Life Outside Poker is a new podcast for PokerNews hosted by Connor Richards that seeks to pull back the curtain on poker players and allow viewers and listeners to get to know them on a personal level.
In the 19th episode, Connor speaks with former poker pro Eugene Katchalov, one of Ukraine's all-time money leaders who fled the country in 2022 after Russia's invasion and has since returned to the war-torn region with his family.
Katchalov, a former PokerStars ambassador, talked about growing up in New York City, his poker glory days and 2007 Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic victory for $2.5 million, returning to Ukraine and misconceptions about the longstanding conflict with Russia. He also discussed his venture into esports and new plans to get back into poker with a project aimed at leveling the playing field between pros and recreationals.
As the sun sets on another day of action at the 2024 European Poker Tour Cyprus, Day 2 of the $5,300 EPT Main Event played out inside the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa.
When all was said and done, the final 144 players bagged up their chips after an eventful day on the felt with Bulgaria's Fahredin Mustafov sitting on top of the counts after he amassed a stack of 920,000. Just one big blind behind him is Russia's Ivan Zabiiakin with 915,000 chips, and they are well clear of Germany's Oliver Weis in third, who bagged up a stack of 715,000.
Top Ten Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Fahredin Mustafov
Bulgaria
920,000
184
2
Ivan Zabiiakin
Russia
915,000
183
3
Oliver Weis
Germany
715,000
143
4
Damir Zhugralin
Kazakhstan
705,000
141
5
Shankui Li
China
693,000
139
6
Chakib Mhiri
Tunisia
648,000
130
7
Georgios Tsouloftas
Cyprus
620,000
124
8
Radoslav Stoyanov
Bulgaria
575,000
115
9
Boris Kuzmanovic
Croatia
573,000
115
10
Mohamad El Rais
Switzerland
563,000
113
Day 2 Action
Play got underway at noon and there was still time to join the action, with registration remaining open until the start of Day 2. A total of 55 players bought in before the midday deadline, which meant a total of 1,284 entries were recorded in this year's Main Event.
A prize pool of $6,227,400 was generated and the eventual champion will walk away with a seven-figure payday of $1,030,000. A min-cash was worth $8,400 and the top 191 places were due to be paid out.
There were 449 hopefuls that started the day with some familiar names at the top of the counts such as EPT Barcelona Main Event champion Stephen Song, Ren Lin, 2016 EPT Malta Main Event winner Aliaksei Boika, and none other than Niklas Astedt, who needs no introduction.
Barny Boatman
Barny Boatman was one of the first to hit the rail and he was quickly followed by Dimitar Danchev, Marle Spragg, Ognyan Dimov, Kenny Hallaert, Sam Grafton, Fintan Hand, and Steve O'Dwyer.
The aforementioned Boika finished just shy of the money, as did Stoyan Madanzhiev, Elias Gutierrez, Nick Palma, and Simon Wiciak. With three eliminations to go until the bubble burst, the field were sent on a 65-minute dinner break before they came back refueled and ready to play out the last level — which was an eventful one.
Samuel Fournier
Ran Ilani and Nils Pudel were quickly eliminated as play resumed in the final level of the day, while Antoine Hasbani clung to his tournament life by surviving an all in on the bubble. The real drama unfolded when Samuel Fournier found himself in a pivotal coin flip—his pocket queens up against Mihai Niste's ace-king.
The flop seemed safe for Fournier, keeping him ahead, but the turn brought a flush draw for Niste, which made it a bit sweaty for the Frenchman. As the river card hit the felt, Niste completed his flush, which meant Fournier was sent home as the unfortunate bubble boy. With Fournier's painful exit, the remaining 191 players locked up a piece of the prize pool.
Mustafov then began his ascent up the leaderboard, scooping a massive pot worth nearly 800,000 with a full house against Ali Al-Kubasi. With two EPT titles already under his belt—both claimed in Prague over the past decade—Mustafov now has his sights set on completing the hat-trick here in Cyprus.
Previous Main Event winners Hossein Ensan and Song were among the casualties at the end of Day 2, as were Brandon Sheils, Alexander Tkatschew, and Lin, the latter who four-bet shoved pocket deuces in the final moments of the day and ran into the pocket kings of Damir Zhugralin.
Lucien Cohen made quads to round out a successful day, which left the 2011 EPT Deauville Main Event champion with a healthy stack of 394,000 to work with once Day 3 kicks off. A few other notables to make it through include Georgios Tsouloftas (620,000), Ivan Banic (494,000), Sebastian Malec (376,000), Artur Martirosian (373,000), Anton Wigg (350,000), Nicolas Chouity (309,000), Benjamin Spragg (161,000), and Adrian Mateos (78,000).
Lucien Cohen
Remaining Payouts
Place
Prize
1
$1,030,000
2
$642,300
3
$459,000
4
$353,100
5
$271,400
6
$208,720
7
$160,500
8
$123,400
9
$94,940
10-11
$73,100
12-13
$60,900
14-15
$50,760
16-17
$42,280
18-20
$36,740
21-23
$31,940
24-27
$27,780
28-31
$24,160
32-39
$20,980
40-55
$18,240
56-71
$15,880
72-95
$13,820
96-119
$12,020
120-143
$10,460
144
$9,100
Day 3 starts at 12 p.m. on Thursday, October 17, with blinds at Level 16, 2,500/5,000 with a 5,000 big blind ante. The average stack sits at 267,500, which is around 53 big blinds.
Be sure to tune into PokerNews tomorrow for updates on Day 3 in the Main Event to see who can make it to Day 4.
