From under the gun, Iulian-Georgian Ruxandescu raised to 525. Action folded to recent World Poker Tour Prague runner-up Adria Balaguer and he three-bet to 1,350 from the cutoff seat. Action folded back to Ruxandescu and he called.
The flop came down and Ruxandescu checked. Balaguer fired 1,400 and Ruxandescu called.
The turn was the and both players checked through to see the land on the river. Ruxandescu checked and Balaguer checked behind.
Ruxandescu tabled the to beat Balaguer's and win the pot.
From under the gun, Andrei One raised to 500. Team PokerStars Pro Jonathan Duhamel reraised to 1,200 from middle position. Play folded back to One and he made the call to see the flop. After One checked, Duhamel fired a bet of 1,650. One opted for the aggressive check-raise and made it 3,750. Duhamel gave it up.
We missed the hand that sealed his face, but 2011 bracelet winner Fabrice Soulier has just been spotted walking out through the double doors. A quick check on his former seat sees it vacant of chips, and it looks like ol' Fab has been sent packing here on Day 1b.
As the field just begins to thin out a bit, and the tables are breaking away from the edges, a few particularly tough tables are coming together.
Table 26 has Russel Carson in the four seat, fresh off his final table appearance at the WPT event just down the road. Yesterday. He's got the sharky David Vamplew on his left, followed by 2009 PCA Champion Harrison Gimbel. Around in the nine seat is a lady dressed up as Dag Palovic. Sorry, Dag Palovic dressed up as a lady.
Right behind them is Table 27, another tough place to get work done. Melanie Weisner is in the one seat, and she's joined by Anton Wigg (2), Johannes Strassmann (4), Praz Bansi (7), and Christophe Benzimra (9).
That's no fun over there, but Table 44 is our current favorite to watch. That table contains Mike McDonald, Kevin MacPhee, and Dominik Nitsche all in a row in that order. They're chatty, they're playing pots, and they're making life miserable for the other seven men at that table.
PokerStars qualifier Antonios Koukouras from Greece was up against another Greek Athanasios Polychronopoulos on the flop. They both checked and then the turn brought the to the board. After Koukouras bet 1,200, Polychronopoulos raised to 2,900. Koukouras folded and Polychronopoulos won the pot. He showed the to reveal that he did have a straight and scooped in the pot.
Andrey Pateychuk was part of a five-way group of players that saw the flop for the minimum amount. The first two players, the ones acting from the blinds, checked before Gintaras Simaitis from Lithuania checked in middle position. Alexander Dovzhenko checked from the hijack seat and then Pateychuk bet 600 from the button. The two blinds folded, Simaitis called and Dovzhenko folded.
After the landed on the turn, Simaitis checked and Pateychuk bet 1,400. Simaitis gave it up and Pateychuk won the pot.
Pateychuk improved to 14,000 in chips, but that's still less than half of what he started with. Losing isn't something that Pateychuk's had to deal with much during 2011 as he's had himself one heck of a year. After a couple of small cashes, Pateychuk went on to finish in 15th place in the World Series of Poker Main Event for $478,174. A few months later, he conquered EPT San Remo for €680,000. And then, just yesterday, he won the World Poker Tour Prague for $630,263. Needless to say, Pateychuk's had quite the year.
Thanks to our colleagues from PokerStars, we have a bit of information on our current chip leader. Sweden's William Thorson won a monster pot at the tail end of the last level when he managed to flop set over set... over set! Jeff Sarwer was one of the two players with an underset, the bottom one, in fact. He was a bit unhappy with with himself, and his inability to find a fold has reduced him to just 2,500 lonely chips.
and Ruxandescu checked. Balaguer fired 1,400 and Ruxandescu called.
and both players checked through to see the 
land on the river. Ruxandescu checked and Balaguer checked behind.
to beat Balaguer's 
and win the pot.
flop. After One checked, Duhamel fired a bet of 1,650. One opted for the aggressive check-raise and made it 3,750. Duhamel gave it up.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop. They both checked and then the turn brought the 
to the board. After Koukouras bet 1,200, Polychronopoulos raised to 2,900. Koukouras folded and Polychronopoulos won the pot. He showed the 
flop for the minimum amount. The first two players, the ones acting from the blinds, checked before Gintaras Simaitis from Lithuania checked in middle position. Alexander Dovzhenko checked from the hijack seat and then Pateychuk bet 600 from the button. The two blinds folded, Simaitis called and Dovzhenko folded.
landed on the turn, Simaitis checked and Pateychuk bet 1,400. Simaitis gave it up and Pateychuk won the pot.
