Level 24 began at 10.50pm BST. The blinds are 15,000-30,000 with a 3,000 running ante. We started the level with nine players, we need to lose one more until the final table is set.

11.40pm: Sjodin’s renaissance is over as he runs another A-J into the kings of Eric Liu. Liu calls, obviously, and there is no ace on flop, turn or river, sending the Swede out in ninth earning £50,574. Our final table is set.

11.35pm: Vague excitement, when Johannes Strassmann raises from under the gun and Erik Sjodin moves all in from the small blind, announcing his intention with a phrase that can’t be repeated on a family blog, but which suggested he’d had enough of this and didn’t care too much what happened from here on in. Strassman was put to the test for a total of 249,000 and eventually made an unlikely pass, given the odds he was getting. The Swede claimed he had A-J. “How could you shove with that?” asked the German.

11.25pm: And there’s another succesful three bet, this time by Phillippe Dauteuil who moves all in after Johannes Strassmann makes a standard raise. It works.

11.15pm: The best exponents of the three-bet are out in force around this table and they’re getting the right results. With the notable exceptions detailed below, a re-raise pre-flop is taking this down and that’s its strength.

11.05pm: Very strange moment, as Anthony Lellouche folds A-J face up to Alan Smurfit’s pre-flop push. Smurfit has 300,000 and Lellouche is the monster stack, but he still opts to lay it down. Smurfit rubs his nose in it by flipping A-7. As mentioned earlier, Smurfit is not quite as tight as they all seem to think.

10.55pm: Wow. Massive double up for Marcin Horecki who sucks out horridly/masterfully against Johannes Strassmann. Horecki moves his short stack of about 210,000 all in from the button and the German shooting star calls instantly with the big blind. Strassman has aces, Horecki a lowly Q-9h. But after a harmless flop, the turn and river are both nines and the Team PokerStars Pro is back in this one.

10.50pm: The chip counts at the start of the level are:

Michael Martin - 772,000
Anthony Lellouche - 1,345,000
Michael Tureniec - 1,065,000
Eric Liu - 747,000
Johannes Strassmann - 872,000
Alan Smurfit - 317,000
Philippe Dauteuil - 432,000
Marcin Horecki - 210,000
Erik Sjodin - 234,000

There were 10 players remaining at the start of level 23. They’re playing on two tables and will play down to a final table of eight tonight.

10.45pm: Erik Sjodin made it 50,000 to go and Johannes Strassmann slid in another tower of chips, putting the Swede to the test for another 125,000. He folded.

10.40pm: Alan Smurfit is believed by all the players, including those now exiled to the EPT commentary box, to be an exceptionally tight player. When he recently opened under-the-gun, Jason Mercier put him on nothing less than pocket tens or A-K. When Erik Sjodin then moved all in, Smurfit thought for ages before letting it go. For what it’s worth, I reckon Smurfit is looser than they’re giving him credit for. Two reasons behind that belief: firstly, he’s been around the modern game with great success (including a bracelet win) for some time, and you don’t have such success as a nit. Secondly, he’s Irish. So my read on that, for what it’s worth, is that he was trying to use his reputation to pick up the blinds and got caught out.

10.37pm: With these huge blinds - 10,000-20,000 - some of the players are mighty short-stacked. They’ve got something like 12 or 13 big blind only.

10.30pm: The two players under pressure are Marcin Horecki and Erik Sjodin and one of their stacks is going to be in the middle pretty soon. Each might be waiting for the other to slip up, but sooner or later one of them will be making the move. In the meantime, the big stacks are content to keep bullying one another and picking up what they can.

10.15pm:The final nine are cramped around what will tomorrow become an eight-handed final table. Their chips at 10.15pm were:
Michael Martin - 937,000
Anthony Lellouche - 1,309,000
Michael Tureniec - 1,086,000
Eric Liu - 698,000
Johannes Strassmann - 606,000
Alan Smurfit - 412,000
Philippe Dauteuil - 359,000
Marcin Horecki - 303,000
Erik Sjodin - 282,000

9.40pm: With nine players left, they’re now conducting a redraw and compressing the field onto one table. This will take about 10 minutes, and then we’ll go in search of our final eight. Or, more realistically, we’ll go in search of the unlucky No9 who will bubble off the final table proper.

9.35pm: A huge pot just played out between Tureniec and Gjesdal, the Swede and the Norwegian getting it all in pre-flop with As-9s and 6-6, respectively. Two spades on the flop and a third on the turn gave the nut flush to Tureniec, which accounted for Gjesdal. He was out in 10th spot for £50,574. Tureniec goes to the final nine with more than a million in chips.

We’re into level 22 in London, where the blinds are 6,000-12,000 with a 1,000 ante. The plan is to play to a final eight tonight.

