Poker arenas can become known for the atmosphere they generate. The feature stage of the Amazon Room for example can send a double-up echo back up the corridor to drown out the Masquerade Show; places like San Remo and Prague rock the EPT with a gladiatorial spirit, usually backed by the home nation or foreigner raiders.

Day three of the LAPT Florianopolis event was played with friendly camaraderie; an unlikely brotherhood joining players in times of ease, but jettisoned when elimination hands meant a walk to the rail and that silent but visible inner scream.

A tense crowd watched every hand from the rail today

It was a lonely task for each of the 36 players returning today, playing down to eight. But while inner screams may be relevant to the eliminated, those victorious today performed some memorable outer screams in their quest for LAPT glory.

Days like these are purpose built for drama. They're the pay-off finales to the lengthy back story, giving the big stacks chance to falter and allow the plucky underdogs through on their way to defeating expectation.

Chip leader Matthias Habernig

But today it was all about the big stacks. It started with Matthias Habernig and ended with Matthias Habernig, who tonight leads the field into day four of LAPT Florianopolis.

Habernig, from Austria, was the day one chip leader two nights ago, relinquishing his advantage on day two but remaining within stalking distance, a regular threat. His calm and controlled exterior belied his 19 years as he struck ruthlessly to acquire the 3,205,000 chips he bagged up tonight. The exact opposite exterior was used by the others to similar, if not the exact same effect.

A home town hero

At times today was like a cross between the series finale of soap opera, and how you'd expect the inexperienced to react when locked into the ring with a bull. There was also a religious theme.

Before busting in 12th, Mario Donoso, who had been struck down to a mere 10,000 at one point yesterday, persisted in chanting "Pass me the salsa!" as he ventured off stage and on stage during his unstoppable payback ride. Pedro Velasco, who departed in the final table bubble in ninth tonight, also took to leaving the set to play hands, watching the action on screen instead from the rail with friends, before leaping around the set attached to an invisible bungee rope after doubling up.

Mario Donoso

Pedro Velasco (left) and friends

Then there was Andre Scaff from Brazil, a solid player who wore the determined look of a man destined to reach the final table using whatever powers he could muster. Scaff won multiple big encounters, each marked by either the raising of a finger towards the sky or by shouting "Son of the king!" or, "thank you my lord." While "I love Jesus," accompanied his last level victory over Miguel Velasco. I'm not clear what the Bible says about this kind of thing, but as one wag pointed out, thanking Jesus implies a degree of collusion that Hoyle could not have seen coming.

Andre Scaff

Scaff will be just one of eight players returning tomorrow, and the final will be better for it. Joining him, there will be the other big guns of today - Dayan Vardenega, Robson Kozan and Rudy Blondeau, each of whom jostled for top spot today and each return with it firmly in their sights.

Also back tomorrow will be the other finalists, who line up as follows:

Final table

Matthias Habernig, Austria, 3,205,000
Andre Scaff, Brazil, 814,000
Dayan Vardenega, Brazil, 761,000
Robson Kozan, Brazil, 598,000
Rudy Blondeau, Canada, 597,000
Miguel Valasco, Colombia, 511,000
Alexandre Richard, Brazil, 435,000
Rodrigo Scartezini, Brazil, 204,000

It was nearly a different story for Jorge Arias today. The Team PokerStars Online Pro busted in 24th after what will go down as a largely unnoticed, yet courageous performance in Brazil, handicapped by having to steer a short stack into the money. It was akin to pole-vaulting into medal position with a length of garden hose or placing in the Belmont onboard a rocking horse. For certain, his R$11,400 was the hardest earned of any this week.

Team PokerStars Online Pro Jorge Arias

Also departing today were the PokerStars qualifiers Regis Kogler and Richard Gui, as well as Homero Ribeiro, Scott Davies and Andre Sa, each of whom, at some point had looked capable of achieving higher honours.

But while tomorrow we could see a reversal of much of today's fortune, the night belongs to Habernig who brought the day to an end by seeing off Velasco, the latest of a long line of college-age kids turning up in lands far from home to ruin a good gentle game of cards among the grownups.

Everything will become clearer tomorrow

That then is all there is from Florianopolis on day three. Read all of this on our Spanish and Portuguese blogs and our thanks go to Carlos Monti for the unrivalled photography on the blog today. Full scores are available on our chip count page and payouts up to now are on the prize winners page.

Play resumes at noon tomorrow on the main stage at the Costa do Santinho resort. Join us then for coverage, from the first hand through to the crowning of a new LAPT champion.

2.30pm: Chips
The news form the last two levels is the stack building of Matthias Habernig who ends the leavel on 810,000. Meanwhile Rudy Blondeau has slipped down the scale to 300,000 while Dayan Vardenega has had his own power surge, sitting with 660,000 at the break.

2.26pm: Break time
Players are now on a fifteen minutes break at the end of level 21. Chip counts at the break will be available shortly on the chip count page.

