Jeschka Leads Final 21 After Wild Ending to Day 3 of the MPP Main Event
Day 3 of the $5,300 Luxon Pay Mediterranean Poker Party Main Event has come to its end after 14 hours of play time here at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel on the shores of Northern Cyprus. A day that started with 163 players ended with just 21, who still remain from the total field of 1,032.
It was a day packed with action and three key hands ended up defining the day and setting the stage for tomorrow. One of those hands established the end-of-day chip leader as Hannes Jeschka with 11,045,000. He flopped two-pair to win a huge hand against top pair top kicker on the final hand of the night to put himself in the catbird seat.
Another beneficiary of the big final hands was Italian Riccardo Saraniero as he rocketed up the chip counts to 7,260,000 where he also had two-pair against the top pair of Arsenii Karmatckii..
Not to be outdone however, Karmatckii would not be licking his wounds for very long as he got in a huge confrontation on the very last hand of the night with pocket sevens vs ace-king. The flop was something out of a dream for Karmatckii as it gave him quads and moved him into third place on the chip counts to end the day.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hannes Jeschka | Germany | 11,045,000 | 69 |
| 2 | Kyle Maguire | United Kingdom | 9,400,000 | 59 |
| 3 | Arsenii Karmatckii | Russia | 9,100,000 | 57 |
| 4 | Erik Cajelais | Canada | 8,130,000 | 51 |
| 5 | Riccardo Saraniero | Italy | 7,260,000 | 45 |
| 6 | Alexander Gofman | Russia | 7,100,000 | 44 |
| 7 | Koray Korkmaz | Turkey | 6,750,000 | 42 |
| 8 | Manuel Fritz | Austria | 5,800,000 | 36 |
| 9 | Natalya Nikitina | Russia | 5,175,000 | 32 |
| 10 | Steven Warburton | United Kingdom | 4,625,000 | 29 |
The other two top five stacks who did not need a late dramatic hand to boost themselves up there were Kyle Maguire in second place with 9,400,000 who had a very solid day and built his stack gradually throughout; as well as Erik Cajelais who finished fourth in chips with 8,130,000.
Others to highlight amongst the final 21 include the last woman remaining Natalya Nikitin (5,175,000), Steve Warburton (4,625,000) and Gabriel Akiki (3,620,000) who has seemingly had the most fun of the remaining players, being the most animated in his reactions.
The day began as the field was only eight away from the bubble and the hand-for-hand portion happened early on. The bubble would be a long affair as it took nearly an hour and a half to get the three eliminations necessary to reach the money wherePaul Phua would bring the filed to within one of the money when he was the penultimate bubble boy, eliminated two away from the burts to set up the one and only Tony G becoming the bubble boy.
Eliminations would come steadily after that as the field shrunk at a solid pace as players such as Paulina Loeliger (83rd), Sofia Lovgren (77th), Day 1 chip leader Dmitry Yurasov (62nd) would hit the rail.
Two of the bigger names in the field would do down later in the night as. Niall Farrell would fall in 50th place while David Peters went out in 47th to Jeschka.
Play would slow down some in the final few levels as there became a question of how much longer the day would go on in consideration of tomorrow as eliminations hit a big of a snag with four tables remaining. But things picked some life back up in the last level of the night, as there were the aforementioned key hands to set the stage for tomorrow.
The players return at 12 noon tomorrow at Level 29 with blinds at 80,000/160,000 and will play down to a winner and the $750,000 grand prize.
PokerNews will be back on the felt with the players at that time as all the action will be brought to you.
and was called by Hannes Jeschka in the small blind.
and Jeschka checked over to Fal, who bet another 1,200,000. Jeschka snap-called and Fal opened up 
for top pair. Jeschka, though, showed 
for two pair to take the tournament chip lead into the final day.
to end things right there. The 
and 
filled out the board as Karmatckii gathered the massive pot and Thaller was decimated.
flop to leave Bobrik way behind, then improved to a full house on the 
turn. Bobrik was drawing dead heading to the 
river and the overnight chip leader was eliminated in 22nd place.
to confirm his double.
against the 
. And the river brought the 
to complete the flush for Shabalin and give him the dramatic double as he pumped his fist in celebration.
and Nikitina's queens stayed in front to send Drokin to the rail.
of Alberto Meran that was swept away.
