Arnaud Mattern stopped by our onstage media perch earlier today. He hadn't even opened his mouth before Lina Olofsson, the most Swedish of all our Swedish bloggers, was on to him:

"My Swedish friend doesn't like you."

We skip hellos.

She was talking about Martin Jacobsson, who had five bet Mattern in a hand early in the day before folding to Mattern's six-bet.

"He's six betting me and I showed a four," said the Frenchman with no shortage of cheek. "A sick bet and a six bet. He doesn't like to give up."

Arnaud then recapped the action. He doesn't have to do this. Usually we try to save the Team PokerStars Pros the journey and be on hand when things go well/belly up. But Mattern takes this role seriously. Back in Vilamoura deep into the tournament Mattern found me, shook my hand (as he does at every meeting - it's the French way) and apologised for not explaining his bust out sooner, having instead stormed out. I told him I understood the need to deal first with his pain and not to worry.

Arnaud Mattern

As things stand right now, a week later, there's no pain on the horizon and no need for any explanations, sat as he is with a big stack. Jacobsson was just the start. More has followed including a bullet or two dodged and another scoop:

"I had a big hand with queens on the button," he said, adding that there was a queen on the flop and an opponent prepared to pay - a big hand. "The rest is just grinding." It's a grind that at the last break of the day leaves him with 78,000.

It was in this very room that Mattern first pinged the poker radar, an echo fired by his performance here two seasons ago when he lifted the trophy to become the first EPT Prague champion, a title worth €708,600. It came at the end of a gripping inaugural final featuring the likes of Kristian Kjondal, Markus Golser, Juha Lauttamus, Johannes Strassmann as well as eventual runner-up, newcomer Gino Alacqua.

The result sent Mattern into the headlines and into a new league. Asked moments after his victory what he planned to do with the money, he gave the text book answer for any player wanting to be taken seriously: "I'll probably play higher stakes," he said and was whisked away by a crowd of jubilant countrymen.

Gino Alacqua

It was a result that has financially backed more than one free bar since. Now a Team PokerStars Pro, he's added to his Prague result with four further cashes, including a fifth place in Warsaw last season. On top of that was his 23rd place finish in the WSOP Europe earlier this year. It's a record that has so far earned the Frenchman nearly $1.4 million in prize money.

Back in season four he was a clean shaven champion. Now, the thick lenses in his mirrored sunglasses may remain (it's possible he can't see a thing without them), but gone is the razor - a thick black stubble becoming something of a Mattern trademark. He could be on course to make Prague another of his trademarks. Stay tuned.

Updates from day 1a levels seven and eight of EPT Prague, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc "The Conv" Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young.

Latest selected chip counts are on the chip count page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page.

Level seven blinds: 300-600 (50 ante)
Level eight blinds: 400-800 (75 ante)

9pm: And that's it
That's your lot. All hands have been completed, the green 25 chips have been raced off, and players are bagging and tagging their chips. It looks like German player Marc Gork could well be our overnight chip leader with 169,200. We've got a full wrap of today's play on the way soon, while full chip counts will also be made available shortly.

Until then, it's goodnight from Prague. See you tomorrow for day 1b.

8.45pm: Nearly done
The dealers have been told to deal just four more hands, then we're done for the day.

8.40pm: Learn from ElkY
If you want to improve your game, there's not many better people than Team PokerStars Pro ElkY to give you advice. Quite handy, then, that our video crew caught up with the Frenchman to reveal the secrets of success...

Watch EPT 6 PokerStars Team Pro Bertrand Elky Grospellier on PokerStars.tv

8.35pm: Skampa doubles
Jan Skampa, who final tabled EPT Vilamoura little over a week ago, just doubled up to keep him in the hunt at his home event. The flop was [2c][4d][7c], and on the [qc] turn Skampa faced a 7,500 bet from his opponent. Skampa moved all in for 10,225 more and got a call. His set of sevens were well ahead of the other player's pocket jacks, and the [ah] river did not cause any late drama.

Skampa is now up to 55,000.

