Yesterday 79 players took to the felt in the first EPT Sochi High Roller. Of those, 33 made it through but with late registration open until the start of Level 2, there will most likely be some latecomers to add to that number.
It all kicks off at 2 pm with levels increasing to 60 minutes for Day 2. Players return to Level 11, with blinds at 1000/2500 and a big bind ante of 2500. It has not been decided yet when the tournament will finish for the day, but it will most likely play down to the final table. Full details will be posted here just as soon as we have them.
Likewise, the prizepool information will only be available after the late registration/re-entry period has closed. What we can tell you is that it is a close call between those at the top. Sergey Kolyasnikov finished in the top spot but there is very little in between the top four. Add to that a field packed with players with plenty experience and today is sure to be an interesting one to watch unfold.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for live updates from the moment cards are in the air until the last chip has been bagged.
One of the two women in the field, Tatyana Barausova, has busted. Barausova began as the shortest stacked player, beginning with just 10 big blinds and was eliminated by late registrant Vanush Mnatsakanyan just now. Wengling Gao is now the only female player still in the running.
PokerNews was alerted to Table 4 by a few gasps from the players sat at it. Gor Kazaryan had opened the betting to 6,500 from under the gun and Tobias Matuschek had moved all in for 56,000. Ezequiel Waigel went over the top, making it 133,000 total. When the action came to Valery Yantsevich, he called and Gor Kazaryan open-folded ace-king. It turned out to be the correct decision when the cards were turned over.
The board ran out and Yantsevich scooped the lot for a monstrous lead in the counts now. Meanwhile, we imagine Gor Kazaryan is wishing he didn't make such a big lay down as he would have quadrupled his short stack.
After doubling against Nikita Kalinin earlier, which led to Kalinin's eventual demise not long after, Wenling Gao has found herself short again.
Sat in the button with the action folding round to her she got 18,000 chips in and Petr Bartagov called from his big blind. He was ahead but not by much.
Petr Bartagov
Wenling Gao:
The board fell and the last woman in the field is out.
All the money went in preflop and when the cards went over it was the it turned out to be cooler stations for two of the players involved.
Irshat Shaykhov:
Sergey Kolyasnikov:
Vladimir Lappo:
The board held for Shakov's rockets and he was delighted, cheering as the chips (and the chip lead) came his way. Meanwhile Vladimir Lappo has been sent to the rail and former chip leader Sergey Kolyasnikov has taken a hit but remains in good shape nonetheless.
Elvin Sarkarov has moved into the chip lead for the first time this tournament. He was in a huge pot against Artem Vezhenkov with down. Sarkarov bet the river and snap-called when Vezhenkov set him all in.
Elvin Sarkarov:
Artem Vezhenkov:
Sarkarov's straight was good for the lot and he is flying after winning that pot. Vezhenov has around 35 big blinds still to play with.
After making the correct laydown in the handed noted just a few minutes ago, Artem Vezhenkov got the last of his chips in blind vs blind. With the chip leader on his left, it was extremely unlikely that he would get a fold....and he didn't but he had got it in with the best hand.
Elvin Sarkarov:
Artem Vezhenkov:
The flop fell and there was a chorus of laughter as Sarkarov hit the straight. It was all over by the turn and the on the river was redundant. We lose Vezhenkov just outside of the money. Vezhenkov took it all in his stride though, appearing to get some enjoyment from the hand, despite it bringing his tournament to an end.
He began the day with little more than starting stack but that didn’t stop Elvin Sarkarov from picking off the competition to finish top of the leaderboard as the final nine have been decided following the end of Day 2, here at Casino Sochi.
Pete Chen is best placed to challenge Sarkarov, bagging 666,000 for second place and bringing a host of experience with him. Rushad Iskandarov (521,000) who returns in third place will also be hot on their tails. Team PokerStars Pro and PSPC Champion Ramon Colillas is still in the running and not to be ignored despite finishing as the second shortest stack.
There were 33 players who made it through Day 1 yesterday and as late registration ended when the claxon sounded today, another five players made the most of that opportunity, bringing the number of players in contention to 38. A total of 84 runners generated a very attractive prizepool of ₽28,518,000 ($439,142) and first place will receive ₽7,840,000 ($120,747).
All eyes will be on the top prize of ₽7,840,000 ($120,590) but Sarkarov is the man to catch after spinning the 66,000 chips that he started the day with up to 1,049,000. He eliminated a string of players in the second half of the day, including Leonid Bilokur who finished in 13th, Artem Vezhenkov who was the unfortunate bubble boy and Arseniy Karmatskiy who scraped into the money but couldn’t progress any further than a mincash for 11th place. In fact, the only player in the last five that didn’t bust to Sarkarov, was Oleg Titov, who was eliminated in 10th, just shy of the final table, by Rushad Iskandarov.
There were plenty of other big names to fall along the way, Denis Timofeev, Gor Kazaryan, Maksim Panyak, Wenling Gao, Ept National Champion Yury Masliankou, Oleg Vasylchenko, Petr Bartagov, Andrey Kotelnikov, Anton Yakuba, Aditya Sushant, Vadim Lipovka and Andrey Bondar were all eliminated outside of the money.
Join PokerNews back here, tomorrow Friday 29th March at 12:30 pm, where you can follow all the action as it happens and find out who will be crowned EPT High Roller Champion.