$500 Main Event
Day 1b Completed
$500 Main Event
Day 1b Completed
The second of four opening flights in the EA Poker Tour (EAPT) Main Event has come to an end with 29 players battling their way through the day from the 196 entries.
Those survivors will join the 32 that made it through Day 1a, plus the three players who qualified directly into the money online, for Day 2 on Sunday, September 15. It brings the cumulative total of entries in the Main Event to 436 with two flights left to play out.
Coming out on top of Day 1b's leaderboard was Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev with a respectable stack of 818,000 chips. Golubev was the benefactor of Lady Luck during Level 7 when his pocket queens cracked the pocket aces of his countrymate Nursiltan Satybaldin. Then, in the biggest pot of the day, Golubev slow-played top set to perfection and allowed Tornike Tchkonia to crash and burn after a failed bluff attempt.
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrey Golubev | Kazakhstan | 818,000 |
| 2 | Gevorg Khachatryan | Armenia | 601,000 |
| 3 | Dimitry Januashvili | Georgia | 450,000 |
| 4 | Davit Khalatiani | Georgia | 433,000 |
| 5 | Zoran Marich | Russia | 382,000 |
| 6 | Zaza Gachechiladze | Georgia | 359,000 |
| 7 | Ilia Kostenko | Russia | 354,000 |
| 8 | Soso Pachkoriia | Russia | 350,000 |
| 9 | Aben Zholgaliyev | Kazakhstan | 335,000 |
| 10 | Pavel Tobengauz | Russia | 299,000 |
Rounding out the top three stacks were Gevorg Khachatryan with 601,000 and Dimitry Januashvili with 450,000, the latter who won a big pot in the second to last level when his pocket jacks held up against Gor Musinyan's pocket tens.
Japanese player Marie Kabaki joined the field during the afternoon and came ever-so-close to making the money, but fell just short when her ace-queen couldn't crack the pocket queens of Georgia's Nikoloz Adeishvili in the penultimate level.
The unfortunate title of bubble boy went to Nikita Belovol when his ace-ten was no match for the pocket jacks of Zaza Gachechiladze.
Day 1c will kick off at 12 p.m. on Saturday, September 14, and will offer 30-minute blinds through. The last chance for players to qualify into Day 2 is Day 1d, which gets underway at 6 p.m. and has the fastest blind structure of all the opening flights at 25 minutes.
Be sure to tune into PokerNews to keep yourself up to date with all the action from the baize at the Eclipse Poker Club in Batumi to see who can run up a stack and make it into Day 2 and beyond.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
818,000
68,000
|
68,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
601,000
281,000
|
281,000 |
|
|
450,000
75,000
|
75,000 |
|
|
433,000
308,000
|
308,000 |
|
|
382,000
32,000
|
32,000 |
|
|
359,000
9,000
|
9,000 |
|
|
354,000
154,000
|
154,000 |
|
|
350,000
280,000
|
280,000 |
|
|
335,000
135,000
|
135,000 |
|
|
299,000
272,000
|
272,000 |
|
|
285,000
65,000
|
65,000 |
|
|
284,000
134,000
|
134,000 |
|
|
281,000
56,000
|
56,000 |
|
|
256,000
256,000
|
256,000 |
|
|
245,000
245,000
|
245,000 |
|
|
241,000
199,000
|
199,000 |
|
|
239,000
239,000
|
239,000 |
|
|
215,000
45,000
|
45,000 |
|
|
190,000
55,000
|
55,000 |
|
|
188,000
52,000
|
52,000 |
|
|
168,000
22,000
|
22,000 |
|
|
154,000
54,000
|
54,000 |
|
|
127,000
23,000
|
23,000 |
|
|
116,000
116,000
|
116,000 |
|
|
116,000
124,000
|
124,000 |
The surviving 29 players are now bagging up their chips ready for Sunday's Day 2.
A full recap of the day's action will follow shortly.
Nikita Belovol shoved his last 51,000 into the middle from the button and was called by Zaza Gachechiladze.
Nikita Belovol: A♠10♠
Zaza Gachechiladze: J♥J♦
Belovol needed to find some help but his future looked bleak on the 7♣J♣7♦ flop as Gachechiladze improved to a full house. Only running cards could save Belovol but the 8♦8♣ runout wasn't what he needed, which meant he was the last player to leave empty-handed.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
350,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
|
|
Busted |
Level: 18
Blinds: 5,000/10,000
Ante: 10,000
A big pot played out between Gor Musinyan and Dimitri Januashvili after the two got their stacks in preflop, and left the latter at risk for 251,000 chips.
Dimitri Januashvili: J♣J♥
Gor Musinyan: 10♠10♣
The runout of 8♦K♣A♠8♣4♦ brought no surprises as Januashvili doubled up with just one more player to go until the money.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
525,000
385,000
|
385,000 |
|
|
225,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
Levan Dzidzikashvili was all in for his last few big blinds and was put at risk by Zoran Marich.
Levan Dzidzikashvili: A♥K♦
Zoran Marich: K♣5♣
It was a dream spot for Dzidzikashvili that soon turned into a nightmare as Marich binked his five on the J♦3♥9♦9♥5♥ runout.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
350,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
|
|
Busted |
With just two more eliminations needed until the day comes to an end, play is now hand-for-hand.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted |
Marie Kabaki was never able to get anything going today and got her stack into the middle with Nikoloz Adeishvili putting her at risk.
Marie Kabaki: A♣Q♠
Nikoloz Adeishvili: Q♣Q♥
No ace arrived on the 4♥9♥6♠6♣3♠ runout which meant Kabaki was eliminated just a few spots away from the money.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
280,000
140,000
|
140,000 |
|
|
Busted |