ParadisePoker Tour Madrid - Video

The PPT Madrid saw local player Pablo Baldor best a 250-player field to take down the €125,000 GTD Main Event and as ever, the ParadisePoker cameras were there to catch all the action.

You can check out the official ParadisePoker Tour Madrid 2011 video on YouTube right now and re-live Spaniard's success, as well as updates on the Tour League and details of PPT Barcelona.

Also worth watching out for are a few familiar faces, including PPT regular Tom Lane and WSOP star David Pishvafar.

He's had a lot of TV time lately!

WSOP Fantasy Poker Results

With ten eligible players making Day 2 of WSOP #32, Fantasy Poker provided some great drama for blog readers as Team Paradise made a deep run at the Rio.

Two entrants still had three players in the $1500 NLHE tournament as the points began, but while things turned sour for digas619, m4t3sk0 saw his team perform admirably to wrap up an €1,100 ParadisePoker Tour package and an iPad2!

Key to his success was David Pishvafar, who finished highest for ten points, along with Robert Norberg (7 points) and Tom Garland (5 points) to make a 22-point total.

Also backing Pishvafar was Grapeviner, and with Pham Kim-Phuc also in his team, 19 points was enough for second place and a ParadisePoker chip set plus branded jacket. In third was zdeninka1, who wins a ParadisePoker jacket after combining Pishvafar with Swedish pro Alexander Hanell.

Just missing out on the prizes, but due a mention after securing an admirable 16 points were mrbinova, xeemkajda and ManiaC_uber.

Don't forget we'll be playing Fantasy Poker once again from July 29th-31st as the final PPT Main Event of Season Two gets under way in Barcelona. See you then!

Official Results

m4t3sk0 - 22 points
Robert Norberg - Sweden (7 points)
Tom Garland - UK (5 points)
David Pishvafar - Germany (10 points)

Grapeviner - 19 points
Sandro Nazario - Brazil (0 points)
David Pishvafar - Germany (10 points)
Pham Kim-Phuc - Germany (9 points)

zdeninka1 - 18 points
Alexander Hanell - Sweden (8 points)
Bartlomiej Swieboda - Poland (0 points)
David Pishvafar - Germany (10 points)

Pishvafar grabs the headlines

After his deep run in WSOP 2011 Event #32 last week, David Pishvafar was attracting media attention in his native Germany.

His 12th-place finish made him Team Paradise's top performer in the $1500 NLHE and though he was disappointed to miss out on a bracelet, the PPT regular earned the spotlight after making Day 3.

Watch the report (in German) and David Pishvafar interview here. The interview starts around five minutes in.

Team Paradise exits with Pishvafar

David Pishvafar's bid for WSOP glory ended in 12th and a cheque for $38,445 to ease the pain of missing the final table.

The last remaining member of Team Paradise (pictured) had come back from just 8,500 chips at the end of Day 1 to go close to the big stage, but his JJ was topped by AQ in a classic race.

A philosophy student, Pishvafar's deep-thinking style served him well over the three days and although disappointed, he couldn't help but smile when the ParadisePoker blog mentioned the figure heading his bank account!

"I felt I played well today, I didn't really make any big mistakes but it was just frustrating at the end," he explained.

"Every time I picked up a hand I could move in with, somebody else beat me to it, but it's my best ever cash so I'm happy with that."

That concludes the ParadisePoker WSOP experience for another year and we'd like to congratulate all those players who took part on doing us proud!

Pham's roller coaster ends in 17th

The exit of Pham Kim-Phuc left just one man standing in Team Paradise's bid for a WSOP bracelet, after the river ended his tournament in cruel fashion.

The lively high stakes pro had been battling with a short stack all day and was pushed to the brink when his flush draw failed to connect against the pocket 7s of the player to his left.

He looked back in the game when the same villain called his pre-flop shove with JJ, and Kim cheered as he flipped QQ.

The flop and turn came 559-A♠ and looked set to double the German player up, but a river Jack left him feeling the painful side of poker at such a crucial stage.

Pham was visibly shaken by the bad beat but after a hugely impressive three-days, he can be proud of a performance that has seen him paid $23,861.

The payday will also please those in the Donkr poker community who had shares in him courtesy of a ParadisePoker promotion.

16 players remain as we approach the final table and David Pishvafar is the last remaining representative in ParadisePoker colours.

Paying the penalty

Team Paradise remains intact as we hit the first break, despite Pham Kim-Phuc having to serve a one round penalty for 'inducing action.'

The Donkr representative shoved all-in midway through Level 22 and as an opponent considered a call, he said: "It's not so much, you can afford it. Actually you can fold."

The villain made the call after some thought and Pham cheered when he saw his KK was dominating QQ. It held up to double his short stack, but his joy wasn't to last long as the floor manager imposed the ban.

