€5,000 EPT Kyiv Main Event Day 2 | 2009 PokerStars.net EPT Kyiv

€5,000 EPT Kyiv Main Event

Day 2 Completed

08-20-2009 19:36 UTC+3

Day 2 is Done-zo

[user66118]

Max Lykov will lead the pack to start Day 3

Day 2 of the EPT Kyiv is history, and it came and went in a whirlwind. The game began with 203 players unbagging their chips and taking to the felt for some eight-handed action here on moving day. Right from the starting gun, the dealer calls of, "Seat open," came at a torrid pace as we dropped 40 players within the first 75-minute level.

Vitaly Lunkin would become one of the early casualties when his pair and straight draw couldn't improve against the top pair of fellow-Russian Alekseu Tsessarsky. Team PokerStars Pros Katja Thater and Ivan Demidov would follow a short time later, both of whom struggled to develop any momentum in the early going. Alexander Rykov came into the day in seventh place overall, but he too would be eliminated during the grind of the second level, and Jason Kudron would soon meet his own demise after starting the day in third. Other victims of this Day 2 included Cristian Dragomir, Alexander Kostritsyn, Faraz Jaka, Shaun Deeb, and Nicolas Levi. Also along the way we lost our final Team PokerStars Pro when Alex Kravchenko hit the rail after running his {A-Clubs}

into an opponent's {A-Hearts}

.

On the flip side of things, it was the EPT's familiar face of Dragan Galic that took command of the early part of the day. With his selective aggression and a couple of big laydowns, Galic picked his way to the top of the board. His reign wouldn't last long though as he took a big tumble and had to ride a marginal stack the rest of the way.

After that, there were four or five players who traded the chip lead back and forth for the remainder of the evening. When play wrapped up, it was Max Lykov who stood atop the hill, stuffing his chip bag with an impressive 397,900 chips, good for almost 200 big blinds! Notables still in the mix include overnight chip leader Viktor Ivanov (235,000), Estonian Priit Turner (233,400), Andrew Malott (187,200), Lika Gerasimova (180,400), and Dutch online qualifier Menno Mulder (126,500). In total, just 68 players survived long enough to bag up their chips and return tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, play will resume at high noon as we make the Day 3 run to the final four tables. The plan is to play down to 32 players, and that task is likely to take only a few levels. Thanks for following along with us today; join us right back here tomorrow for lots more action. Until then, goodnight from the Kyiv Sport Palace!

Tags: Max Lykov

08-20-2009 19:21 UTC+3

Three More Hands

Shamus

With ten minutes left in our final level of the day, the tourney clock has been stopped and the announcement has been made that players will play three more hands, then call it a night.

08-20-2009 19:14 UTC+3

Fitzgerald Finds His Card

[user66118]

From late position, Alex Fitzgerald opened with a raise to 5,100. In one of the blinds, Alexey Maslov three-bet it up to 16,800, and Fitzgerald eventually moved all in for a total of 54,500. After a short pause, his opponent made the call to put Fitzgerald at risk.

Fitzgerald tabled {K-Clubs}

, and he was pleased to see that he was drawing live versus the {A-Diamonds}

of Maslov. The flop brought another reason to be happy as it came {3-Clubs}

to pull Fitzgerald into a big lead. The turn {8-Spades}

sealed the deal, giving him the unbeatable trip eights, and securing him a double up back over 100,000 for the first time in many hours.

Tags: Alex Fitzgerald Alexey Maslov

08-20-2009 19:01 UTC+3

Meyburg on the Move

Shamus

With about 14,000 already in the middle and the flop showing {7-Spades}

, Raoul Refos checked and Michael Meyburg bet 8,500. Refos called. The turn was the {8-Clubs}

. Refos checked again, and this time Meyburg bet 24,000. Refos thought about it, then let it go.

Refos has 69,000, while Meyburg has built his stack up to 285,000 -- close to the chip lead.

Tags: Michael Meyburg

08-20-2009 18:59 UTC+3

Mattern For the Worse

[user66118]

We just caught the tail end of the action, but it turned out to be a pretty sizable pot relative to the chip stack of Arnaud Mattern, who was the aggressor in this heads-up confrontation.

On the turn, the board showed {4-Diamonds}

, and Mattern made a bet of somewhere around 10,000, though the exact amount is unclear. Luca Falaschi thought it over for a quick minute before making the call, and the river brought the {8-Hearts}

. Mattern took quite a while to eye up the size of the pot and figure out an appropriate bet, and he eventually settled on 12,400, sliding the chips into the middle of the felt in a long string. Falaschi took only a few seconds to plunk in the calling chips, and Mattern could only tap the felt and say, "You win."

Falaschi flipped over the {3-Hearts}

, but Mattern made him show his other card, the {6-Hearts}

, before returning his cards to the muck. That pot cost the French pro close to half his chip stack; he's dropped back to 31,000 now.

Tags: Arnaud Mattern Luca Falaschi

08-20-2009 18:49 UTC+3

Triple Dutch

[user66118]

All three of the remaining Dutch players have been doing some work over the last hour or so. Raoul Refos was riding a relatively short stack for much of the much of the day, but he's been steadily chipping up for some time now to find himself sitting with 92,000. Ad Schaap was carrying the Dutch national hopes for a while today, and he's still been smoothly working his way toward the top. He's on 155,000 now, but he's not the country's leader anymore.

Online qualifier Menno Mulder has come from seemingly nowhere to amass a very healthy chip stack. He just dropped by to see Refos and relay a recent hand, and it ended with the two men bumping fists and congratulating each other's progress. Mulder has vaulted up to 210,000 which puts him comfortably in the top ten.

Tags: Menno Mulder

08-20-2009 18:40 UTC+3

The Levi Breaks

Shamus

We began Day 2 reporting some humorous table talk between Nicolas Levi and Shaun Deeb. Unfortunately for Levi, he, too, has just hit the rail, his ouster coinciding closely with Deeb's.

Oleksandr Ziv and Mikhail Mazunin are also among those eliminated. There are presently 74 players left.

Tags: Nicolas Levi

08-20-2009 18:38 UTC+3

Shaun of the Dead; Deeb Out

Shamus

Shaun Deeb opened with a raise preflop, and Jonas Kronwitter, sitting on Deeb's left, reraised behind. It folded back around and Deeb called, making for a pot of about 30,000.

The flop came {6-Diamonds}

. Deeb checked, Kronwitter bet 17,000, and Deeb check-raised all in for about 80,000. Kronwitter made the call, turning over {Q-Hearts}

, well ahead of Deeb's {3-Hearts}

.

The turn was the {10-Diamonds}

and the river was the {Q-Spades}

, and Deeb hits the rail. Kronwitter pushes up close to 300,000, and is presently challenging Priit Turner for the chip leader.

Tags: Shaun Deeb

08-20-2009 18:29 UTC+3

Prydryk Picks Up Some More

Shamus

Ruslan Prydryk opened with a raise to 5,000 from under the gun, and the table folded back around to the player in the big blind who called. The flop came {2-Spades}