It's all gotten very tight after a fairly speedy first level. Konstantin Puchkov opened to 65,000 from the button and seemed to give it some serious consideration when Jonas Gutteck moved all-in from the big blind but the Russian folded, leaving himself fairly short.
Meanwhile on the other table that we're able to see (remember we have no access to the feature table at this time) Martin Jacobson opened to 60,000 from UTG before Fabrice Soulier reraised all-in from the cutoff for around 590,000. Jacobson seemed put off by the size of the bet and opted for the fold instead.
...and doubles up to 1,400,000. That might still be below his mighty top stack previously, but it's much healthier than it was half a level ago. Here's how it happened:
Vadzim Kursevich raised when it passed to him in the small blind (77,000). Fabrice Soulier in the big blind slowly counted out a re-raise - 210,000 total (with just under half a million back). Kursevich has shown an unwillingness to fold preflop (as demonstrated by his Lausinger bust) and this hand was no exception. He raised all-in and Soulier shrug-called.
Kursevich
Soulier
The flop:
The turn: He'd rather have seen a different suit...
The river:
Soulier's heart could sink back from his mouth as he regains a proper stack while Kursevich drops to 530,000.
Konstantin Puchkov has had an awful day so far - it seems as though every time we glance his way, he's losing another pot. This time we witnessed him raising to 70,000 and then folding to a 550,000 shove from Jonas Gutteck, which would have set the Russian in.
Puchkov is down to less than 370,000 now, around 12 big blinds and not much more than half what he started the day with.
Martin Jacobson min-raised in the cutoff but soon folded as Vadzim Kursevich shoved for 623,00 on the button and big blind Mikhail Lakhitov called all in for 581,000. On their backs.
Kursevich:
Lakhitov: , well ahead
Board:
Ouch. Neither player visibly reacted to the queen on the flop, but it must have been devastating to Lakhitov, who busts out in 18th place. Kursevich is now up to 1.25 million.
Fabrice Soulier opened to 69,000 from the button and Luis Jaikel made it 173,000 from the small blind.
"You started with about 700?" asked Soulier as Jaikel counted out what looked to be about 500,000 remaining. "Raise all-in," said the Frenchman.
Jaikel didn't instantly call, but he didn't fold straight away either. Soulier told him, "I want you to fold, I don't want a bad beat...I'm telling you the truth."
Finally, Jaikel folded the face up, Soulier turned over the .
Thomas Traboulsi opened to 77,000 under the gun - a somewhat suspicious bet, seeing as he had just 170,000 or under six big blinds behind. Sure enough, everyone folded, and Traboulsi showed them the .
Robin Ylitalo opened to 65,000 and Cuello Jorge Mariano flat-called behind him, these two have been sparring a lot with many 3-bet and 4-bets thrown both ways so it was interesting to see the two now play a rare flop.
Both players checked the flop and Ylitalo fired out 84,000 on the turn which the Spaniard called. The river paired the and Ylitalo now bet 168,000 and Mariano instantly called.
The Swede confidently turned over but surprisingly Mariano flipped for a better kicker. Although Mariano won the pot, you have to wonder what would've happened if either player had bet the flop or if Mariano could've raised the river and made many more chips.
An enormous hand up on the feature table ran several minutes into the break and left Team PokerStars Pro Joep van den Bijgaart with a million in chips, while extending Ben Wilinofsky's lead.
The flop read and there was a bet of roughly 205,000 in front of Wilinofsky on the button. We're not sure whether van den Bijgaart had checked the flop or bet out, but either way there was a raise/reraise to 530,000 in front of him. Wilinofsky now shoved, though, and van den Bijgaart folded.
![[user76023]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
He'd rather have seen a different suit...
, well ahead
Max Heinzelmann fired out 68,000 on the 
turn against Robin Ylitalo but the Swede made the call.
and Heinzelmann now checked and Yitalo bet 134,000. Heinzelmann now made the call but mucked when Ylitalo turned over 
.
, Jaikel with hearts and Traboulsi with spades. They high fived, calling for diamonds and clubs.
and it was all over but the second high-five as the 
completed the split, keeping them both in but both are still in ropey shape chipwise.
flop and Ylitalo fired out 84,000 on the 
and Ylitalo now bet 168,000 and Mariano instantly called.
for a better kicker. Although Mariano won the pot, you have to wonder what would've happened if either player had bet the flop or if Mariano could've raised the river and made many more chips.