It meant losing 24,000 in blinds and around 16,000 in antes, leaving Kim on 280,000 - less than half the 669,000 average - as we go to Level 23.

David Pishvafar has seen less action since moving tables, though he did 4-bet shove for a nice pot holding AK, but finds himself with 410,000 chips with 19 players still in the game.

Here's a reminder of the remaining prize pool:

1st - $668,276
2nd - $414,918
3rd - $292,634
4th - $211,353
5th - $154,506
6th - $114,304
7th - $85,556
8th - $64,788
9th - $49,631
10th-12th - $38,445
13th-15th - $30,122
16th-18th - $23,861
19th-27th - $19,127

Pishvafar adds to stack in early stages

David Pishvafar has continued the momentum of Day 2 early on as he took on the table in a series of big hands.

The German player went to war with two players to his left, trading blows with them and edging up over 600,000 chips at one stage.

First he took down a big pot when having raised from the cut-off, he called the big blind's three-bet and saw an A♥5♥A♦ flop. The big blind led out and David called, before taking it down with a big bet on the 6♥ turn.

Next up he 4-bet another villain pre-flop and took it down to reach his pinnacle moment, though a hand just a few moments ago put a dent in his growing confidence.

Pishvafar had tanked when his opponent put a big bet out there on a 6♠10♦J♦-7♣-5♠ board. He eventually made the call but despaired when his rival showed a winning set of 7s.

No friends in poker?

They may be fellow Team Paradise players, compatriots and friends but the initial seat draw has placed David Pishvafar and Pham Kim-Phuc next to one another as we restart WSOP Event #32.

The duo started the day in contrasting circumstances as play got under way a few moments ago, with Kim hanging on to half the average stack and David in 11th-place.

Their goal, however, is the same: the final table and ultimately, a WSOP bracelet. Here are some pics to get the day started.

Fantasy Poker - unofficial standings

With popular picks David Pishvafar and Pham Kim-Phuc continuing their WSOP $1500 NLHE adventure today, Fantasy Poker still has a few issues to resolve.

Early indications suggest there is a winner, however, as m4t3sk0 has already accumulated 12 points and has Pishvafar still in the game. That should make for a 21 or 22 point outing, which currently looks unassailable.

Grapeviner meanwhile has both players still in Event #32, meaning he is assured of at least 19 points and a probable second place finish, but it looks like a five-way battle for 3rd.

Everything depends on whether it is Kim or David who finishes higher once play gets under way from 22.30 BST, so zdeninka1, Marcela Binova, xeemkajda, ManiaC_uber and mrbinova will need to keep a close eye on proceedings.

Please note: these standings are unofficial. The official Fantasy Poker results will be checked and published by no later than Monday, June 27th.

Teams

m4t3sk0
Robert Norberg
Tom Garland
David Pishvafar

Grapeviner
David Pishvafar
Pham Kim-Phuc
Sandro Nazario

zdeninka1
Alexander Hanell
David Pishvafar
Bartlomiej Swieboda

Marcela Binova
Robert Norberg
Pham Kim-Phuc
Norbert Rösner

xeemkajda
Pham Kim-Phuc
Robert Norberg
Henning Dethlefsen

ManiaC_uber
Robert Norberg
Pham Kim-Phuc
Cort Kibler-Melby

mrbinova
Robert Norberg
Pham Kim-Phuc
Norbert Rösner

Top pair make Day 3

Team Paradise will be back at the Rio for Day 3 tomorrow after both David Pishvafar and Pham Kim-Phuc survived the day.

ParadisePoker Tour regular Pishvafar (pictured) entered the day with a short stack that stood just 8,600 chips high, but has steadily built his tower since the bubble burst and is now comfortably ahead of the average.

The German's measured approach is very much in the image of mentor Robert Haigh and has proved immensely effective as he ended with 487,000 chips.

David's style is in contrast to the super-aggressive talents of Pham, who has been on a roller coaster ride in WSOP #32.

The high stakes pro has been as short as 35,000 chips when the average was over 100,000 and even flirted with the chip lead at one stage, but he takes just 163,000 to Day 3 with WSOP bracelet hopes still alive.

35 players remain in the hunt and will face 6,000/12,000 blinds plus a 2,000 chip ante on Day 3's first deal. The average stack meanwhile, is 363,600.

A full Fantasy Poker update will be live on the blog before play resumes at 22.30 BST and our live coverage continues.

Hanell follows compatriot out in 59th

Having won his last longer bet with Robert Norberg, Alex Hanell hit the rail a short time later.

The Swedish pro had lost a big pot on a double paired board when his opponent found confidence enough to draw to a flush, leaving him perilously close to the edge.

It was the very next hand that he got it all-in with KQ, earning a call from the small blind's 33 and finding no help from the 2♦J♠8♦-7♦-A♣ board.

He wins $8,780 for coming 59th and leaves us with just two Team Paradise players left with an hour and a half's play still remaining in Day 2.

