₽191,800 EPT Main Event Day 1b | 2019 PokerStars EPT Sochi

03-25-2019 23:41 UTC+3

Falko Looks to Be the Man to Beat

Will Shillibier

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Contrary to last night's flight where Aleksandr Denisov was the clear chip leader from a long way out, tonight's looks a much closer affair.

One of the only players appearing to be around the 200,000 mark is Aleksey Falko from Belarus.

Ivan Volodko opened to 2,600 and Falko three-bet to 6,000. Volodko called but check-folded to a continuation bet of 7,000 from Falko on the flop. Falko flashed a and Volodko nodded.

Player	Chips	Progress
Aleksey Falko	200,000

03-25-2019 23:44 UTC+3

Hikosaka Takes From Bagirov

Will Shillibier

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Five players saw a flop of . It checked to Sergey Bagirov who bet 3,500. Andrey Kozin called before Keisuke Hikosaka raised to 14,000. Leonid Bilokur and Aleksandr Osharov folded. Bagirov called and Kozin folded.

The turn was the and Bagirov check-folded to a bet of 20,000 from Hikosaka who is chipping up to the 85,000 mark midway through the final level of the evening.

Player	Chips	Progress
Leonid Bilokur	130,000
Keisuke Hikosaka	85,000 35,000	35,000
Sergey Bagirov	50,000
Aleksandr Osharov	43,000 43,000	43,000
Andrey Kozin	41,000

Tags: Aleksandr Osharov Keisuke Hikosaka Leonid Bilokur Sergey Bagirov

03-25-2019 23:47 UTC+3

Yang Eliminated by Vartevanyan

Will Shillibier

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

On a both Peng Yang and Aram Vartevanyan checked to Qiaonan Liu who bet 8,200. Yang then check-raised all in for 30,800. Vartevanyan called and Liu folded.

Aram Vartevanyan:
Peng Yang:

Yang was in front and the didn't change that. However, the on the river gave Vartevanyan top pair and sent Yang to the rail.

Player	Chips	Progress
Aram Vartevanyan	160,000
Qiaonan Liu	57,000
Peng Yang	Busted

Tags: Aram Vartevanyan Peng Yang

03-26-2019 00:00 UTC+3

Lobanov Wins Late Pot

Will Shillibier

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Mikhail Lobanov, Yuriy Guliy and Andrey Chernokoz all checked a flop and the turn was the . It checked to Chernokoz who bet 4,000.

Lobanov called and Guliy folded.

The river was the and both players checked, allowing Lobanov to win the pot with for a rivered pair of jacks.

Player	Chips	Progress
Yuriy Guliy	195,000 142,000	142,000
Andrey Chernokoz	140,000 30,000	30,000
Mikhail Lobanov	65,000 23,000	23,000

Tags: Andrey Chernokoz Yuriy Guliy Mikhail Lobanov

03-26-2019 00:01 UTC+3

Last Five Hands

Will Shillibier

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

There will be five more hands before players bag up at the end of Day 1b. Stay tuned to PokerNews.com for a full recap of the day's action and full chip counts.

03-26-2019 00:49 UTC+3

End of Day Chip Counts (full)

Will Shillibier

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Viktor Ustimov	307,500 7,500	7,500

Serafim Kovalevsky	233,900 233,900	233,900
Leonid Semenyuk	195,200 195,200	195,200
Mark Zhang	194,200 49,200	49,200
Aleksey Falko	192,900 -7,100	-7,100
Yuriy Guliy	191,300 -3,700	-3,700
Said Butba	180,900 115,900	115,900
Uri Gilboa	177,700 37,700	37,700

Nikita Kuznetsov	177,300 177,300	177,300
Rudolf Domin	169,600 51,600	51,600
Dmitriy Shutenko	168,000 168,000	168,000
Aben Zholgaliev	168,000 17,000	17,000
Nikolay Plastinin	166,600 166,600	166,600
Murun Ganzorig	162,700 32,700	32,700
Eduard Burd	158,600 33,600	33,600
Aram Vartevanyan	138,200 -21,800	-21,800
Mikhail Aleksandrov	137,500 39,500	39,500
Aleksandr Osharov	133,700 90,700	90,700
Ermek Usenov	133,200 133,200	133,200
Andrey Chernokoz	132,600 -7,400	-7,400
Vanush Mnatsakanyan	130,000 130,000	130,000
Artem Petrov	128,700 128,700	128,700
Rachid Amamou	128,500 -1,500	-1,500
Sriharsha Doddapaneni	128,500 98,500	98,500
Vytautas Semaska	123,000 123,000	123,000

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03-26-2019 00:49 UTC+3

Viktor Ustimov Tops EPT Sochi Main Event Day 1b Field

Will Shillibier

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

In stark contrast to yesterday's EPT Sochi Main Event Day 1a starting flight, it was a much more competitive affair when it came to the end-of-day chip leader. Several players battled it out over the closing exchanges but eventually, it was Viktor Ustimov who bagged the chip lead with 305,700 after a field of 359 was whittled down to 137.

Ustimov has over $700,000 in lifetime earnings, with several big scores and deep runs coming here at Casino Sochi. Last year he followed up a runner-up finish in the EPT National for ₽4,745,000 ($82,191) with a 42nd place run in the EPT Main Event.

In September last year, he also final-tabled the EPT Open Sochi High Roller, finishing fourth for a further ₽2,321,160 ($35,445).

Other big stacks advancing include Serafim Kovalevsky (233,900), Leonid Semenyuk (195,200), Aleksey Falko (192,900) and EPT favourite Yuriy Guliy (191,300).

Also advancing is last year's EPT Main Event runner-up Viktor Shegay who bagged 41,800. He will be joined by 2018 EPT National Sochi champion Matous Houzvicek (118,000) and the 2019 EPT National Sochi champion Yury Masliankou (28,300) along with 2018 EPT Open Sochi Main Event final tablist Nikolay Fal and Leonid Bilokur (64,200).

Aditya Sushant had started the day in blistering form, moving up to around 80,000 within a blink of an eye. However a chastening last two levels knocked him down and will have to settle for 53,300 when play resumes tomorrow.

Several players had even worse luck and were eliminated, meaning they would have to make it through Day 1c. They include defending champion Arseniy Karmatskiy who fired two bullets with no success. Also failing to advance from Day 1b were Andrey Andreev, Boris Mondrus, Maksim Panyak, Sarkis Karabadzhakyan, Ezequiel Waigel, and Andrey Guliy.

As the levels drew on the stacks certainly grew, although not to the extent that Aleksandr Denisov's had late last night. He will still be the man to beat, but several players from Day 1b will hope to be in with a shout come tomorrow.

The 137 players advancing will return tomorrow at 12pm for Day 2 of the EPT Sochi Main Event, with all the action brought to you on PokerNews.com

Tags: Aditya Sushant Andrey Andreev Andrey Guliy Arsenii Karmatckii Boris Mondrus Ezequiel Waigel Leonid Bilokur Leonid Semenyuk Nikolay Fal Viktor Shegay Yuriy Guliy