People are busting out left and right, but not much of them leave the tournament room indefinitely. Most of them go straight to the cashier to commit another $1,500 for another shot at it.
There are 104 players playing right now, from 163 total entries. The average stack is 47,000.
You remember Marcel Lüske shouting "Kings are good!" in the Main Event a decade ago? Well, kings are still good, though Andrey Golubev didn't make such a show out of it like Lüske did.
Evgenii Starikov opened for 1,000 under the gun and action folded to Golubev in the small blind. He made it 2,000 to go, and the big blind quickly folded - Sarikov made the call.
Golubev checked and Starikov checked behind. Golubev checked again on the 
turn, and he called the 2,500 bet even before Starikov had the necessary chips in the pot to commit to his verbal declaration.
The river was the 
and both players checked. After some talk in a language we didn't understand (most likely Russian), Starikov mucked his cards. Golubev didn't need to show his cards, but he did. He opened 
and took down the pot.
Apparently we missed some big hands before this one as Golubev has about 38,000 after this hand.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
160,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
38,000
23,000
|
23,000 |
Level: 7
Blinds: 250/500
Ante: 75
We again missed the precise pre flop action, but we're sure that Natalia Iakovleva in the small blind got her last 5,250 in before the flop. The big blind made the call, the player under the gun called, someone in middle position called, and so did the player on the button.
Iakovleva left the table and made her way to one of the other tables, while the dealer dealt the flop: 
. By the time Iakovleva returned she saw three players check to the player on the button. Ramon Rincon bet out 8,700 and Andrey Golubev in the big blind made the call. Now Sonarstev Vyacheskov under the gun shoved all in for 20,000 exactly and the player in middle position and Rincon on the button quickly released their handa. Golubev in the big blind thought about it for a little bit, and then reluctantly called.
By this time Iakovleva was back in her seat and showed her 
. She had the absolute nuts, and wasn't in too much trouble against both hands. Golubev was desperately in need of a five with 
, Vyacheskov had 
.
The 
on the turn gave Golubev some more outs, but the 
pairing the board wasn't one of them.
The main pot went to Iakovleva, making for a full quintuple up. Vyacheskov won the big side pot and Golubev licked his wounds.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
40,000 | |
|
|
26,650
-3,350
|
-3,350 |
|
|
15,000 |
We're not sure who exactly is the chip leader, there's a lot of players and not many of them stack their chips in twenties. But it appears as Evgenii Starikov might be on top of them all, with about 145,000 in chips and towers of chips reaching till his chin.
We just saw Starikov eliminate a player. After opening himself, he called a shove from one of the shorter stacks on the table.
Starikov's opponent showed the 
with another card that looked like an ace underneath it. "Aces" smiled his opponent. It wasn't really. He slid the aside and revealed his other card to be the 
. Starikov now showed his 
, about the last hand his opponent wanted to see probably.
The 
made for a quick exit for Starikov's opponent. Though he had a miracle runner runner possibility to double up, he wouldn't be that lucky today. By the time the 
hit the turn, Starikov's opponent had already exited and the on the river was there just to make things official.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
145,000 |
The tournament clocks shows us there have been 156 entries so far today. Of those 156 entries, 119 players remain at the moment. That makes for an average stack just shy of 40,000.
Alexandr Komarrov hasn't made a comeback today. Not on this bullet, that's for sure. He only had 2,000 after that last crucial hand, and has been eliminated not much later.
Atanas Gueorguiev has a crispy 30,000 stack in front of him and a different seat than the last time we saw him in the tournament. When we put two and two together, we can make the conclusion that Gueorguiev most likely busted and re-entered.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000
-5,000
|
-5,000 |
|
|
Busted |
Level: 6
Blinds: 200/400
Ante: 50
It sounds like the title of a corny poker movie, but it's not. Well, it's not yet, and we're using it to describe Alexandr Komarrov's big hand just now.
We missed the pre flop action, but there was already around 9,000 in the middle by the time the dealer put the 
-flop on the table.
Both Alexandr Komarrov and Mikhails Morozov checked to Denis Simionel. Simionel from Moldova bet out 5,300 with about 19,000 behind. Komarrov check raised to 13,600 and Morozov quickly released.
Action was back on Simionel who had a big decision. Eventually he shoved all in for 24,700 and Komarrov tossed in a single green 25 chip to indicate the call.
| Alexandr Komarrov |   |
| Denis Simionel |   |
Komarrov had a big draw with a pair, flush draw, and back door straight draw, but he was in bad shape against Simionel's set of sixes. The 
on the turn didn't help Komarrow, and pairing his nine with the on the river didn't do him any good either.
Simionel Komarrow made a silent fist pump, Alexandr Komarrov looked unfazed and continued with his mere 2,000 in chips.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
58,400
58,400
|
58,400 |
|
|
2,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
We just saw Denis Stoma from Belarus, who finished fourth in the Russian Poker Tour Main Event for $17,000 earlier this week, end up all in before the flop holding . His opponent was Alexander Kupryanov from Russia who had 
.
The board didn't display any ace or king, there was just a single heart out there, and no straight for Stoma: 
.
That meant Stoma had to give 30.575 of his heard earned chips to his Russian opponent. Stoma continues with a little under 15,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
62,000 | |
|
15,000 |
