Day three, which is technically the second full day of play for the remaining players, is crunch day at the European Poker Tour. 

Today 161 players set out with a dream yet, by the end of it, only 45 would return home with any cash and just 13 continue into the final day in the hunt for a share of the €1.87 million which would be divided up at the final table of nine.

With so much at stake I had to chuckle when spotting one candidate, Robin Keston, playing online poker just thirty minutes before the 4pm start time.  That’s some commitment considering he faced another 12 full-hours play should he survive into the final day. 

A seating re-draw had managed to position the two chip leaders on the same table but the big action seemed to be happening elsewhere.  JP Kelly shot up to 86,000 in the first level and on to 120,000 before he doubled up Tony Chessa holding the dream which are pocket-Aces.

This was not a good day for the Irish.  Rookie Ian Marmion, sixth in the overall chip standings, departed in the first hour of play.  Compatriot Peter Roache liked his pocket 6’s on a 10-6-2 but so did his opponent who held pocket 10’s.

Meanwhile, there was fun and games at the feature table where American star Phil Ivey had got his stack in with QQ against AK.  Agony ensued when an Ace hit the flop, ecstasy when a Queen hit the turn.

Multiple WPT winner Gus Hansen was also subject of much attention and the gallery got what it wanted – outrageous confrontations from this exciting player – firstly when the Dane spiked an Ace whilst holding AT and tackling pocket Jacks in an all-in coup.

However, when he also fearlessly shoved all-in with QT and ran into pocket Kings from where there was no coming back.

Away from the ever decreasing EPT field over 256 players were now playing in a €1,000 entry consolation tournament.  It was bigger than the corresponding 2004 Barcelona EPT main event which generated a prize-pool of €229,000 for a €1,000 entry, so well worth winning.

Victorious that year was Alexander Stevic who also gave the 2006 rendition a good go but just missed a money finish falling short of the final 45 cut-off point.

No such problems for Jeff Lisandro, who was amongst the chip leaders throughout the day and into the small hours, while Poker Europa Magazine Editor Nic Szeremeta proved you can wait for Aces and Kings throughout a tournament and make the money!

Roland De Wolfe was suffering a torrid time though, with bad-beat after bad-beat.  He ultimately finished 20th for a €11,500 payday but was a few ugly river cards away from a much bigger result.

An equally surprising late elimination was in store for Johnny Lodden, who moved all-in with the nut flush draw against Bjorn-Erik Glenne’s pocket Kings.  It was Norway vs Norway and the winner of that pot was destined to go a lot further.

Other notable near missers included former World Series Main Event runner-up Julian Gardner (18th), Irish Open champion Ian Woodley (16th) and a former EPT winner Noah Boeken.