Following an open and a thre-bet, Sergey Akhmetchanov (pictured left) flat called and Viktor Shegay (pictured right) moved 6,800 chips all-in, which was his all-in. Only Akhmetchanov called and the two turned over their cards to see that they were off to the races.
Sergey Akhmetchanov:
Viktor Shegay:
The dealer put out on the board and the pocket jacks won the pot for Akhmetchanov.
There was an open and a three-bet to 2,500 from Igor Shemchuk before Anastasiya Denisova moved all-in over the top for 14,500. Shemchuk thought about it before making the call.
Igor Shemchuk:
Anastasiya Denisova:
The board ran out and an ace on the river made top pair for Shemchuk, sending Denisova to the rail.
There was some serious action taking place between Aleksandr Denisov and Igor Shemchuk. The flop was already out and it read . Both players committed their chips and Denisov was at risk with the shorter stack of 43,100 chips.
Aleksandr Denisov:
Igor Shemchuk:
Denisov had flopped huge against Shemchuk's pocket rockets and the turn and rivers held for him, putting him over the six-figure mark and is one of the biggest stacks at the moment.
All the money went in preflop between Dmitriy Zhdanov and Yaniv Peretz and it was a classic flip with Zhadanov the one whose tournament life was on the line.
Yaniv Peretz:
Dmitriy Zhdanov:
Peretz connected on the flop and Zhadanov couldn't recover on the turn or the river. He finished in 26th place.
What a time to find a monster hand. That is what has just happened to Vladislav Naumov who moved all-in in early position. It was an easy call for Andrey Chernokoz too, who also picked up a premium hand.
Vladislav Naumov:
Andrey Chernokoz:
There was a king in the window on the turn and with no back-door jacks on the turn and river, Naumov stays in the game and couldn't hide his delight in doing so.
Giorgiy Skhulukhiya was down to just 57,000 and he got it all in from the big blind versus Yaniv Peretz's open. Peretz called the rest and they tabled their cards.
Yaniv Peretz:
Giorgiy Skhulukhiya:
Skhulukhiya had got it in good but Peretz was still very much live. The flop connected for the bigger stack and with no redraw on the turn and river, Skhulukhiya had to say goodbye in 14th place. He missed out on a mincash, for today at least. There is still the chance for him to get back in the tournament, when Day 1C begins at 12pm tomorrow.
It all changed at the top in a thrilling end to Day 1B of the National here at Casino Sochi. Yaniv Peretz busted Giorgiy Skhulukhiya in the final hand of the night with king-ten of diamonds versus ace-queen of hearts to earn a spot at the top of the counts, alongside Andrey Chernokoz. Chernokoz was leading in chips until he lost a hand with pocket-jacks against Vladislav Naumov's pocket-kings just a few hands from the end. Both players will return for Day 2 on Saturday with 311,500 chips in play.
The second of three flights in the RUB 77,000 EPT Sochi National attracted 84 players in total. Day 1B had 30-minute levels, unlike the other two starting days, which have 40 minutes on the clock. Over almost 18 levels, the field was whittled down to the top 15%, meaning 13 survived to Day 2. They are all guaranteed a min cash for doing so.
Joining them on Saturday are Marat Achilov (309,500), who finished less than a whisker behind Chernokoz and Peretz and there were some notables who also made it through. Aleksandr Denisov (287,000) finished in fourth, making his stack late in the day. He won some chips from Dmitry Yurasov shortly before the whistle blew. Yurasov had been one of the top stacks for most of the day but finished on 175,500. With so much experience under his belt, it would be foolish not to consider him a contender all the same.
There were also several big names that failed to bag chips. Reigning National Champion Matous Houzvicek, Reigning Main Event Champion Arsenii Karmatckii, Vitaliy Avanesyan, Anton Yakuba, Ezequiel Waigel, Mikhail Kovalyuk, Anastasiya Denisova And Viktor Shegay were just some of the familiar faces who fell before the last. It isn't all over for any of them unless they wish, as there are still unlimited re-entries available in Day 1C, which will begin at 12pm tomorrow.
The 13 players will return at 12 p.m. on Saturday for Day 2 of the EPT National, where blinds levels will increase to 60 minutes.
PokerNews will be joining them all the way, providing live updates throughout the rest of the tournament and for the duration of the festival.