[user66118]
Good morning from Kyiv and welcome back to the cavernous Sport Palace for the start of Day 3 here at the opening event of this year's PokerStars.net European Poker Tour.
With half of the event's days already in the books, our starting field of 296 has been trimmed down to a slim 68 as we commence the run to the final table. Russian Max Lykov is leading the charge, though there is a large group of players who are breathing hard down his neck. Those remaining are just now beginning to file into their seats as the chip bags come out and the dealers prepare the decks for play.
We're scheduled for a noon o'clock start today, and we expect to be underway pretty close to that time.
[user66118]
After some quick opening remarks from Tournament Director Thomas Kremser, he said those magical words, and the cards are in the air on Day 3. We'll play until we reach our final four tables (32 players) before we bag it up for the night.
Shamus
Priit Turner of Estonia has resumed his aggressive ways here on Day 3. On the first hand dealt, Jorg Peisert opened with a raise to 5,700 from middle position, and it folded back to Turner who reraised to 19,000 from the small blind. The big blind folded, and Peisert called.
The flop came . Turner promptly fired a bet of 34,100, and Peisert thought a moment before letting it go. Turner showed his as he dragged the pot.
Turner has 255,000 now, while Peisert slips to 72,000.
Shamus
Vladimir Kichigin just shoved his entire stack of 38,100 all in from under the gun, and the table folded to Lucasz Plichta who called from the cutoff. "Miami" John Cernuto folded from the button, and Jorg Peisert -- sitting in the small blind -- appeared miserable.
"Oh my God," said Peisert. "I would've snap-called if you hadn't called," he said, pointing to Plichta. Finally he folded, as did the big blind.
Kichigin showed and Plichta . The board came , and the pair split the pot. Peisert was clearly relieved once he saw that ace on the river, as he apparently folded a big pair.
"I made that mistake with tens yesterday," said Cernuto to Peisert. "You saved 38K."
Plichta remains at about 190,000, and Kichigin got his 38,000 back. Peisert has 70,000.
[user66118]
Arnaud Mattern - Out
Arnaud Mattern was lucky enough to double up on his first hand of the day. As it turned out, though, it just gave him a few more chips to go broke with.
Mattern opened the pot with a raise holding , and he would eventually get it all in after a re-raising war with Sergey Antonenko. When Antonenko tabled , Mattern shook his head and began to gather his belongings.
Indeed, the board ran out blanks for the French pro, and he has been sent to the rail here early in Day 3.
[user66118]
The action is unclear for this hand, but we walked up with all five community cards out on the board reading . Albert Sungatullin and Anatoliy Ozhemilok had all of their chips out in the middle of the felt, Sungatullin showing the winning to Ozhemilok's .
We couldn't tell when the money went in, but when the chips were counted down, Ozhemilok's loss left him with just about 5,000 funny money to play with.
On the next hand, David Sonelin opened with a raise to 6,400 holding , and Ozhemilok comminted his last few chips from the big blind with . The board ran to give Sonelin the winning Broadway straight and the knockout.
Shamus
The table had folded around to Alexander Grischuk in the small blind. Grischuk checked his cards, then looked at his below average stack of just over 60,000. He gave Bernard Boutboul a quick look over in the big blind, then let it go.
Boutboul showed Grischuk his hand -- -- and the table shared a laugh. Boutboul has 215,000 right now.
[user66118]
Sergei Pevzner opened with a raise to 7,000 and Volodymyr Zakharov made a three-bet to 22,000. Peyzner then moved all in, and Zakharov made the call for his own tournament life, committing his final 111,800 chips to the pot and showing down . The race was on as his opponent tabled .
The board would run out safe for the at-risk player, coming . With his queens holding, Zakharov notches a big double up to about 225,000. That loss slips Peyzer down into the danger zone under 15,000.
On an adjacent table, Gregory Zima was all in with himself, and he found action and a race from David Sonelin who turned over . This time though, a king on the flop spelled salvation for the overcards, Zima picking up a crucial double up to about 120,000.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. Turner promptly fired a bet of 34,100, and Peisert thought a moment before letting it go. Turner showed his 
as he dragged the pot.
and Plichta 
. The board came 
, and the pair split the pot. Peisert was clearly relieved once he saw that ace on the river, as he apparently folded a big pair.
.
, and Ozhemilok comminted his last few chips from the big blind with 
. The board ran 
.