2.25pm: Twenty left
In the hand before the break Scott Davies moved all in with ace-king and was called by Matthias Habernig with pocket queens. The board ran [2h][4h][4s][5d][ts]. Despite draws on the river nothing came to rescue the American and Davies is eliminated in 21st place.

2.20pm: Is everybody happy?
On a flop of [qh][3h][7s] Homero Ribeiro announced he was all-in. Alexandre Richard had the option to call and thought for a while about it, eventually calling and showing [3c][3d] to Ribeiro's [ks][qc].

Richard seemed quite pleased with himself and performed an exuberant celebration after the [jd] turn and [2s] river. "Massa! Massa!" he yelled and Andre Scaff sitting next to him joined the celebrations, pointing his index finger dierectly up in a vaguely Bee-Gee stance, although he was seated.

Alexandre Richard

Ribeiro out but Richard up to around 500,000.

2.10pm: Son of the King
We've grown accustomed to hearing loud celebrations here in Florianopolis, the most notable is "filho do rei!" (son of the king)

When we hear this, we know that Andre Scaff is in a big hand. This time he was against Team PokerStars Online, Jorge Arias.

Arias found himself looking at [ah][9h] and decided to put a lot of his chips in preflop. All but one yellow 1,000 chip. Scaff saw [8s][8d] and decided to just call.

The flop came [qd][9c][8c] and Arias decided to put his last chip in. He was pot committed. Scaff made the call and showed his set of eights. An [ad] brought a glimmer of hope for Arias, but a [10c] on the river took it right back.

Arias was eliminated in 24th place, making the pay jump to R$11,400.

1.55pm: Chips chips
Chip leaders at the moment are Rudy Blondeau and Migel Velasco, each with close to 600,000.

1.45pm: Nothing to see here
Spoiled by an initial surge of all-ins the pace has slowed somewhat. A few all ins go unanswered bit nothing called.

1.30pm: Club, club, club, club
Martin Fuentes is out. Fuentes, who had not changed his shirt since yesterday for fear of washing away the luck, got it in ahead, showing [ah][kd] against Rudy Blondeau's [kh][qc]. It's round about now that you take note of that club in Blondeau's hand.

The flop came [8c][8s][3c] then a [2c]. By now you can see where this is going. A [4c] on the river sent Fuentes to the rail as Blondeau begins to look unstoppable.

1.20pm: Blinds are up
As in most tournaments, the blinds are slowly rising. We're on level 21 and the blinds are now 6000-12000 with a 1000 ante.

1.15pm: Pizza's party's over
Gilberto Pizzamiglio moved all-in from the hijack for approximately 90,000. Rudy Blondeau made the call from the button and both blinds decided to let them play it out.

Blondeau showed [ah][10s], Pizzamiglio showed a [kd], but he also showed a [as]. Blondeau was dominated.

The flop was [js][7d][5s], Pizzamiglio's domination continued. That is, until a [10c] came on the turn. The river brought a [5d], not the king Pizzamiglio was looking for and he was eliminated in 28th.

28th place finisher Gilberto Pizzamiglio

1pm: All ins but nothing
More all-ins, just no takers. Cristiane Dias, the last woman standing in LAPT Florianopolis, moved all-in but got not takers, showing two black queens in frustration.

It's a table full of short stacks and Engelberth Moreno was next to shove in the big blind, behind a raise from small blind Gino Leonello who performed a dramatic head shake before folding.

On the next table Sander Aalders moved in with an equally timid response from his table. Still 28 players remaining.

12.55pm: Out in 30th
Claudio Baptista had a pair of jacks and decided to move all-in from middle position. Guilerme Garcia was on the button and looked down to see a pair of kings. With a better pocket pair and better position, Garcia decided to move all-in as well. The blinds folded and Baptista was up against kings. The flop brought nothing but baby cards and Baptista was eliminated in 30th. R$9,750 is what he'll take.

12.50pm:Can't Braga anymore
Alessandra Braga is out in 32nd place.

Pocket queens weren't kind to this lady.

Alessandra Braga moved all-in after Gino Leonello raised. Leonello called her 180,000 chip all-in and showed ace-jack. Braga showed pocket queens and was hoping to avoid an ace. She was quite successful until the river came along.

In a very Barry Greenstein fashion, an ace on the river sent Braga to the rail. She was eliminated in 32nd place, and is the first player to make the pay jump and earn R$9,750.

12.40pm: Down to 32
Richard Gui is eliminated in 33rd, sent to the rail by David Bortnik on the feature table. Gui turned over [kd][6h] against Bortnik's [ks][td], both hands dodging the board.

Keep tabs on all of the eliminations of the payout page.

12.38pm: Poncie's scheme collapses
Poncie out Poncie moved all-in and got one called by Jose Jorge Pereira. They both had two cards, but they weren't the same ones.

Poncie held [qs][9c] and Pereira held [as][5s]. The flop was [3h][7s][9d], giving Poncie the lead.

