€5,000 EPT Kyiv Main Event
Day 1b Completed
2009 PokerStars.net EPT Kyiv
€5,000 EPT Kyiv Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info
2009 PokerStars.net EPT Kyiv
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Buy-in
€4,700
Prize Pool
€1,391,200
Entries
296
Level
28
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
5,000
Players Left 1 / 296
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"One big body bag, please!" added one of the players with a big grin.
It was indeed an exhausting day. Following yesterday's schedule, the 167 players who came out for Day 1b of the 2009 EPT Kyiv Main Event found themselves playing seven one-hour levels with no dinner break. One unscheduled detour today was a 20-minute delay in the middle of the fourth level thanks to a power outage at the Kyiv Sport Palace. Soon power was restored, however, and another successful day of poker is in the books.
Added to yesterday's total, today's turnout meant a final tally of 296 entrants for this first-ever EPT event in Kyiv, Ukraine -- representing a total of 33 different countries!
Today's field included such notables as Shaun Deeb, Cristian Dragomir, Lika Gerasimova, Andrew Feldman, Ivan Demidov, Faraz Jaka, Vitaly Lunkin, Katja Thater, John Kabbaj, Pier Paolo Fabretti, Josh Field, Dario Minieri, and a late-arriving Gus Hansen. Of that group the latter five -- Kabbaj, Fabrietti, Field, Minieri, and Hansen -- failed to advance to Thursday's Day 2. In all 57 players hit the rail at some point today, meaning we'll have a total of 203 returning to play together tomorrow.
As play concluded, Jason Kudron, Bernard Boutboul, Dragan Galic, Anatoly Zharnitsky, Alexander Rykov, and Jonas Kronwitter all sported 100,000-plus chip stacks. But it was the Russian Viktor Ivanov who pushed out ahead of them all, ending the day with a whopping 153,825 -- putting him just ahead of Day 1a's leader, Mihaylo Demidenko of Ukraine.
Thanks for following our coverage today, and do join us here at noon Ukraine time (GMT+2) when cards go back in the air.
The tourney clock has been stopped with ten minutes remaining, and all tables will be playing four more hands before play concludes for the day.
The flop came
. Jaka continued with a bet of 2,000, and his opponent called. Both then checked the 
turn. The river brought the
and a bet of 3,500 from Jaka, forcing a fold. Jaka is sitting at about 45,000 at the moment.
A rapid sequence of unfortunate events led to his suddenly finding himself in short-stack territory, needing to make a move quickly. Down to less than 5,000, the table folded to Hansen who shoved from the button with
. But the small blind was waiting with 
. Hansen could only shake his head and smile.The flop came
. "There's a seven," said Hansen. But the turn was the 
and the river the 
, and Hansen's EPT journey has abruptly ended.
Three handed then, the flop rolled out
. The big blind showed signs of betting before he tapped the felt, and the raiser continued out with another 6,000 chips. Dragomir called just as quickly as before, but the big blind elected to check-raise to 13,000. That instantly folded the raiser, and it put a puzzled and frustrated look on the face of Dragomir. He picked up a handful of chips and splashed them down into a messy pile near his stack, clearly not happy with the decision facing him. After just a moment, he flashed his 
with wide eyes and a big shake of the head, sending his cards back to the dealer and ending the hand.The initial raiser was right next to Dragomir, and he said something about, "ace-king."
"I know he has ace-king," said Dragomir, indignant. "He has ace-king, but there's nothing I can do. Maybe we can catch him... let's work together!" Dragomir's half-serious suggestion drew a chuckle from the table and even a wry smirk from the dealer.
On to the next hand.
Nothing specifically stands out about his slide, it's just sort of been one thing after another. Two hands ago, Kostritsyn paid off a bet of 8,000 on the river which turned out to be a value bet as his opponent showed a winning set of eights. And in the last pot, he and another player built a pot of more than 20,000 before Kostritsyn had to lay his hand down to a bet that had him covered.
He's all the way back to about 16,000 now.
Level: 7
Blinds: 300/600
Ante: 50
So said Cristian Dragomir just now across the table to Gus Hansen. It appeared initially Dragomir was referring to the fact that now that Hansen was at the table, a huge crowd has remained nearby.
But as Dragomir continued, it was clear he was referring to another effect caused by Hansen's presence. "Now everyone is taking your lead," he continued. "Playing three-handed, every hand. Every hand!"
Hansen responded with a silent grin, moving his chips back and forth in front of him. And preparing for more moves to come.
and his shrinking stack, Vitaly Lunkin moved all in and was called by one opponent further down the line. The board would end up showing 
, and the trip fives were good enough to earn the at-risk Lunkin a crucial double up. He has bounced back, moving his stack back up over 35,000 after having struggled with less than half that most of the last couple of levels.Still, it's not all smooth flying for the Russian. Just now Lunkin was raising to 1,125 before the flop from middle position, only to have Andrea Benelli reraise to 4,175 from the cutoff.
It folded back to Lunkin, who asked Benelli how much he had left. "About 20,000," said Benelli. Lunkin rechecked his cards, then decided discretion was the best course and tossed them dealerward.
Lunkin remains right around 35,000 at the moment, while Benelli has 22,500.
