As of 6:31 according to the PokerStars Blog there are 53 players left battling for the EPT Monte Carlo title taking place at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel and Resort.

The bubble burst 12 players ago and finds several "name brand" players current still rounding for the 1.8 million Euro first prize, largest poker prize by far for the european poker tour (EPT). As I'm typing in this update there's a live web cast of this tourney that is coming thru at broadband speeds and clarity that shows just how far poker has come. With hole cameras (not in use of course due to the live broadcasting) and being able to watch the middle parts of a tourney versus the all-in fest you'd see during a TV replay of the World Series of Poker on ESPN or World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel, shows "real" poker with steals, re-steals, and just how did that chip leader amass the Sears Tower sizes rows of multi-colored checks. Along with color commentary, its free entertainment for the poker junkie in you on the internet.

Click here to jump to the coverage.

Below is a quick snippet of the PokerStars blog coverage:

5:39pm--Norway's Johnny Lodden is out. Not so long ago he was running into the hundreds of thousands - but he just threw his last 40,000 into a pot with Gavin Griffin and lost. A short while before he lost 50,000 when his 5-5 failed to improve against an all-in player's J-J. We'll try and establish what happened to the rest of his pile. Meanwhile, I've just returned from doing a commentary stint on www.eptlive.com (Simon Young) where I got to look at the feature table close up for a while. Two big names dominate - Ram Vaswani from England and Spain's Carlos Mortensen. But PokerStars qualifier Jan Veit from Germany - who took up poker just 12 months ago - is showing little respect. And no fear. Even on the bubble, and with 80,000 chips or so, he was mixing it up with the pros. On the bubble itself, he re-raised Ram all in, forcing a fold.

5:34pm--Some quick bustouts after the bubble, including Anthony Chatelain (who is all smiles following his squeak into the money) and Badgirl Pham, who just busted off the feature table.

5:14pm--As I typed the last, a Chris Bjorin got his money in with a flush draw and overs. He missed twice and left in 65th place. Now down to 64, we're in the money. The 3,500 stack, Anthony Chatelain, made it to the cash. Now, things will likely go much, much faster.