EPT Prague: Day 1a, level 3 and 4 updates

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

Level three blinds: 100-200
Level four blinds: 150-300

4.31pm: End of level
That's the end of level four. If my math is correct, the next level will be level five.

4.30pm: Visser on life support
Ruben Visser, who was a force in Vilamoura just a week or so ago, is not having such an enjoyable time here in Prague. He's down to his last 5,000 and desperately trying to get things going again. But it's not working. Just now he bet out with 750 but faced not only a raise to 2,000 from the next seat, but a also a re-raise to 5,150 from the button. Insta folds and the Dutchman has to wait for another spot.

4.25pm: Good table breaks
One of the more interesting tables here has been broken up, scattering the Team PokerStars Pros Marcel Luske, Florian Langmann and Arnaud Mattern around the room.

4.20pm: Interweb broke
Apologies for the radio silence in the past 40 minutes or so, but the internet decided to go down here at the Hilton in Prague. It all seems to be working again fine now, so it'll be business as usual from now on.

3.45pm: Norwegian bluff
There was a raise from a player in mid position that Andreas Hagen called from the hijack before both of them called the three-bet from the big blind to the value of 2,500. The flop came down [qd][jc][9c] and when both players checked in front of him Hagen bet 5,500. Both opponent's folded and the cheeky Norwegian opened [7h][6h] for a bluff. He's sat on 25,000 chips after that.

3.40pm: No heart for Grace
There was a limp from under-the-gun before a player in 3rd position raised to 1,300 and Richard Grace re-raised to 3,200 from the button. Both players called to see the [th][7h][4h] flop and after the UTG player checked the original raiser bet 15,025. It was the exact amount of Grace's remaining stack and he made the call all in before a fold from the UTG player left it heads-up.

Grace tabled [kd][ks] to his opponent's [as][kh] and the board ran out [5d][6d]. Grace up to 42,000 right now.

3.35pm: Filling up
Martin Jocobson raised to 775 from the hijack and was called by Joep Van den Bijgaart on the button before Julian Thew three-bet to 3,150 from the small blind. Only Jacobson called to see a [qs][jc][ad] flop where both players checked. The turn came [7s] and Thew check-called a 4,250 bet from the young Swede. The river paired the board with the [7d] and Thew check-called a 8,300 bet but nodded and mucked upon seeing Jacobson's [jh][jd] for a full-house. That puts him up to 56,000 and Thew down to 8,500.

3.20pm: Level 3 done
Level 4 is upon us

3.15pm: Getting away lightly
Sometimes running good can mean losing the absolute minimum in a pot. Winner here two years ago, Arnaud Mattern, was very happy not to lose any more than he did in a recent pot.

He raised it up with Ax[qs] from the small blind and was called by the big blind to see a [as]qx[ts] flop. Mattern led for 1,000 and called the min-raise to 2,000. Both checked when another 10 fell on the turn and then the big blind called a small bet from Mattern when a brick fell on the river. Mattern saw his two pair no good against his opponent's [ks][js]. The pot could've got a whole lot bigger if the board hadn't paired on the turn.

3.10pm: Varga gets some back
Zoltan Varga, having lost a pot to Marcin Horecki a little earlier, just got some of his money back. Horecki bet 525 from the cut-off and Varga called on the button. The flop came [6d][9s][4c] and Horecki bet 700 - only to fold when Varga fired back with 3,025.

3.05pm: De Korver's pot
Pieter de Korver, who won last season's EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, is seemingly on good form once more. He had bet 525 pre-flop and then called a 2,250 bet from the man in seat 2. On the [4d][as][7h] flop the seat two player check-called de Korver's 3,025 bet. Both then slowed down and checked the [5d] turn and [6d] river. De Korver, a Team PokerStars Pro, showed [ah][qh] and that was good enough to take the pot.

3pm: A familiar steamroller
Before the Italians took charge of this tournament last year, the man who led the charge was Konstantinos Alexiou from Greece. Alexiou built a huge stack very early and then bludgeoned all comers all the way until the final table. No surprise, then, to wander past Alexiou's table a moment ago to see him with 65,000 chips already, more than double his starting stack. Deja vu anyone?

2.55pm: Team Pros lock horns
Marcel Luske and Arnaud Mattern have been locking horns with the Dutchman coming out victorious in their recent battles.

Mattern raised from early position and was called by Luske in the small blind. Luske then check-called a flop and turn bet before leading out for 8,500 on the river. The board read [6s][kd][2c][6d][2d] and Mattern made the call only to be shown [2s][2h] Luske for quads.

The very next hand Mattern raised from under-the -gun before Luske moved all in for over 50,000. Mattern folded and Luske opened pocket aces! Both players sit a litte over 50,000.

2.45pm: Feature writing
There's a good deal of colour in Prague today, with many stories cropping up across the poker room and beyond. Here's a quick introduction to our surroundings in the majestic Czech capital; and here's what it's like on the inside.

Thomas Kremser ran us through the tournament schedule before action got under way and the personal duels began. One of those pitted the PokerStars qualifier Melanie Weisner against her online brethren Shaun Deeb. Read more about those two over here.

2.25pm: Break's over
And we're back off and running.