"Hold!" chanted Poncie as the [7d] was dealt on the turn. The chant worked. "Hold!" he said again, but this time it wasn't successful. The [ad] fell on the river and Poncie was eliminated in 35th place. He'll take $R8,120, approximately US$4,200.

12.35pm: From the whistle
The all-ins come from the off. First Juan Carlos Herrera who shoved but found no takers, neither did Paulo Rink when he tried the same.

On the feature table though Scott Davies got a caller when he moved all-in. As predicted in the introduction today a short stack doesn't have to stay that way. He showed [as][js] to the call from Rudy Blondeau who turned over [qs][tc].

The board ran [ah][7s][kd][2h][3c] doubling up the American.

12.25pm: Green light
We're off. Cards are in the air with blinds at 5,000-10,000 with a 1,000 ante.

12.20pm: So this bloke walks into a bar...
We're on the starting grid with umbrellas casting shade over us as we wait for the parade lap. Minutes away.

In the meantime have here's the moving images version of the introduction, courtesy of the Video Blog team here in Florianopolis:

12.10pm: Any minute now
Still waiting, so why not have a read through of today's introduction to day three.

12pm: Nearly ready
We were supposed to start at noon but these things never get going bang on time. The players are here, we're just waiting for a few finishing touches here and there before we get cards in the air.

Up for grabs

PokerStars Blog reporting team in Florianopolis:(In order of how many continents they think there are in the world) Stephen Bartley (7) and Alexander Villegas (6).

by Fred Leung
The Macau Millions hosted by PokerStars Macau at Casino Grand Lisboa continues to close in on the record for field size in an Asia-based poker tournament.

Yesterday saw 132 and 169 players participate in Day 1C and 1D respectively (yes, two on the same day!). After four of five Day 1s the Macau Millions total player count now stands at 532. The current record is 679 players meaning the PokerStars Macau event only needs 148 to enter the history books.

Day 1D belonged to local favorite Jimmy 'King' Ng from Hong Kong, who now boasts the overall chip lead at 355,000. He had played Day 1A but, under the unique rules which allow players busting to try again on a later Day 1, he returned last night.

"I was playing online on PokerStars and won $300," Ng said, "so I felt lucky and decided to register (for 1D) and try again!"

Other notables who made it to Sunday's Day 2 final include PokerStars sponsored and Red Dragon winner Victor Chen from Taipei with 166,500 chips; Singapore's Alex Loon of Asian Poker Showdown fame with 176,500; and Malaysia's Raiden Kan with 244,500.

Team PokerStars Pro Raymond Wu came close to making it through to Day 2 but got eliminated in the very late stages of play. He'll hope to make Day 1E count to give himself a better chance of retaining the Asia Player of the Year (APOY) lead.

For complete information on Macau Millions please click here.

Day 1C chips
1. Lei Long Ng, Macau, 321,000
2. Alex Loon, Singapore, 176,500
3. Sergey Lenyuk, Russia, 173,000
4. Victor Chen, Taipei, 166,500
5. Xiuming 'Sammy' Huang, Australia, 139,500
6. Justin Chan, Hong Kong, 110,000
7. Jun Chen, China, 94,500
8. Youcef Zalagh, France, 59,000
9. Ryan Chong, Malaysia, 53,500
10. Naoya Muto, Japan, 27,000

Day 1D chips
1. Jimmy 'King' Ng, Hong Kong, 355,000
2. Raiden Kan, Malaysia, 244,500
3. Xiao Long Pan, China, 187,000
4. Richard Hu, China, 156,000
5. Tom Chou, USA, 149,500
6. Jason Wong, Hong Kong, 104,500
7. Neng 'Michael' Che, Hong Kong, 103,500
8. Kai Sheng Yang, USA, 103,000
9. Il Hyun Yoon, Korea, 100,500
10. Wai Bing Yiu, Hong Kong, 67,000
11. Damien Kerneis, France, 66,000
12. Chi Keong Kuan, Macau, 54,000

by James White
There was a landmark turnout for the second Russian Poker Series event of the season yesterday with 183 runners taking to the felt in Riga, Latvia. That number, which exceeded all expectations, generated a bumper €328,393.50 prize pool. The winner will get €95,468.50.

Of the 110 players who made it safely through yesterday's Day 1, PokerStars qualifier Nandor-Csaba Solyom is chip leader with 222,500. Also in contention is Russian player Evgeniy Zaytsev on 142,500 and EPT Deauville champion Jake Cody from the UK with a respectable and above average 59,075.

Big names on Day 1 included Team PokerStars Pros Ivan Demidov, Alex Kravchenko and Vadim Markushevski. Kravchenko made it through and will take his seat for today's Day 2 with 42,353. 21 players will get paid.

You can follow the action over on our sister Russian blog, where Pavel Sychev is producing the goods for readers. If reading Russian is not one of your many qualifications, you can keep track by using Google translate.