The second and final day of the 2015 TonyBet OFC World Championship Main Event is about to kick off in about 30 minutes when the final 12 players out of a total of 116 entrants will be battling it out until a winner is declared. All returning players are guaranteed a €2,009 payday.
The excitement at the Corinthia Hotel in Prague is growing as everyone is anxious to see who the second Main Event champion in history will be. What's on the line isn't just a place in history, but also the top prize of €30,007 and a coveted championship belt.
The Russian duo of Sergey Bagirov and Sergei Illarionov start the day in the best position. Not only because they are number one and number two in chips with 552,000 and 472,000 respectfully, but that they also will be able to battle each other along with fellow country-mate Yury Gulyy on the same table and not be capped on chips per points with all-ins.
These aren't the only Russian players left in contention as six players in total or half the remaining field are from the largest country in the world. The other three Russian players are Ilia Karasin (282,000 chips), Alexandra Usoltseva (270,000 chips), and Evgeniy Taranyuk (155,000 chips).
Canada has the next most representatives left in the tournament with Jean-Philippe Piquette (231,000 chips) and Beniot Jean (170,000 chips). The other four players are each representing different European countries including Roman Pavliuk (Ukraine - 393,000 chips), Tomas Ksenevicius (Lithuania - 392,000 chips), Kisel Dziayis (293,000 chips), and Johnny Johansen (117,000 chips).
Play will resume with points worth 3,000 chips each with chip levels increasing every 45 minutes. We expect a ton of action with the average stack of 295,000 almost at 100 points per player.
Stay tuned at PokerNews as we follow the TonyBet OFC Championship Main Event until a champion is declared.
Norway's Johnny Johansen was the first casualty of the day. It took almost 40 minutes of play before Roman Pavliuk was able to get his chips. Pavliuk in the process was also able to grab some of the chip stack from Belarus' Dzianis Kisel.
Johansen was the short-stack heading into today and collected €2,007 for his 12th place finish. This represented his third largest cash in a live tournament after his seventh place finish in the €750 JP Poker Masters event in March 2012 for €2,510 and his 14th place finish in the € 800+80 NM Omaha Pot Limit - Triple Chance event for €2,410 .
The tournament's third shortest stack to head into the day, Beniot Jean, was the today's second person to exit the tournament. While the Canadian was ultimately eliminated by Russian Ilia Karasin, some of his chips went to his friend Jean-Philippe Piquette as well.
Over on the feature table, Evgeniy Taranyuk was just eliminated in 10th place for €2,009. Russia's Sergey Bagirov now joins Alexandra Usoltseva and Tomas Ksenevicius on the feature table.
While 10th-12th places all were paid the same amount, each elimination going forward will receive an escalating amount of money. The next person eliminated in ninth place will be awarded €2,761.
Sometimes it just takes a few hands in OFC to go from hero to zero and vice versa.
To prove this point, Russia's Sergey Bagirov began the day as chip leader, but couldn't get much going the first two hours of play today. He was one of the day's early causalities as he was just eliminated from the feature table in ninth place for €2,761.
Action was fast and furious on table #3 as Belarus' Dzianis Kisel and Ukraine's Roman Pavliuk were able to quickly grab the chips of Russia's Sergei Illarionov. Although fortunately for Dziayis, he was able to grab more than his opponent.
Illarionov who began the day in second place, was just eliminated in eight place for €3,478. With today's cash, the Russian's career tournament earnings soars above $20,000 according to The Hendon Mob.
The next player eliminated will be awarded €4,294 and at this point we will be down to two tables or just half the field we began the day at.
Russia's Yury Gulyy has just been eliminated in seventh place for €4,294. Tables will be redrawing shortly and then action will go on break in about 7 minutes. The next player to hit the showers will be awarded €5,122.
Gulyy, who is best known for playing higher stakes ring games, also has had some success in tournaments as well. Today he adds to his over $800,000 in live tournament earnings. The Russian's biggest tournament cash came in May when he took second place in the FPS High Roller (Event #19) for €109,345.
Dzianis Kisel from Belarus was the chip leader on last break. Over on the feature table, he quickly went from hero to zero at the hands of both Canada's Jean-Philippe Piquette and and Russia's Ilia Karasin.
Kisel was eliminated from the tournament in sixth place for €5,122. Despite hopes to get the title, this is Kisel's largest tournament cash according to The Hendon Mob.
The remaining five players are all guaranteed a minimum €6,502 payout.
Karasin was eliminated in 5th place for €6,902. While this is Karasin's largest cash according to The Hendon Mob, he has been on a roll. Just two days ago, Karasin finished runner-up in the RedBet Open Opening Event Freezeout for €4,066.
The tournament is now on a quick break while they are setting up the cameras on the four-max final table. One player will be sitting out at all times until the tournament is down to three players.
We are now at a four seated final table with one player sitting out at all times. Currently Russia's Alexandra Usoltseva is in the lead with an impressive 1,227,000 chips. However, as we have seen throughout today and yesterday, things can change quickly.
All four players remaining are guaranteed a €8,809 payday with first place getting the coveted championship belt along with the top prize of €30,007.