8.30pm: Big name
Domantas Klimciauskas has the look of a really good poker player - even if his name will be an absolute nightmare to write on a big comedy cardboard cheque. He seems at all times remarkably composed and incredibly focused and there's something about his casual aggression that we've seen before in many of the best players. That's a long-winded way of predicting big things from the young Lithuanian. He's my tip (HS) for a future champion.

Just recently, Klimciauskas went to a flop in a raised pot with one opponent. It came [2c][jh][4s] and Klimciauskas bet 2,300. He was raised to 5,500, which made him think. But not as much as his re-raise, another 7,800, perturbed that opponent, who folded. Klimciauskas has about 140,000 chips at the moment, which puts him in the top five of the the 125 remaining with half an hour left in the day.

8.20pm: The turn was no Blanco
Cristiano Blanco was sat in the big blind and called a raise from a player in the cut-off to see a [kd][6d][2s] flop. He then check-called a 2,600 bet and a 5,200 bet on the [ac] turn. Both players checked the [2c] river and the Italian took the pot down with [ad][3d] as his opponent mucked. That puts him on a healthy 86,000.

8.05pm: Woods chopped by Zervos
Darren Woods is out. Three players - Woods, Vadim Milovs and Alexis Zervos - went to a raised flop of [3h][4c][kh] and all of them slowly yet deliberately checked. The turn was the [jc] and that's when Woods and Zervos got it all in. It wasn't actually that much for Woods and he knew he was in trouble when he showed [as][qs]. Zervos, a PokerStars qualifier from Greece, had [jd][10d] and the [6s] on the river sent Woods to the rail.

7.55pm: A new leader emerges from the crowd
A new chip leader has emerged on the other side of the room and he comes in the shape of Frenchman Rui Cao who's sitting behind 210,000 in chips. He won a monster pot a little while ago that went something like this: a player in the cut-off raised to 1,600 that Cao three-bet to 4,000 from the button. Call. The flop came [ah][kc][8h] and Cao continued with a 5,000 bet when checked to him. Call. The turn came [ks] and when Cao bet 14,000 when checked to him his opponent made a very big raise all in. Cao snapped off with [ac][ad] and had his opponent drawing dead with [qh][jh].

7.50pm: Last level
The chig-a-chig-aaaah of the tournament clock (you've really got to hear it; it's almost impossibly naff) has just sounded signalling the end of level seven and the start of today's final level. Eight.

7.40pm: Alexiou tango-ed
He went up, but he flew too high. The day is over for Konstantinos Alexiou, who final tabled here last year and raced into an early chip lead today. But his chips dribbled away through the past four levels and the Greek player, dressed head to toe in orange, got the last of them in with [9d][10d]. That came third in a three-way coup on a board of [6c][qs][ad][9h][kh]. Alexiou is gone.

Konstantinos Alexiou

7.25pm: Stacking off with big slick
The biggest pot of the tournament so far has resulted in the exit of Melanie Weisner. She opened the pot with a raise to 2,000 before Martin Hruby three-bet to 6,000. She then four-bet to 15,000 and then called off her 70,000 stack when Hruby moved all in. She turned over [ah][kc] but had run into Hruby's [as][ac]. The board ran [qd][2c][7d][8h][5h] and a very disappointed Weisner left the room as Hruby tidied up his stack, now worth 155,000.

Melanie Weisner

7.13pm: Much needed double-up
Jan Skampa who finished 4th in last week's EPT Vilamoura just received a fortunate and much needed double-up. When action folded around to him he moved all in for his last 6,800 and was isolated by the player sat on the button holding [jh][js]. Skampa was in trouble with his [qc][9c] but he need not worry as the board ran [qd][ah][9h][ks][7h].

7.05pm: Feature this
By complete chance, our features desk have also been turning their attention to the German contingent in Prague. Tell me, what first attracted you to the dazzling poker talents of dazzling Sandra Naujoks?

7pm: Back again
Level seven is about to begin, once all players have returned from their 15-minute break.

In the meantime, we're pretty sure you'll appreciate this pic of Team PokerStars Pro Sandra Naujoks, who currently has around 55,000.

Last year's EPT Dortmund final table was nothing if not German. For the only the second time in the tour's six-year history, the home country (Germany) finished in first, second and third position, with the Team PokerStars Pro (Germany) Sandra Naujoks at the very top of the tree.

