Rounding out the top 5 after play today were Elie Payan (141,800), Julien Claudepierre (128,200) and Marchel Masaladzhiu (114,600).

Brammer, Dempsey, Scott Head Survivors

As per usual on the EPT, another elite field of pros an amateurs is in close pursuit.

Over 330 players hit the felt in Deauville today with just over 200 surviving the day.

One of those players to survive is PartyPoker rep and WSOP Host Kara Scott, who clung to 38,200 chips to keep her chances alive heading into Day 2.

Other notable players to make it through the day include Brits Chris “NigDawG” Brammer (80,700) and James Dempsey (50,900), Dutch pro Ruben Visser (43,600), Russian Alexander Dovzhenko (41,200), Irishman Dermot Blain (11,400) and Frenchman Arnaud Mattern (6,300).

Duhamel, Deeb Done

Notables to hit the rail today were 2010 WSOP champ Jonathan Duhamel, Shaun Deeb, Martin Jacobsen, Max Heinzelmann, Pierre Neuville and Constant Rijkenberg.

Organizers expect up to twice the amount of players for Day 1b tomorrow.

Tune in to the PokerStars blog for live coverage.

Duhamel trails chip leader Jason Koon by just over 100k in chips, as Koon snuck into the lead on the very last hand of the night when he scooped a 360k pot.

Coming off a horrible Christmas that saw him attacked and robbed in his own home, Duhamel has rebounded in style with over $500k in cashes already and a chance for a whole lot more.

First-place in the $25k High Roller pays $1.13 million.

Haxton Heads Multinational Cast

The rest of the final table chasing the million+ is an interesting mix of veteran pros from around in the world.

Chip leader Koon is a veteran pro in his own right with over $400k in career live earnings and over $2.4 won online.

Third in chips coming into the final tomorrow is Chilean Nicholas Fierro with 1.18 million.

Known as the “PokerKaiser” online, Fierro has over $3.3 million in online earnings to go with around $770k in cashes from live events.

Fourth is Russian Leonid Bilokur, with about $350k in career earnings, who will enter the final table with 1.1 million in chips.

Entering fifth is veteran pro Isaac Haxton.

With 762,00 in chips, Haxton still has plenty of room to make a move and the experience to pull it off.

He also has a history of success at the PCA, finishing second to Ryan Daut in the 2008 Main Event for $800k.

Rounding out the final eight are Dutchman Govert Metaal with 545,000 in chips, 2012 Player to Watch Michael Telker with 397,000 and PokerStars Team Online pro Randy Lew, who is the short stack on 197,000 in chips.

Metaal finished fifth in the 2011 PCA High Roller, Telker came second in a $2k side event this year and Lew is coming off a win at APPT Macau at the end of last year.

Yunis, McDonald are Bubble Boys

Busting out in ninth to miss the final table was Nick Yunis, who still took home a nice $79,770 for a seat he won in a last-minute satellite after busting out with his forst buy-in.

Players to make the money but fall short of the final table included 2011 WSOPE Main Event champ Elio Fox (16th - $58,020), businessman Bill Perkins (15th - $58,020), veteran pro Matt Marafioti (11th - $72520) and Norwegian high-stakes crusher Terje Augdal (10th - $79,770).

Virtually every player to bust out in the high roller today was a big name but some of the more prominent were Andrew Lichtenberger, Sam Stein, Chino Rheem, Galen Hall, JP Kelly, Barry Greenstein and Jennifer Harman.

Mike ‘Timex” McDonald was the cash bubble boy, busting out in 17th.

Final Table Streaming Live Tomorrow

Players looking to watch the action live can check it out on PokerStars.tv starting at 2 pm (EST).

Here are their chip stacks and seat positions:

Peaking at around 1.2 million, Jaka fell back a bit at the end of the last level but still has almost twice as much as his nearest competitor, Cristian Folescu with 555,500, heading into Day 3.

Starting Day 2 with just under 130,000 in chips, Jaka had a day most players only dream of and will be looking to add the $2 million first-place prize at the PCA to his over $4.7 million in career tournament earnings live and online.

Joining Jaka tomorrow will be 188 players who also made it through the trials of Day 2.

With the money not starting until 160 players, however, another 28 will still leave Atlantis with nothing to show for their efforts.

Remaining Field Packed with Big Names

In the top 10 in chips are tourney vet Erik Cajelais (528,500) online poker star Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil (412,500) and PokerStars pros Arnaud Mattern (340,500) and Luca Pagano (280,000).

Also still in the hunt and well stacked are former PCA champ Harrison Gimbel (259,500), 2012 Player to Watch Marcel Bjerkmann (250,000), reigning PCA champ Galen Hall (192,500), 2011 November Niner Phil Collins (190,000), Adam “Roothlus” Levy (175,000) and David “Raptor” Benefield (165,500).

Similarly almost all of the 188 still in contention are huge names including Randy Lew, Andrew Lichtenberger, Barry Greenstein, Shawn Buchanan, Liv Boeree, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Dario Minieri and Carlos Mortenson.