UPDATE - David Pishvafar has around 260,000 chips while Pham Kim-Phuc has 300,000.

The latter revealed he has gone card dead since moving tables, but remains ahead of the 235,000 average. Level 19 has 4,000/8,000 blinds with a 1,000 ante.

Norberg out in 74th for $6,337 payday

Robert Norberg lost his last longer bet with friend Alex Hanell as he departed the Rio's Amazon Room in 74th-place.

The Swede had been going strong midway through Day 2 but Lady Luck turned on him later on, as first he ran KK into AA and then his AJs failed to connect once all-in against QQ.

Norberg admitted he felt "empty" after so many hours focused on the poker table, but was sure the pride would follow in the morning - in spite of his losing wager.

"The sickest thing is that I beat over 2,700 people but I still couldn't win my last longer bet," he smiled.

"I'm not a tournament player; I barely ever play tournaments so I'm proud to have done so well. I just need to sleep now, but I know I'll dream about poker."

Final Four in pics

We've got three hours to play in Day of the $1500 NLHE yet and Team Paradise still has four contenders vying for a coveted WSOP bracelet.

The group are also among the most popular Fantasy Poker picks and big stack Pham Kim-Phuc has yet another reason to go deep, as the Donkr poker community own a big percentage of his winnings.

So far the German citizen is doing the business in his typically fearless style, sitting on 420,000 despite losing a couple of pots against smaller stacks.

Latest Chip Count (Average 163,154)
Pham Kim-Phuc - 420,000
David Pishvafar - 150,000
Alex Hanell - 130,000
Robert Norberg - 85,000

Check out the latest pics from the Rio...

Anything you can do...

Robert Norberg and Alex Hanell may be into the last 100 at the Rio, but is it a WSOP bracelet or a friendly rivalry driving them on?

Both are accomplished high stakes players and enjoy nothing more than owning the bragging rights, so it's little surprise they have $200 on who will go deeper in Event #32.

They are also good friends with last year's big story, Johan Jakobsson, and after he finished 9th in 2010, the pair are also hungry to better his performance.

Meanwhile, Pham Kim-Phuc is also getting in on the competitive spirit, turning his fortunes around in the last hour with two double-ups.

The Vietnamese-born player had been as low as 35,000 chips after a big hand with Hanell earlier, but first he trebled his stack with AK vs pocket 4s and then took down another huge pot with Jacks.

Kim snap-called a villain's shove on a 9♠3♦7♦ board and showed his hooks, but still had to survive a scare as his opponent rolled J♦9♦, yet found no help.

That leaves Pham on around 350,000, wielding one of the biggest stacks in the room. 94 remain and David Pishvafar and Hanell are hovering around the 140,000-chip average, while Norberg has 110,000.

Paradise big guns collide

Alexander Hanell took a huge pot off fellow Team Paradise player Pham Kim-Phuc to leave the latter on the brink of elimination.

Kim made a move with JQs on a dangerous A♥J♦10♦ flop, but Hanell (pictured) held his nerve and called with a set of Jacks to double through to 140,000.

Pham is down to 40,000, nearly one third of the 110,000 average stack, but has already shown his resilience more than once so far in WSOP #32.

Elsewhere Robert Norberg is maintaining a good level at around 150,000 while David Pishvafar has moved into three-figures himself, with 145,000 now at his disposal.

114 players are left in the tournament as we head to a break. We are set to play 10 levels in all on Day 2, or reach final table, whichever comes first.

Five becomes four at dinner break

Jakub Milion's Day 2 run came to an end after an amazing call caught him out just before dinner.

The young Czech (pictured) had been sinking into short stack territory for some time by the time he picked up AQ and he went to the flop with one caller.

The dealer flipped J-2-4 and undeterred, Milion c-bet for around 9,000 and was called again. A King on the turn prompted the Team Paradise player to ship his remaining 24,000 - but the villain somehow made the call with 74 to knock Jakub out of WSOP #32.

"I'm not sure if he was crazy or good because I was quite new to the table," said a bewildered Milion, "But that was an amazing call." Jakub finished 141st and won $3,741.

Elsewhere David Pishvafar was also all-in moments before the 60-minute interval, hoping his opponent would call vs his set of 9s, but it wasn't to be.

It was still good a sizeable pot, however, and elevated the German ahead of the average - and to his biggest stack of the tournament - on 95,000.

Swedish pair Alex Hanell and Robert Norberg complete the four Paradise players still remaining with 100,000 and 163,000 chips respectively.

There will be another six hours of play on Day 2, unless we reach the final table sooner, and 146 players remain. The average stack is now 87,164 and blinds will be at 1,200/2,400 with a 400 ante at the restart.

Trio surge ahead of the average

Team Paradise is manouvring into a powerful position with 176 players left, as three players sit comfortably ahead of the average 72,000 stack.