One of the (German) sub-plots of that particular (German) event was the will-they, won't-they* burgeoning relationship between Naujoks and the (German) Marc Gork. Most people will remember Gork as the player who spent long periods of the event reading a book of (German) romantic poetry, else uttering sweet nothings in Naujoks' ear. In German.

Marc Gork

It was all conducted in a very tongue-in-cheek fashion, and since then both Naujoks and Gork have been regular fixtures on the EPT. I don't recall if they've been sat next to one another at any subsequent event, but it doesn't seem to matter to Gork.

In Prague today, he's found himself another pair of German ears to chatter to. They belong to the Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater, and the two of them have been chewing the fat all day long; even hamming it up for the camera early on when Thater took down a pot with pocket queens.

Katja Thater and Marc Gork

Naujoks is also in the field, and for the first four levels she sat with her countryman and Team PokerStars Pro colleague Benjamin Kang. The giant Kang couldn't get much traction today, however, and recently departed, leaving Naujoks to do battle with the likes of John Kabbaj alone. I'm sure she will cope.

Sandra Naujoks

It also seems safe to assume that Florian Langmann isn't too perturbed by his German-less position on table 18. He has the early leader Konstantinos Alexiou to his immediate right, his noise-reducing headphones clamped over his ears, and a stack of golden chips in front of him.

Florian Langmann

Langmann also has quite a game. He was already German champion when he went to EPT London on season four and finished second for close to $700,000. He racked up countless five- and six-figure results since then, and is among the last people you'd ever want to see sitting on your table.

Alongside the Dutch, the Germans are also to be feared in Prague.

*They didn't.

We've definitely been here before.

Late last month in Warsaw, the chip leaders on days 1b and then day three were Antony Lellouche and Jeff Sarwer respectively. Today on the Algarve, on day two of the inaugural EPT Vilamoura, the chip leaders are Jeff Sarwer and Antony Lellouche respectively. It's deja vu all over again.

Sarwer got a good chunk of his chips by knocking out his friend (and Warsaw table-mate) Shaun Deeb; Lellouche got a good deal of his chips by knocking out fellow EPT phenomenon Jason Mercier. Oh, the symmetry.

Jeff Sarwer

Those were the two biggest stories on a day where we sliced the overnight field of 177 down to a far more manageable 71. It took five levels in a spacious ballroom by the sea in southern Portugal, and now all the players have slipped off to enjoy an early night in the bars and restaurants of Vilamoura.

What we're left with is the chip count, which shows those familiar names at the very summit -- Sarwer with 545,900; Lellouche with 484,700 -- ahead of a clutch of other luminaries of this game.

Antony Lellouche

On the final hand of the day, the Team PokerStars Pro Ruben Visser took a monstrous pot from Andy Black. "Do I really have to count my chips?" Visser said at the end. When he got round to it, he had 389,000, good for third place.

Ruben Visser

That edged Visser ahead of Ljubomir Josipovic, who carried his overnight lead up to 371,700 tonight, and Martin Wendt, who found a bigger full house to down Matt Nieberg and put the Dane in the leading pack.

Ljubomir Josipovic


Joao Barbosa (109,700), on home soil, remains in with a chance of extending his terrific EPT cash run, while his countryman and Team PokerStars Pro Nuno Coelho (28,900) has lasted to fight another day. Team Pro has had a good one: Johannes Strassmann ended with 120,100, Jan Heitmann has 173,800 and Alex Kravchenko finished with 27,100. Jude Ainsworth, on his debut in the familiar livery, has a terrific 230,000.

Jude Ainsworth

The internet's Johan "busto_soon" van Til (259,000) and Jim "Mr_BigQueso" Collopy (176,000) will return for day three in the real world, when we will play through the money bubble and closer to the €404,793 first prize.

Take a look back at all the action from the day with the level-by-level updates:

Level nine updates
Level ten updates
Level 11 updates
Level 12 updates
Level 13 updates

And watch video blogs until your eyes bleed at PokerStars.tv.

That's round about that for this evening. Stay tuned through the wee hours for action from the LAPT in Costa Rica. We'll be back here at noon GMT tomorrow for day three.

Until then, a harbour.

A harbour, today