Another huge name also surprisingly still in contention?

PGA superstar Sergio Garcia, who may or may not actually be good at poker but has 104,500 chips regardless and will return with the poker heavyweights for Day 3.

Notable bustees today included Christian Harder, Kevin MacPhee, Lex Veldhuis, Boris Becker, Russell Carson, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Vanessa Selbst and Chino Rheem, who had the unfortunate honor of being moved to Faraz Jaka’s right and ran out of chips just two rounds later.

The remaining players will reassemble at the Atlantis Resort starting again at noon tomorrow to play down towards the final table.

Catch up with all of the action live in the PokerStars blog.

Coming into the day in the middle of the pack of the final eight, Blom held steady until the money bubble burst at five players before taking control and busting all of the remaining players.

Daniel Negreanu in fifth ($250,990), Jonathan Duhamel in fourth ($313,600) and Galen Hall in third ($470,400) all fell at the hand of Isildur before he steamrolled runner-up Dan Shak ($846,700) to seal the win.

An online poker icon already, Team PokerStars pro Blom picked an impressive first live tournament to win with an agonizingly tough field.

Along with the above, players making the final eight but missing out on the money today were Scott Seiver, who was the unfortunate bubble boy, Mike "Timex" McDonald and Humberto Brenes.

Playing the event but busting out before the final table were Erik Seidel, Jason Mercier, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Isaac Haxton and 2011 Bluff Player of the Year Eugene Katchalov, just to name a few.

The final five and their payouts, courtesy of the PokerStars blog:

1. Viktor "Isildur1" Blom $1,254,400

2. Dan Shak $846,700

3. Galen Hall $470,400

4. Jonathan Duhamel $313,000

5. Daniel Negreanu $250,990

Duhamel was the only one of the cashing players (and one of only two overall - Bill Perkins was the other) to originally bust out but take advantage of the rebuy option, cutting his profit down to just over $100k.

Reigning PCA main event champ Hall also still has a chance to defend his title as the 2012 main event just got underway today with Day 1a. He'll play Day 1b tomorrow.

For a recap of all of today's action and to follow the live updates for the main event, visit the PokerStars blog.

Check the PL news section later for a recap of Day 1a.

Repik played and busted the $100k High Roller event here on Thursday and raced out to a huge chip stack - around 150k - before the dinner break today.

He then proceeded to take a three-hour break before returning to the felt.

Whatever he did seemed to work for him however as he quickly built his stack up to 250k before falling back a bit and bagging up 220k to end the day as chip leader.

A total of 418 runners bought in for Day 1a and around 200 of them managed to survive for Day 2 on Monday.

Among the more notable names to make it included one of our picks as a "Player to Watch for 2012," Marcel "p3rc4" Bjerkmann, who bagged up 166,000 to finish the day fifth in chips.

Also making the cut with a healthy stack were Faraz Jaka (129,500), Adam "Roothlus" Levy (112,100), Victor Ramdin (111,000), JC Alvarado (107,200) and Jude Ainsworth (103,300).

Notable bustouts today included Shaun Deeb, Justin Smith, Tristan Wade, Matt Stout, Chris Moneymaker, Chris Moorman, Johnny Lodden and Isaac Haxton.

Organizers are expecting an even bigger turnout for Day 1b tomorrow.

Catch all the action live starting at noon (EST) with the PokerStars team on the PStars blog.

For a recap of Viktor "Isildur1" Blom's win in the $100k High Roller, click here.

At the time this article was published there were already 194 players signed up for the qualifier, good enough for nine seats to the Aussie Millions.

While not a freeroll (direct buy-in is $525), it is possible to make it into the massive qualifier for as little as $1.10 in the sub-qualifiers.

Don’t have an 888poker account? It’s a good time to sign up as the site is still offering $4,500 in new depositor’s freerolls.

888poker is also running a special $100k First Depositor’s Challenge where new players can entry into the $100k Sunday Challenge and potentially walk away with some life-changing cash.

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This is all in addition to 888poker’s industry-leading free $8 offer where players sign up for an account and instantly receive $8 to play with.

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To learn more be sure to check our 888poker review.

The maximum prison sentence for bank fraud is 30 years but Beckley will likely serve 12-18 months under his plea agreement, Reuters says.

"I knew that it was illegal to accept credit cards from players to gamble on the Internet," Beckley said before his plea, according to the report.

"I knew it was illegal to deceive the banks in this way."

Beckley, also referred to as "Director of Payments" at the hearing, told Judge Ronald Ellis that Absolute Poker accepted credit cards from US players between 2006 and April 2011 and disguised the payments, contravening the UIGEA.

Beckley admitted to hiring Ira Rubin in 2008 to process e-checks for Absolute as payroll processing, affiliate marketing or online electronics merchant transactions.

Rubin is also said to be nearing a plea deal.

Sentencing for Beckley is set for April 19.

Beckley is one of eleven defendants in the case brought by the US Department of Justice against Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker/UB.com on April 15th, now known as Black Friday in the poker industry.