!

We have a new chip leader as we reach our second break of the day, as a huge pot brewed on the last hand of the session.

Aske Muff (pictured right) was the man building his newly acquired chip tower, as he tangled with another sizeable stack - and his Aces held to win a 300,000 plus pot.

The Dane three-bet a local player with his bullets pre-flop and c-bet a Q-10-2 flop for half the pot.

Having been called by his rival, a blank turn was enough for Aske to ship the rest of his chips and though he tanked for around five minutes, the call followed and KJ exposed.

The open-ended straight draw was blunted by a King on the river, creating a new force as we edge towards the final table.

"We both started the hand with around 150,000 in chips so I'm up to 320,000 now and I guess I'm the chip leader," said Aske after winning that monster pot.

"I play to win these tournaments so I'll hope for the best.

"Yesterday I was down to 4,000 after the dinner break but I've only been all-in and called once so I've mainly been winning small pots.

"Of course I'll be using the big stack to put pressure on my opponents now, but there are one or two good players that have joined my table, so I'll also be keeping an eye on them to see how they play."

Shrinking field hits two tables

With the bubble burst, the inevitable surge of chips to the middle played out and cost nine players their shot at the final table.

Among them was Polish player and one-time big stack Lukasz Gebica, who despite sitting on over 100,000 chips at the last break, saw his luck change in dramatic fashion.

In the end he was fortunate even to make the money, as he was eliminated in the same hand as our bubble boy Plamen Stravrev, but having started the deal with more chips, he earned the first €1,260 prize.

He was in calm mood despite completing a surprising collapse when his 10-8 pre-flop shove from the button found an opponent with QQ in the sb.

"It started when I lost a race with a short stack with 5s against AKs," explained Lukasz, "Then I lost another hand after raising with QJ and getting donked into when I missed the flop.

"A few rounds of blinds and suddenly I was a short stack on around 25,000 chips! I open shoved from the button on my last hand and the small blind called with Queens.

"Even with 100,000 chips you can soon find yourself in trouble if you have a run like that, but that's tournament poker.

"I had a great run yesterday at the start of the tournament and was on 30,000 after only two levels," he added, "That really allowed me to play my A-game and be aggressive, so I'm very pleased with how I played."

And the bubble boy is...

Plamen Stravrev proved the unlucky player to hit the rail one place short of the money, and it was doubly difficult to take after suffering a classic bad beat.

Stravrev had let his chips shrink to such a size that when he shoved with KQ, it was inevitable he would get a call from somewhere.

German player Philipp Roch (pictured) would earn the affection of the room with his call, even if it looked like he would double his opponent when he turned over K7.

A lucky seven obliged on the flop however and paid our remaining 27 players their reward!

Congratulations to all of them on making the money. Here's a reminder of how the prize structure stacks up:

1st €26,250
2nd €14,700
3rd €10,500
4th €6,300
5th €4,620
6th €4,200
7th €3,990
8th €3,255
9th €2,835
10th €2,520
11th €2,205
12th-14th €1,995
15th-16th €1,680
17th-18th €1,469
19th-27th €1,260

The bubble drags on as smaller stacks survive

Twenty-eight players still remain and the bubble boy is yet to show his face, as Lady Luck toys with our competitors.

Some players have survived their day as the dog to double through when it seems certain we would have our final three tables.

Viscak Marek (pictured) had also been on the line after losing a huge slice of his stack when overplaying A6o against an opponent who found KK, but his pleas of "let's go gamble!" initially fell on deaf ears at Table 11.

When he did manage to get his stack in the centre, he found himself with A♦Q♥ vs 8♦8♠.

The board made things interesting by the turn, giving Marek overcards, straight and flush possibilities on a 5♠-6♥-J♥ flop followed by the 10♥.

Another river King kept Marek alive and he bids to make a return to the PPT final table, having finished second in London.

Viktor's day comes to an end, two short of the cash

Just one more tournament life will be lost in the battle for the cash prizes, after Viktor Szuster was knocked out in 29th-place.

The Polish player got it all-in with A♥K♥ but ran into Jacks and the board brought no help.

Earlier one player had survived a scare when his K♠Q♥ caught some help on the river after coming up against A♣Q♠.

The 4♥-6♦-J♥ flop had looked pretty grim, but after another blank 4♠ on the turn, the river cowboy K♦ arrived to rescue him.

Controversy leaves Szuster hanging on

Viktor Szuster's dreams of another final table appearance appear to be fading after he ran into some trouble just before the first break of the day.

Folded to him on the small blind, Viktor (pictured) opted to shove his short stack into dangerous territory - and his opponent flipped Q8s.

That man was Lukasz Gebica, who has moved on to over 100,000 chips since the start of the day and is among the chip leaders, and Szuster chose to show an Ace as he pondered the call.

This prompted action from the tournament director and both men were forced to serve a hand penalty.

"I asked the TD whether I could show him my cards and he replied that he 'didn't advise me' to do that," said a frustrated Viktor, "But I didn't know that meant I would receive a penalty and I just wanted him to fold.

"I didn't want a 60/40 flip with just three players to go until the money, but it's not really about that. I've got a much smaller stack than my opponent so missing hands can mean a lot.

"I don't think about the fact I've gone deep in two PPTs now, I've just got an opportunity to play here and I want to do well."