Robert Norberg leads the way with 140,000 as he steadily builds his tower, but Pham Kim-Phuc is closing on him as he hits another hot streak.

The German citizen (pictured) has been on a tear since the bubble, when he had been as low as 20,000 chips, turning up the aggression and shoving at least five times as his opponents tightened up.

Having earned more chips with his relentless aggressive streak, he is repeatedly squeezing his table mates with big pre-flop and flop bets.

Alex Hanell is also moving in the right direction on 110,000, while David Pishvafar survived a long spell as a short stack earlier today and now has 60,000.

The shortest ParadisePoker stack remaining is Jakub Milion, but as we enter Level 14, the Czech still has 20 big blinds to play with.

Garland's run ended by legend

Tom Garland left the WSOP $1500 NL Hold'em with head held high after being eliminated by poker legend TJ Cloutier.

The hall-of-famer had been on table 375 since the start of Day 2, where Tom had been struggling to find the right moment to move.

Having made the money, he was down to around three big blinds by the time he shoved with A5, only to find himself in a three-way all-in vs one villain's K10 and Cloutier's 6s.

The 7-2-3 flop offered little but a 6 on the turn gave the Brit some hope despite TJ making his set, but a river blank couldn't save him. Tom cashes for $3,054 in 242nd.

Out a few moments earlier was Udo Seepe, the German seeing his JJ beaten by AK after a pre-flop all-in, and he cut a frustrated figure despite winning $2,786 for 260th place.

Also hitting the rail was ParadisePoker Spanish poker school director Fernando Martin, his 77 getting outdrawn by pocket deuces after another pre-flop all-in.

Team Paradise Chip Count
Alexander Hanell - 95,000
Pham Kim-Phuc - 93,000
Robert Norberg - 78,000
David Pishvafar - 55,000
Jakub Milion - 40,000

In the money!

Congratulations to the eight Team Paradise players who have made the money in WSOP #32 - they're now guaranteed at least $2,786!

The man with perhaps the biggest reason to smile is UK player Tom Garland (pictured), who has now cashed in two consecutive years wearing Paradise colours.

After an hour's play just two of the ten team members who made Day 2 missed out, with Manuel Cuberos going out quickly before Portuguese Luis Machado suffering a near bubble knockout.

It was a more positive hour for out Swedish big stacks, however, with both Robert Norberg and Alexander Hanell adding more chips to the armoury.

Norberg eliminated a short stack in a 20,000 pot when he turned the nut straight, before bluffing his way to another nice win to sit on 85,000 chips.

Compatriot Hanell still leads the way with 90,000, but was a little disappointed not to have more after he had the nut flush vs second nut flush. The high stakes pro and his rival both checked their monster hands on the monotone flop, before the board paired and slowed both men down.

Update - Jose Luis Cobo has fallen victim to the post-bubble rush, shipping his short into action and failing to get the help he needed. The Spaniard cashed for $2,786.

Day 2 gets underway

Day 2 of the WSOP $1500 NLHE is now in play and our 10 remaining Team Paradise players eyeing up the money places.

30 players have already exited in the first 15 minutes so now just 35 more must fall before a WSOP cash is guaranteed.

Fantasy Poker Update

With ten players through to Day 2, the scoring begins for Fantasy Poker and digas619 is in pole position.

Incredibly all three picks survived the fall of around 2,500 players and but for some late damage to Luis Machado's stack (he twice ran QQ into AA), digas619 might have been stronger still.

Matching the fantastic feat was m4t3sk0's team, who like their rivals include Robert Norberg and Tom Garland in the line-up.

That will make the performance of short-stacked David Pishvafar key to who takes down the iPad2 and ParadisePoker Tour package.

Of course there are a host of teams with two players in the game that could yet beat the pair to our generous top prize, so here are the line-ups that are still in contention.

