In addition to Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk and Martin Männamaa exiting the tournament very early in today's action, also joining a bit later but still in the first blind level was Dmitry Zaytsev.
Jens Riis is on the rail, but still in a good mood.
In a big hand, his stack became short after he was all-in with on a flop and also with a flush draw. Kirill Zemskov was holding and hit top pair when the appeared on the turn.
Shortly afterwards, Riis was all-in with and was called by Kirill Zermskov with . He hit the rails after being unable to catch-up, however, is now massaging Christoph Rueegg declaring, "I am the best masseuse."
Riis is a man who believes he is good at many things as yesterday he was the self-declared best hugger.
Vallo Maidla, Taivo Sillaste, and Tiina Tammetar are among the latest players to leave the tournament as we are down to 25 players of the 33 that started the day.
Kristo Klassen and Aleksandrs Brics are two of the latest casualties of the tournament. Currently, 23 players remain with and average stack of 82,608. Shortly, players on average will have about 27 big blinds with blinds about to go up to 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante.
Today has just not gone the same way for Enri Orav as yesterday. He has lost a few races to dwindle his stack down to 44,000.
In a recent hand, Viacheslav Novoselov raised the action to 6,500 from mid-position. Orav three-bet before Novoselov four-bet shoved all-in for 31,000. Orav quickly sighed and called.
Novoselev:
Orav:
Orav was unable to pair-up or otherwise improve his hand after the board ran out doubling up Novoselev to 64,000. Meanwhile, Orav, who started the day in second place with over 150,000 chips is down to less than 15 big blinds with 44,000.
Local Estonian player Rauno Tahvonen started the day as one of the lower stacks with 39,000. He is now among the chip leaders with a much bigger stack of 130,000.
In a recent hand, Tahvonen raised the action and Andrey Belokopytov called from the big bind. Tahvonen checked on the flop before he called a bet of 7,500 from his opponent.
Tahvonen check-called on the turn, this time for 15,000 with about another 25,000 chips still in his stack. When the hit the river, Tahvonen check-called for 15,000 again and turned over for top-pair beating Belokopytov who didn't complete his gut-shot straight holding .
Fredrik Zitting shoved from late position with . Rauno Tahvonen flat-called and Mauri Dorbek who began the day as the chip leader, shoved for 100,000. Tahvonen thought things over before folding his hand.
Zitting:
Dorbek:
Dorbek was ahead before the flop, but that changed quickly after the appeared on the board. Dorbek was then drawing dead when the completed a full-house for Zitting. Zitting tripled his stack to 93,000 which Dorbek's stack is less than half it was to start the day with 70,000.
As we enter last level before the first break, the field is down to 21 players with an average stack of 90,476. With blinds about to go up to 2,000/4,000 with a 500 ante, the average stack will be 22.5 big blinds or slightly less than the almost 27 that we began the day with.
Two of the latest casualties were online qualifier Christoph Rueegg and Jari Hurri.