First hand of heads up saw Kevin Stani open to 160,000 and Konstantin Bilyauer make the call. Both players checked the flop before Bilyauer led for 275,000 on the turn. Stani called to see the river and Bilyauer led again for 325,000 this time.
After about 30 seconds of thinking, Stani raised to a cool 1,000,000 and Bilyauer looked unhappy, eventually folding.
Kevin Stani opened to 200,000 from the button and Konstantin Bilyauer called. The flop was , Bilyauer firing out 350,000 which Stani called, his hands shaking a little.
The turn saw both players check to see a river where Bilyauer now curiously bet just 150,000. Stani quickly called and turned over while the Russian simply mucked.
Stani is almost on the 10 million mark with Bilyauer down to around 2.5 million, an epic comeback needed.
Konstantin Bilyauer has been doing a lot of folding. Folding to raises from Kevin Stani. Open folding his small blind. Check-folding. All kinds of folding. But this hand, he tried a new one - the bet-fold.
Bilyauer raised to 200,000, and Stani called. The flop fell , and Stani checked. Bilyauer bet 275,000, and shaking once again, Stani raised to 600,000. Bilyauer snap-folded, and Stani picked up even more chips. He's got 10.75 million to Bilyauer's 1.85 million.
Konstantin Bilyauer has rallied again, and is back up to 2.6 million.
He raised to 200,000 from the button and Kevin Stani called before checking the flop. Bilyauer checked behind and they saw a turn. Stani now bet out 250,000, and when Bilyauer announced all in, Stani asked how much more it was to call - 1.6 million - but eventually folded.
A few hands later and it was Stani's turn to make it 200,000 from the button, but Bilyauer made it 505,000 from the big blind and Stani gave it up.
After picking up a 900,000 pot with on a board, Kevin Stani continues to bink or bet his way to victory.
Konstantin Bilyauer then opened to 200,000 and Stani called. They checked the board down to the river where Stani suddenly fired 325,000. Bilyauer quickly called but mucked upon seeing Stani's .
The players were scheduled to have a fifteen minute break, but Konstantin Bilyauer asked if could just be a five minute one. No objections from Stani and we're back in five.
Konstantin Bilyauer was down to 1.54 million when he open-shoved for the first time during the heads-up match. But he didn't get one free pass. Kevin Stani called instantly to flip for the win.
Bilyauer:
Stani:
The flop was clean for Stani. Two cards to go and he'd be the EPT winner. But the turn put Bilyauer ahead. The river was the , and Bilyauer doubled to 3.1 million. Stani still has a big lead with 9.5 million.
Just after that double up, just as the dealer was about to start the next hand, Konstantin Bilyauer piped up. It appeared that he had counted his new doubled-up stack and had found it somewhat short. "The stacks are 475,000, not 500,000," he told TD Thomas Kremser, showing him the stacks of orange T25,000 chips that he had won from Kevin Stani.
The game was held up for some minutes as Stani insisted that there was, "No way I put in 100,000 short," but Kremser established that the all in had been for exactly 1.54 million, and once Bilyauer's new stack was counted it was established that he was indeed either 75,000 or 100,000 (we didn't quite catch exactly which one, but either way it was in the region of one big blind) short of the 3.08 million he should have. Stani was made to pay up, and play continued.
Konstantin Bilyauer opened for 250,000 and Kevin Stani called in the big blind to see a flop, which both players checked. Indeed, they checked down the turn and river too, but presumably Stani had been hoping for a bet from Bilyauer on the river as he turned over for trips.