digas619
Luis Machado
Tom Garland
Robert Norberg

m4t3sk0
Robert Norberg
Tom Garland
David Pishvafar

Vašek Karban
Robert Norberg
Alexander Hanell

Lukáš Šimek
Pham Kim-Phuc
Tom Garland

Marcela Binova
Robert Norberg
Pham Kim-Phuc

xeemkajda
Pham Kim-Phuc
Robert Norberg

Grapeviner
David Pishvafar
Pham Kim-Phuc

hraky1
Jose Luis Cobo
Luis Machado

Darthrider
Tom Garland
Udo Seepe

Ugruxon
Jakub Milion
Tom Garland

PredatorXSKi
Pham Kim-Phuc
Tom Garland

Coocker45
Jakub Milion
Robert Norberg

vitttanek
Luis Machado
Jakub Milion

RastyCZE
Robert Norberg
Alexander Hanell

chilipe22
Luis Machado
Robert Norberg

RAYM61
Tom Garland
Robert Norberg

Alewwar
Jose Luis Cobo
Pham Kim-Phuc

AssoAlto
Tom Garland
Robert Norberg

Vizhigoth
Alexander Hanell
Jose Luis Cobo

asistent12
Robert Norberg
Alexander Hanell

Afrolicious
Robert Norberg
Manuel Cuberos Lopez-Cozar

xeemkajda
Pham Kim-Phuc
Robert Norberg

suzinchen
Udo Seepe
Pham Kim-Phuc

tommybrush
Tom Garland
Johan Jakobsson
Robert Norberg

mrbinova
Robert Norberg
Pham Kim-Phuc

zdeninka1
Alexander Hanell
David Pishvafar

pokerman456
Pham Kim-Phuc
Tom Garland

erisses
pham Kim-phuc
udo seepe

ManiaC_uber
Robert Norberg
Pham Kim-Phuc

Robert Norberg
Robert Norberg
Tom Garland

Dusty_Rat
Alexander Hanell
Robert Norberg

Please note: Fantasy Poker entrants must have a ParadisePoker account in order to be eligible for any prize.

UPDATED - Team Paradise and friends back for Day 2

Team Paradise will return for Day 2 of WSOP #32 with 10 players, with Swedish duo Alexander Hanell and Robert Norberg leading the way.

362 players will battle it out for 297 paydays on Sunday here in Las Vegas, so let's hope our guys can boost their bankroll!

We'll also be cheering on a number of friendly faces, including ParadisePoker pro Carlos Oliveira (17,000) and Spanish Poker School Director Fernando Martin (21,200).

Day 1 Final Chip Count
Alexander Hanell - Sweden - 70,000
Robert Norberg - Sweden - 50,400
Jakub Milion - Czech Republic - 45,100
Udo Seepe - Germany - 33,100
Pham Kim-Phuc - Germany - 31,500
Luis Machado - Portugal - 26,600
Tom Garland - UK - 14,800
Manuel Cuberos Lopez - Cozar - Spain - 14,000
Jose Luis Cobo - Spain - 10,500
David Pishvafar - Germany - 8,600

Unfortunately the above will be joined by the following Team Paradise members, after they hit the rail on Day 1:

Norbert Rosner
Sandro Nazario
Alexis Pouros
Jesper Johansen
Ronni Jespersen
Cort Kibler-Melby
Thomas Wolff
Pavlos Xanthopoulos
Piotr Tuczynski
Rafa Lubczynski

Day 1 - final hour of play

Just 60 minutes left to survive if our players are to make Day 2, though Luis Machado will setting bigger targets due to his 75,000 stack.

The Portuguese has been ticking along all day but suddenly burst into life late on, hitting his current heights when he doubled through with a set. Machado's 4s connected with a K48 flop and he stacked a villain with AK.

Alex Hanell's fortunes have also taken a turn for the better, with around 50,000 now in the Swede's armoury after his King high flush bettered a 10-high flush to send a big pot his way.

Czech Jakub Milion may not have enjoyed quite as much success, though he is still ahead of the average, but he is loving every minute in the Rio.

"I played with Joe Cada at my table earlier," grinned Milion, "I raised him pre-flop and he three-bet. I've never enjoyed folding more than that!"

Famous poker faces litter the Rio but it's not just card players that are attracting attention. Former Bayern Munich striker Roy Mackaay is also in the building having busted out earlier - and subsequently lost a last longer bet with his wife!

In fact, ParadisePoker's own Pham Kim-Phuc tangled with her only a short time ago, losing a big pot that leaves him closer to the average stack than he's been since the first hand!

Selected Chip Count
Luis Machado - 75,000
Alexander Hanell - 50,000
Jakub Milion - 35,000
Pham Kim-Phuc - 25,000
Robert Norberg - 22,000
David Pishvafar - 16,000
Tom Garland - 11,500

Tale of two calls

Team Paradise are now within 350 players of the money in the Rio's Pavilion Room, but Pham Kim-Phuc and Udo Seepe have endured contrasting fortunes when faced with big calls.

Seepe (pictured) came up with a gutsy call with AK when an opponent shoved a 999 flop, crushing his KQ and taking his stack to leave Udo with 32,000.

After a day when everything has seemed to go his way, it was perhaps surprising that it was Kim-Phuc who layed down the winner when holding JJ.

The pre-flop action had convinced him he must be beat, with a 3-bet and 4-bet shove behind his early position raise, but both villains showed pocket 9s.

The German citizen is still hovering around the 40,000-chip mark, however, having pulled off a big bluff with AK unimproved and forcing a foe to fold JJ of his own on the river.

Meanwhile, Johnan "Dusty_Rat" Jakobsson will not repeat his final table appearance of 2010 after he ran his short stack into Aces holding AK.

Latest Selected Chip Count
Pham Kim-Phuc - 42,000
Jakub Milion - 35,000
Udo Seepe - 32,000
Robert Norberg - 28,000
Manuel Cuberos Lopez-Cozar - 24,000
Alex Hannell - 17,000
Tom Garland - 15,000
David Pishvafar - 6,000
Jose Luis Cobo - 3,500

Payouts announced

Level 8 has arrived meaning we have just three more hours of play and the prize money is now in sight.

297 players will be paid and though we are some way from the bubble at the moment, the payout structure has been announced, giving tired players every incentive to battle on.

The field was eventually confirmed as 2,828 players and so the prize pool is a whopping $4,242,000. That means the winner will take over $660,000, while even the smallest payday is still worth $2,786.

Payout Structure
1st - $668,276
2nd - $414,918
3rd - $292,634
4th - $211,353
5th - $154,506
6th - $114,304
7th - $85,556
8th - $64,788
9th - $49,631
10th-12th- $38,445
13th-15th - $30,122
16th-18th - $23,861
19th-27th - $19,127
28th-36th - $15,500
37th-45th - $12,675
46th-54th - $10,498
55th-63rd - $8,780
64th-72nd - $7,406
73rd-81st - $6,337
82nd-90th - $5,459
91st-99th - $4,772
100th-135th - $4,199
136th-171st - $3,741
172nd-207th - $3,359
208th-252nd - $3,054
253rd-297th - $2,786

WSOP #32 Day 1 Gallery

Dinner break chip count

WSOP #32 is on dinner break and Pham Kim-Phuc (pictured) still leads Team Paradise in the chip count, though Jakub Milion is not far behind.

The Czech player had been slowly growing his stack even before a monstrous pot pushed him amongst the biggest stacks in the room.

Milion picked up Aces just at the right moment, as two rivals shoved with 10s and 6s respectively and his bullets held up.

Less fortunate were Alejandro Rodrigo Gutierrez , Eduardo Pinto and Pawel Mazanowski as they all exited before dinner; the latter running AK into Aces.

Dinner Break - Selected Chip Count
Pham Kim-Phuc - 42,000
Jakub Milion - 36,000
Robert Norberg - 20,000
Luis Machado - 18,000
Udo Seepe - 18,000
Johan Jakobsson - 13,000
Alexander Hanell - 11,000
Tom Garland - 10,500
Manuel Cuberos Lopez-Cozar - 9,000
David Pishvafar - 7,500
Jose Luis Cobo - 6,500
Norbert Rosner - 5,000

Introducing Pishvafar, Seepe, Jakobsson

We're into Level 6 so that means an hour until the dinner break arrives. In the meantime, here's three more Team Paradise profiles for you...

Name: David Pishvafar (pictured)
Country: Germany
Game of choice: NLHE
Cash or Tournaments? MTTs and cash
Professional status: Amateur
Biggest win: €5k Irish Open package
Least favourite poker story: "Having won the €5k package to the Irish Open, I got to the table a few minutes late and just avoided my hand being mucked. I picked up AJ, three-bet and was called and we both flop a flush. The money goes in on the turn and he shows 10-8s and rivers a straight flush to knock me out on my first hand."

Name: Udo Seepe
Country: Germany
Game of choice: NLHE
Cash or Tournaments? Tournaments - MTTs and SNGs
Professional status: Amateur
Biggest win: Won online tournament for $19,000
Loves Vegas because: "I won a short-handed MTT here for $12,000!"

Name: Johan Jakobsson
Country: Sweden
Game of choice: NLHE
Cash or Tournaments? Cash
Professional status: Professional
Biggest win: 9th-place at WSOP $1500 NLHE in 2010 ($53,892)
Memorable quote: "To be honest, whether it’s the World Series of Poker or just a home game, it doesn’t matter to me, but the best thing was that I came 9th in a field of over 3,000 players."

Massacre in Paradise

The third and fourth levels were hardly one to remember for Team Paradise as the WSOP casualties mounted up.

Perhaps the highest profile victim was ParadisePoker Tour League leader Robert Haigh, as the tournament pro fell victim to a bizarre hand holding KK.

In a raised pot, the villain had check-called a 9♠-8♥-2♥ flop with 10♠4♠ but picked up straight and flush draws when the 7♠ fell on the turn.

Haigh gave careful thought to shoving his remaining 3500 over the top of the turn bet, but his opponent's call was followed by a river ♠ to deny him a deep run.

Also out is Ingo Meyer, despite a strong start, after his QQ ran into a slow-played KK, as well as compatriot Bastian Bluem. Bluem had found his two pair wanting against TWO flopped sets.

The lengthy list of eliminated Team Paradise players also extends to PPT London champion Christos Xanthopoulos, Jens Weigel and Polish duo Bartlomiej Swieboda and Maciej Lipny.

There was some positive news, though, as Pham Kim-Phuc continued his rise to big stack status with a series of huge hands.

