Simon Young is taking over the usual blogging duties of Brad "Otis" Willis for the European Poker Tour event in Dortmund, Germany. The EPT event and tour are supported by Pokerstars.com is carrying a weighty 672,000 Euro prize to the man or woman who manages to defeat the 493 runner that put up 5,000 Euros for the chance to sling cards with the rest of the pros.

The event is currently down to its last 14 runners going into tomorrow, and you can follow the action coming from the Casino Hohensyberg by reading along with Simon at the Pokerstars blog.

Here's a sampling of one of Simon's posts:

As predicted, after a tight period up to the bubble there appears to have been a head-long rush to the exit - or the bar, at least. We are now down to 38 players, meaning we lost ten in just half an hour.

Those we have lost since the money kicked in include Sverre Sundbo of Norway, PokerStars Spanish qualifiers Pablo Rua and Jose-Luis Navarro, and Jim Kerrigan.

Navarro was particularly unlucky. England's Ben Grundy moved all in with just 7-5 off suit, called by the Spaniard with A-10. Flop had both the ace and a 5, the turn was a blank but the river was a 7, crippling Navarro, and Grundy spinning upwards. With just a few chips left, the Spaniard was out soon after.

We have a host of big stacks, but no one is racing away with the lead. The blinds have just gone up to 5,000-10,000 with 1,000 ante, and those fighting for the top include Johnny Lodden, the Norwegian who started the day as chip leader, then fell away again. He has 270,000.

Other big stacks: Andreas Hagen, Norway, 230,000, Dirk Specht 269,000, Philip Yeh from Sweden on 280,000.