9.30pm: And that’s it for Busch. He gets his very small stack in pre-flop and is knocked out by whoever made the mandatory call. He really was that short that it didn’t even matter the hands nor the precise amount, which is just as well because I missed it. Busch was magnanimous and humble in defeat, admitting that he hit a two-outer on day one to stay alive so was already lucky to be here. He takes £35,891 for his 11th place.

9.25pm: A massive hand just played out on the outer table, where Anthony Lellouche doubled up through the American PokerStars qualifier Peter Busch. They both had equal and sizeable stacks which went in on a flop of Ks-Kh-7s. Lellouche had K-Q and Busch had Js-5s. The flush draw got there on the turn but it was the queen of spades which game Lellouche a full house. Busch was completely crippled.

9.05pm: The full official chip counts were given to us at the end of level 21. You can see them here. The full official payouts page has been updated too. You can find that here.

9pm: David Benyamine is out, the latest short-stacked casualty. In a raised pot, the board comes 9c-9d-2c and Benyamine check-raises all in, giving the PokerStars qualifier Michael Tureniec from Sweden a decision for 209,000. Eventually the Swede makes the call and shows A-K. He’s in good shape against Benyamine’s Qc-10c and the flush draw doesn’t hit through turn and river. The well-known French player is gone.

8.55pm: PokerStars player Johannes Strassmann moves all-in with A-K against the A-T of chipleader Michael Martin. The German pro doubles up when he makes the nuts on the river, the board being 8-J-8-T-Q.

8.50pm: The PokerStars qualifier from Canada, Christopher Wolters is out. He moves all in from mid position pre-flop and Eric Liu flat calls from the button. That seems a little sneaky - the commentators wonder why he hasn’t reraised - but the answer is soon apparent when Alan Smurfit folds his big blind. Liu has pocket kings and probably wanted Smurfit to come along for the ride as well. But it wasn’t to be and it initially seems like it’s got even worse when Wolters shows A-2 but flops an ace. The turn, however, is another king and it puts Liu back in the lead. He is up to 720,000 and Wolters gets £26,102 for 13th.

8.40pm: Raise, shove, fold. Raise, shove, fold. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Most recently, David Benyamine raises, Marcin Horecki shoves and Benyamine folds. Horecki flashes A-Q. Nex hand, Alan Smurfit raises, David Benyamine shoves and Smurfit ponders whether to call another 192,000. Eventually he … folds.

8.35pm:: This is how it’s going to be: Eric Liu raises pre-flop, and the PokerStars qualifier Frode Gjesdal reraises all in for another 189,000, a total of 307,000. Liu calls but there’s nothing spectacular. Both players have A-Q and they chop it up.

8.26pm: The first hand back after the break accounts for the PokerStars player Gualter Salles. He re-raises Eric Liu all in from the button and he has pocket jacks. Liu calls for about 140,000, making what was probably a correct mathematical call with ace-jack. Salles was a big favourtite but an ace flops and Salles’s tournament is over. He takes £26,102 for 14th place.

There are 14 players at the midpoint of level 21, with the plan to play down to the final eight this evening. We’ll be shifting the coverage to a time-stamped style update from now on.

8.10pm: That’s the end of the level and they’re taking a 15 minute break.

8.05pm:On the last hand of the level, Marcin Horecki opens the pot from under-the-gun and is reraised by Alan Smurfit on the button. Horecki doesn’t think too long before flashing A-Q and folding, testament to the respect Smurfit commands at this table.

7.55pm: Gualter Salles picks off the cut-off raise of Eric Liu, shoving all in when the American makes it 31,000. Salles has another 130,000 and Liu doesn’t fancy it. Then Marcin Horecki does the same to David Benyamine and picks up about 35,000 of his own.

7.50pm: Johannes Strassmann was one of the huge stacks overnight and although he’s lost a chunk today, he’s still in there. He spoke about his day to the video bloggers.

Watch EPT London 08 Day 3: Johannes Strassman on PokerStars.tv

7.45pm: The tournament’s dominant stack is that of Michael Martin. It’s truly immense and we’ll try to get a count at some point. On the feature table, it’s Ireland’s Alan Smurfit with the most - something like 500,000.

Two eliminations and two crazy double ups since the return. The first player to go out was the PokerStars qualifier Joe Elpayaa, who gave one of those rueful post-elimination interviews that often come from a man who has spent six card-dead hours and then runs into a genuine hand when he makes a move.

The next player out was a real shock: the Italian Max Pescatori was vanquished by the only player who could have taken him out, Michael Martin. And it was a rotter. Pocket kings against pocket aces, with both players hitting a set and all their monstrous stacks going into the middle. Martin now has more chips than the cashier’s cage, about a quarter of all in play.

On the feature table, which you should be watching on EPT Live, Marcin Horecki and Christopher Wolters just traded outdraws. Firstly Wolters’ K-Q beat Horecki’s A-K for a timely double up, but then Horecki got some of them back when he double up through the same player. His 6s-7s made a flush (and a straight, just to make sure) and beat Wolters’ J-J. As you were.