Selected Chip Count
Pham Kim-Phuc - 35,000
Robert Norberg - 11,000
Tom Garland - 9,750
David Pishvafar - 9,000
Johan Jakobsson - 9,000
Udo Seepe - 8,500
Luis Machado - 7,000
Christian Schulz - 7,000
Pawel Mazanowski - 5,800
Alexander Hanell - 3,000
Jandrulo - 2,800
Pavlos Xanthopoulos - 2,000

More profiles - Pham, Lipny, Garland

There's many a recognisable face around the Rio today, including former Main Event champion Jerry Yang, 2006 WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Madsen and the lovely (and talented) Kara Scott.

In case you don't know Team Paradise quite so well, we're continuing with our player profiles now...

Name: Pham Kim-Phuc
Country: Germany
Game of choice: PLO/NLHE
Cash or Tournaments? Both
Professional status: Professional
Biggest win: 2nd at EPT Berlin (€16,750)
Interesting fact: Pham is here in Las Vegas after poker community Donkr elected him their representative at the WSOP for ParadisePoker.

Name: Maciej Lipny
Country: Poland
Game of choice: NLHE
Cash or Tournaments? Cash
Professional status: Professional
Biggest win: 1st in European Masters of Poker II (€66,240)
Key poker moment: "It was when I won $600 from a $5 tournament that I decided to take poker more seriously. I went semi-pro and now I'm a professional."

Name: Tom Garland (pictured)
Country: UK
Game of choice: NLHE
Cash or Tournaments? Tournaments
Professional status: Semi-professional
Biggest win: 65th at WSOP $1500 Event 2010 ($7,860)
Shameless plug: "You won't find a bigger fan of ParadisePoker than me. I love the tournament schedule - particularly the HeadHunter events."

Pham and fortune

Pham Kim-Phuc was the big winner of the first two levels as the multi-talented player quadrupled his stack to 18,000 chips courtesy of some big hands.

His super-aggressive style has certainly been attracting action, with his most decisive score coming when he caught his flush vs two opponents with a set of Queens and pocket Kings.

The pre-flop battle intensified after that and the timing was with Kim-Phuc again, as he looked down at AA and got into a pre-flop raising war with the AQ of an aggressive opponent.

Pham was elected to play for ParadisePoker by the Donkr community, who in turn could take shares in the high stakes pro as part of a promotion, so they will be delighted with his progress.

Also on the up at the first break were Johan Jakobsson, who won two big pots with a set and two pair, and Ingo Meyer after he was called down with a set of his own.

It hasn't been all plain sailing for the Team Paradise, however, with a number of players among the 400 players already out of the $1500 NLHE tournament.

Martin Fleisch's first ever live event came to a premature end when his JJ was outdrawn by the nut flush, while Henning Dethlefsen ran into the same hand to end his afternoon at the Rio.

Selected Chip Count
Pham Kim-Phuc - 18,000
Johan Jakobsson - 9,400
Ingo Meyer - 9,000
Udo Seepe - 6,675
Christian Schulz - 6,000
Tom Garland - 5,500
Jens Weigel - 5,000
David Pishvafar - 4,000
Robert Haigh - 4,000
Alexander Hanell - 3,000
Robert Norberg - 2,425

Team Paradise Profiles - Haigh, Norberg, Swieboda

We thought we'd give you a closer look at our WSOP players' credentials here on the ParadisePoker blog, so let's kick-off with a familar face.

Name: Robert Haigh (pictured)
Country: Germany
Game of choice: No Limit Hold'em
Cash or Tournaments? Cash and SNGs
Professional status: Professional
Biggest win: 4th at ParadisePoker Vienna (€19,130)
Mad moment in poker: "A group of us played in the EPT event in Saalbach a while back and the night we arrived, I decided to get an early night ahead of the tournament. The others went out for the night, but when they got back, they found a complete stranger had walked into our hotel suite and got into bed next to me! We woke him up and eventually convinced him he was in the wrong room!"

Name: Robert Norberg
Country: Sweden
Game of choice: NLHE
Cash or Tournaments? Cash
Professional status: Professional
Biggest win: 472nd at WSOP Main Event 2005 ($14,135)
Most memorable hand: The bad beats are always most memorable and I'll never forget losing a $20,000 pot - one of the five biggest I've ever played - when I got it in with top set of Kings vs a set of 6s, only for the river to bring the last six."

Name: Bartlomiej Swieboda
Country: Poland
Game of choice: Short-handed NLHE
Cash or Tournaments? Cash
Professional status: Professional
Biggest win: €4,000 winning cash session

FANTASY POKER UPDATE - The deadline for entries has now passed! Good luck to all our players whether they entered via Twitter, Facebook or on the PPT blog.

WSOP Event #32 - Shuffle up and deal!

We've just heard the immortal poker words uttered in typically flambouyant fashion in the Rio, so the cards are now in the air for the $1500 NLHE event.

