EPT Prague: Day 1a, level seven and eight updates

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.