The remaining 40 players are heading into their last 20-minute break of the day. One further 90-minute level will be played for today.
We caught up with Davidi Kitai earlier today and asked him how to play against small stacks.
Benjamin Pollak raised to 13,000 and Brian Altman three-bet to 33,000 from the cutoff, Pollak called. On the 
flop, Pollak checked and Altman bet 21,000, Pollak called. The 
on the turn went check, check, and Pollak then bet the 
river for 105,000.
Altman gave it some consideration and elected to fold before heading into the break.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
497,000 | 57,000 |
|
164,000 | -6,000 |
![[user228332]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
In one of the last hands before the break Brian Altman succeeded in adding a nice chunk of chips to his stack by putting both Guillaume Diaz and Bastian Dohler to the test.
Guillaume Diaz opened up the action with a raise under the gun to 15,000, but Bastian Dohler would have none of that and three-bet to 39,000 from cutoff. From the button, Altman four-bet shoved his stack of 143,000, and both the blinds and Diaz quickly put their hands into the muck. Dohler was not so quick to let go of his holecards, but ultimately decided on the fold as well.
Brian Altman now has 209,000 chips in front of him.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
209,000 | 39,000 |
Louis Cartarius raised to 14,000 from early position only to find fellow German Thomas Lentrodt shove for 146,000 from one seat over. Cartarius called and both players turned over pocket pairs.
Thomas Lentrodt: 
Louis Cartarius: 
The board came 
and Lentrodt doubled.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
395,000 | 25,000 |
|
300,000 | 108,000 |
It was folded all the way to Martin Staszko on the cutoff. He moved all in for 93,000 in total on the button, Xixiang Luo asked for a count.
He threw in the calling chips and Mats Karlsson folded his small blind. From the big blind, Viatcheslav Ortynskiy called all in for slightly less than Staszko, 89,000 in total.
Martin Staszko: 
Xixiang Luo: 
Viatcheslav Ortynskiy: 
Ortynskiy dominated both of his opponents and was looking to triple up. The board ran out 
and he was back in the hunt for the title.
Luo took another hit, while Staszko was left with only 4,000 behind.
In the next hand, the former November Niner went all in and on the button, Mats Karlsson raised to 16,000. The blind got out of the way and cards were tabled.
It was 
for Staszko against Karlsson's 
. The flop was 
. Karlsson made a pair of sevens, but Staszko had a straight draw.
Neither the turn or the 
river completed that draw and Staszko was eliminated from the tournament.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
450,000 | -100,000 |
|
340,000 | 20,000 |
|
275,000 | 173,000 |
|
Busted |
Over on the feature table, Eugene Katchalov raised from the button and Dominik Panka three-bet all in for 125,000 from the big blind. Katchalov called and Panka only had one over card.
Dominik Panka:
Eugene Katchalov: 
The board ran out and Panka doubled with trips aces.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
260,000 | -146,000 |
|
61,000 | -82,000 |
Zorlucan Er, son of Zorlu Er, has just busted from the Main Event. The younger Er was down to his last 24,000, which went in with 
. Tomas Macnamara called him with and spiked a flush on 
.
Zorlu Er cashed €431,550 by finished 5th at the EPT Main Event in Barcelona, Zorlucan Er had to settle for a 42nd place and €12,390 here in Malta.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
600,000 | 200,000 |
|
Busted |
Taran Parmar open-shoved for 117,000 from the button and Walter Treccarichi reshoved for around 160,000 from the small blind, Dong Zhao folded his big blind.
Taran Parmar:
Walter Treccarichi: 
The board came 
and that sent the Canadian to the rail.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
285,000 | 120,000 |
|
Busted |
Yung Hwang just made his way out of the playing area, after running his fives into the tens of Tomas Macnamara.
Sergey Sergeev opened from first position to 13,000 and Macnamara called in the next seat over. Action was folded around to Hwang in the small blind, who shipped his 112,000 to the middle. Sergeev couldn't quite make up his mind, and ultimately ended up folding his hand, but Macnamara committed chips quickly when action was on him.
Macnamara's was dominating Hwang's , and the 
flop didn't offer any help to the American. The turn did open up for some chopping outs, but it didn't materialize for Hwang, who was knocked out after the river.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
Thomas Lentrodt raised to 14,000 and Walter Treccarichi shoved for 137,000 out of the cutoff to enforce a fold.
Dan Shak raised to 15,000, Taran Parmar three-bet shoved for 109,000 from one seat over and again there was no call.
Guillaume Valle opened to 15,000, Freek Scholten three-bet all in for around 90,000 and Valle folded.
Last but not least, Elie Saad raised to 15,000 and 12,000 and Usman Siddique called in the hijack. Brian Altman moved all in for 145,000 from the button and both opponents folded.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
170,000 | 5,000 |
|
|
165,000 | -77,000 |
|
|
110,000 | -30,000 |
|
105,000 | 14,000 |