That means you now have one hour until the Fantasy Poker deadline at 21.00 BST, so make sure you select your team of three from the Fantasy Poker - take your pick! post below.

We'll be bringing you updates on the action, comment from the players, pictures and a closer look at some of our players in the coming hours. We hope you enjoy!

Update - Not the best start. Rasmus Nicolaisen suffered an early exit here in the Rio after a bad beat struck inside 10 minutes.

It seems Lady Luck was never going to smile on the Dane today, as he had already folded KK in the second hand when 4-bet all-in by the time he entered another big pot on the fourth deal.

Nicolaisen had flopped a set of 7s vs the AK of the villain on a 7Kx flop. The turn King prompted both players to ship their stacks - only for an Ace on the river to prove a bullet to the heart for Rasmus.

En route to Rio

Our players have just arrived at the Rio and are bracing themselves to take on a sizeable field in the WSOP Event #32.

The $1500 NLHE Event is expected to drag in a huge field that is likely to surpass the 3,097 our ParadisePoker's package winners faced in 2010.

This year's crop will be hoping to emulate their success however, as regular blog readers will recall Johan 'Dusty_Rat' Jakobsson claimed an incredible 9th-place finish and $53,892 in prize money.

Dusty (pictured) returns this year for an attempt at back-to-back cashes, along with another impressive performer from 12 months ago - Tom Garland.

The sole UK player won $7,860 for a 65th-place effort and has returned in positive mood: "Last year gave me so much confidence that I've actually turned semi-pro since then.

"I play a lot of tournaments these days so I'm really looking forward to this one, and hopefully I can make another deep run!"

ParadisePoker Tour League leader Robert Haigh joins PPT London 2010 winner Christos Xanthopoulos and other PPT regulars Bastian Bluem, Christian Schulz and David Pishvafar in a strong ParadisePoker line-up.

We can also boast a host of high stakes pros in our armoury this time around, with Cort Kibler-Melby, Robert Norberg and Alexander Hanell frequenting the biggest games around.

Fantasy Poker - take your pick!

It's time to start thinking Fantasy Poker as we approach the first deal of Event WSOP #32 on Saturday - and entering couldn't be easier.

Remember there's an iPad2 plus a ParadisePoker Tour package worth €1,100 to be won, as well merchandise for our runner-up and third place finisher, and it doesn't cost a penny to get involved.

There's 36 players to pick from below and some real pedigree in there as they look to take on a big field at the Rio.

How to Play

1. Sign up for a ParadisePoker account (if you haven’t already got one!)
3. Pick three players from the list of entrants below and post their full real names , along with your ParadisePoker username, as a comment right here on the PPT blog
3. Alternatively you can enter by tweeting your team @paradisepoker on Twitter
4. Players that reach Day 2 will score points according to where they finish
5. The highest scoring team wins the entrant a €1,100 prize package to the ParadisePoker Tour plus an iPad2, 2nd place wins a chipset plus ParadisePoker jacket and 3rd place a ParadisePoker jacket

Player List

Alejandro Rodrigo Gutierrez - Spain
Alexander Hanell - Sweden
Alexis Pouros - Cyprus
Bartlomiej Swieboda - Poland
Bastian Bluem - Germany
Christian Schulz - Germany
Christos Xanthopoulos - Greece
Cort Kibler-Melby - Germany
David Pishvafar - Germany
Eduardo Lacal Pejenaute - Spain
Eduardo Pinto - Portugal
Henning Dethlefsen - Denmark
Ingo Meyer - Germany
Jakub Milion - Czech Republic
Jens Weigel - Germany
Jesper Johansen - Denmark
Johan Jakobsson - Sweden
Jose Luis Cobo - Spain
Luis Machado - Portugal
Maciej Lipny - Poland
Manuel Cuberos Lopez-Cozar - Spain
Martin Fleisch - Germany
Norbert Rosner - Czech Republic
Pavlos Xanthopoulos - Greece
Pawel Mazanowski - Poland
Pham Kim-Phuc - Germany
Piotr Tuczynski - Poland
Rafa Lubczynski - Poland
Rasmus Nicolaisen - Denmark
Robert Norberg - Sweden
Robert Haigh - Germany
Ronni Jespersen - Denmark
Sandro Nazario - Brazil
Thomas Wolff - Germany
Tom Garland - UK
Udo Seepe - Germany

Please note: You will need to be signed into a google account to post a comment. Create a free Google account.

It's party time!

It's time for the legendary ParadisePoker WSOP party and our players are currently getting into the Vegas spirit in the High Rollers suite.

Drinks at the free bar, a little pool or maybe a game of FIFA on the X-Box? Their wish is ParadisePoker's command as we gear up for a big night at Lavo.

We'll have our own private balcony overlooking the world-famous Las Vegas strip, where there'll be more drinks on us before moving upstairs and beyond. Who knows where the night will take us...