Nicolas Chouity has just been eliminated at the hands of EPT Prague champion Martin Finger.
We joined the action having seen Finger raise to 2,400 from middle position, Per Ummer call to his direct left and the action pass to Chouity in the big blind. Chouity pondered all of his options before settling on a raise to 6,700 in total. Finger made the call, as did Ummer.
The flop came down and Chouity fired out a bet of 4,700, leaving himself around 20,000 chips behind. Finger eventually called but Ummer left them to it and folded.
The appeared on the turn and now Chouity checked and he had the look of a man who had backed himself into a sticky situation. Both he and Finger were now short and it seemed inevitable the chips were going to end up in the middle sooner rather than later. Finger bet just 5,500 and Chouity looked resigned to calling, which is what he did.
The river was the and Chouity checked for a second time but Finger pounced and moved all-in for 15,000, covering Chouity by just a couple of thousand chips. Chouity left out a big audible sigh before making the call but he mucked his hand when he saw Finger had been sat their with all along.
Chouity slammed his identification tag onto the felt before gathering his belongings and leaving the tournament area. Finger on the other hand --pardon the pun — is back in business with 63,000 chips.
In a three-way three-bet pot the dealer put out a board of , Per Ummer had checked, as did Day 1a chip leader Maxim Panyak before Andras Nemeth slid out a bet of 7,200.
Ummer min-check-raised to 14,400 and Panyak folded, Nemeth called to see a dangerous looking on the turn. Ummer thought for a moment before deciding to check a second time and Nemeth didn't waste too long before opting to move all in.
Ummer looked uncomfortable and unimpressed, he rechecked his cards then gave up the pot that cost him almost half his stack.
Chino Rheem and fellow huge stack Hüsnü Sincar have been seated directly next too each other. They have a 539,000 chips combined so this could have a huge bearing on the outcome of this tournament.
World Series of Poker bracelet winner Dominik Nitsche opened to 2,500 from late position and when the action folded around to Oleg Shepelenko in the big blind he wasted no time in three-betting all-in for 23,000.
Nitsche was not prepared to make the call and his cards found their way to the muck.
It could be quite a long day for Nitsche as he is seated on the same table as his fellow German Marvin Rettenmaier. It will be interesting to see if they avoid each other or get involved in any pots together.
Gaelle Baumann has started Day 2 in the perfect way; by doubling up her relatively short stack.
The woman who finished 10th at this year's WSOP Main Event started the day with 26,500 chips, or 22 big blinds if you are that way inclined. Although not entirely short-stacked, Baumann will now has a very workable stack after doubling through Boris Fragin just moments ago.
A preflop raising war resulted in Baumann being all-in holding and finding herself up against the . The board ran out and Baumann is back in business.
Peter Bohuslav is our first casualty of the day. he started with 21,000 chips in in need of a double up but that failed to happen and he is now enjoy the free food, drink and entertainment here at the all-inclusive Merit Casino.
As the title says, welcome to Day 2 of the WPT merit Cyprus Classic Main Event where at 1:00PM EEST the 131 players who managed to survive the two starting flights will sit down and play five 90-minute levels. There will be a 15-minute break at the end of each level and no dinner break.
The man who everyone has to catch it they want to claim the title of being this tournament's chip leader is David "Chino" Rheem. Rheem ended Day 1b by bagging up a tournament leading 291,500 chip stack; almost 40,000 chips more than his nearest rival Maxim Panyak (who played Day 1a).
Along with Rheem and Panyak other big stacks include Hüsnü Sincar (247,500), the hyper-aggressive former WPT Amneville champion Sam El Sayed (214,300), Atzlan Gil (207,100) and Giuseppe Pantaleo (191,300).
Let us not forget we still have plenty of other stars in the field including but not limited to Robert and Michael Mizrachi, Team PokerStars Pro Toni Judet, Kelly Kim, Dominik Nitsche, Nicolas Chouity, Gaelle Baumann and Martin Finger. We have all the ingredients for a superb day of first class poker.
Join the PokerNews Live Reporting team from 1:00PM EEST for all the action from the WPT Merit Cyprus Classic Main Event.
While you wait, check out Lynn Gilmartin and Matt Savage, Executive Tour Director of the World Poker Tour, out on the golf course: