Main Event
Day 3 Completed
2014 partypoker World Poker Tour Merit North Cyprus Classic
Main Event
Day: 3
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2014 partypoker World Poker Tour Merit North Cyprus Classic
Buy-in
$4,000
Prize Pool
$1,486,720
Entries
404
Level
31
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
0
30 Players Through to Day 4, Antonio Buonanno Still Leads
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
The 2014 partypoker World Poker Tour Merit North Cyprus Classic Main Event started its third day of play with 71 players. With the bubble at 45, there were sure to be a lot of disappointed faces early on.
The big stacks came in guns blazing, busting shorties left and right. And not just the short stacks were at risk, as the bigger stacks didn't avoid each other, either. Start-of-day chip leader Antonio Buonanno had his first six-bet in within the first three hands. Christian Christner put in a five-bet to 67,000, but folded to the 131,500 his aggressive Italian neighbor made it.
Christner was clearly five-betting with not too big a hand, as he folded rather quickly, but some players put in chips voluntarily with premium holdings. Over at Table 1, there was a three-way all-in clash with aces versus queens versus jacks. The aces held up and Abbas Morady almost trippled up, busting one and crippling another.
Dmitry Kataev was one of the bigger stacks in the room early on, and in several updates we discussed his fearless play. Seated behind 40-high towers worth thousands, he looked like a fearless killer, ready for bubble action to increase his stack even more. Well, despite being one of the bigger stacks in the room, he departed before the money. Two hands with ace-king up against bigger hands was all it took for him to go from half a million to zero.
Another controversial moment was a hand Nikolay Vershinin was involved in. Following a raise to 10,000 from early position, action folded to Abbas Morady in the hijack. Before Morady had made his decision, Vershinin had already shouted "All in!" Vershinin wasn't doing this intentional, so much was clear from his demeanor, but that didn't change the situation. This wasn't the first time, either — according to the floor staff, it had happened at least twice before this tournament.
The floor ruled that if Morady would raise, Vershinin would be able to either fold, call, or raise (all in perhaps) — whatever he wanted. Whatever happened, though, he would have to pay 10,000 for Perez's raise. However, if Morady would make the call or fold, the all in would stay and Vershinin had to commit all of his chips. This gave Morady the ultimate move if he had a really big hand, but in the end he decided to fold and leave the pot to Vershinin and Perez.
It was a controversial ruling, but in the end it didn't matter as Morady folded and left it to Vershinin (all in with the 
) up against Perez (who called with the 
). A king on the flop doubled Vershinin, but he would lose a bunch of those earned chips as he received a two-round penalty.
Toby Lewis gathered a lot of chips in the meantime by getting aces all in agains Ali Hassan's ace-king. By the time the chips were in the middle, Hassan had just one out left. Hassan had paired his king on the flop, but after the chips went in on the turn, Lewis had a flush draw accompanying his already-leading over pair. The river wasn't that one single card Hassan needed, and he left the tournament a couple of places before the bubble would burst.
One of the first hands after Vershinin came back from his penalty, he was all in. The amateur player from Russia open shoved a lot of big blinds with pocket nines, this time when it was his turn, and Ori Miller behind him made the call with ace-king. An ace and king on the flop resulted in Vershinin on the rail two spots before the money.
For an exciting minute, it looked like Sam Trickett was going to bubble the WPT North Cyprus. Alexander Lakhov had opened before the flop, and Sam Trickett had just flatted with the 
. The 
flop saw Lakhov bet 25,500, and Trickett just called again. The 
fell on the turn and Lakhov pushed all in for a couple times the pot. Trickett had 209,000 left and made the call with his set of kings. When play was done at all the other tables, the cards opened. Trickett had a more than decent hand, but it needed to fill up as Lakhov had 
for the nuts. The 
fell on the river, pairing the board and doubling Trickett.
It wasn't Trickett to bubble, it was a different well known British player that would go home empty handed. Louis Salter, EPT Monte Carlo runner-up Jack Salter's brother, ran ace-king into aces and was drawing dead to a chop on the turn. Not even a chop would come, and Salter left in 46th place.
The remaining 45 players were guaranteed $8,500 from that moment on. Where in most tournaments action cools down a couple of places before the bubble, and heats up right after as all the shorties try to either double up or die, this WPT by the Mediterranean Sea was the other way around. Action leading up to, and on the bubble, was fast and furious, but things went in a slower pace from there. Sure, players busted, but not as fast as before the bubble remarkably.
Day 1b chip leader Albert Daher found himself short stacked and lost his last chips with seven-nine against ace-three. Day 1a chip leader Andrey Pateychuk departed not much later with ace-king suited all in before the flop against aces.
The last notable to bust was Trickett. He lost a big hand where he bet big on the river, but folded to the surprise shove from Yuri Salikaev. Trickett said he was sure Salikaeval had set of nines; "Show me a card that's not a nine!" he said with a smile. Salikaeval didn't, or maybe couldn't. Trickett lost the remainder of his stack not much later with king-queen all in against fan-favorite Lakhov's ace-jack suited.
Trickett would be the last elimination of the day. Not that the organization waited for Trickett to bust to call it a day, he just so happened to get eliminated in one of the last hands of the fifth 90-minute level.
In one of the breaks before Trickett's bust out, Royal Flush Girls Violet Dillion and Tugba Ercan talked to him and Toby Lewis about their WPT Cyprus experience:
Thirty players remain, and those 30 will return tomorrow for Day 4. Antonio Buonanno leads with 1,175,000 in chips, with blinds at 5,000/10,000 with a 1,000 ante when players return. The plan for Day 4 is to play down to a final table of six. It could very well become a very long day, and PokerNews will be there to supply you with all the updates and photos you can ask for. See you at 1 p.m. local time!
Day 4 Seat Draw and Chip Counts (full)
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Toby Lewis | United Kingdom | 617,000 |
| 1 | 2 | Nikolay Baryshnikov | Russia | 506,000 |
| 1 | 3 | Ori Miller | Israel | 450,000 |
| 1 | 4 | Andrii Nadieliaiev | Ukraine | 198,000 |
| 1 | 5 | [Removed:2] | Lebanon | 528,000 |
| 1 | 7 | Oleksandr Gnatenko | Ukraine | 211,000 |
| 1 | 8 | Dmitry Mezhirov | Russia | 182,000 |
| 2 | 2 | Nicolas Chouity | Lebanon | 492,000 |
| 2 | 3 | Michel Habib | Lebanon | 110,000 |
| 2 | 4 | Evgeny Starikov | Russia | 240,000 |
| 2 | 5 | Oliver Price | United Kingdom | 626,000 |
| 2 | 6 | Dmitry Bayramov | Russia | 100,000 |
| 2 | 7 | Abbas Morady | Iran | 543,000 |
| 2 | 9 | Antonio Buonanno | Italy | 1,175,000 |
| 3 | 1 | Marco Della Tommasina | Italy | 250,000 |
| 3 | 2 | Serdar Saglam | Turkey | 800,000 |
| 3 | 3 | Alexander Nudin | Russia | 516,000 |
| 3 | 4 | Markus Ross | Germany | 399,000 |
| 3 | 6 | Igor Devkin | Russia | 138,000 |
| 3 | 7 | Nuri Kural | Turkey | 59,000 |
| 3 | 8 | Alexander Lakhov | Russia | 641,000 |
| 3 | 9 | Sofia Lövgren | Sweden | 228,000 |
| 4 | 1 | Alexander Bogdanov | Russia | 226,000 |
| 4 | 2 | Christian Christner | Germany | 721,000 |
| 4 | 4 | Paolo Petrucci | Italy | 384,000 |
| 4 | 5 | Vitaly Zholudev | Russia | 249,000 |
| 4 | 6 | Andrejs Perederejevs | Latvia | 169,000 |
| 4 | 7 | Dimitrios Ballas | Greece | 290,000 |
| 4 | 8 | Yuri Salikaev | Romania | 577,000 |
| 4 | 9 | Dmitry Gromov | Russia | 595,000 |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,175,000 | -75,000 |
|
800,000 | 737,000 |
|
721,000 | 151,000 |
|
641,000 | 241,000 |
|
626,000 | -19,000 |
|
617,000 | -228,000 |
|
595,000 | 351,000 |
|
|
577,000 | 502,000 |
|
543,000 | 313,000 |
|
528,000 | -172,000 |
|
516,000 | 96,000 |
|
506,000 | -84,000 |
|
492,000 | 12,000 |
|
450,000 | -150,000 |
|
399,000 | -99,000 |
|
384,000 | 229,000 |
|
290,000 | 55,000 |
|
250,000 | -110,000 |
|
|
249,000 | -71,000 |
|
|
240,000 | 195,000 |
|
228,000 | 125,000 |
|
226,000 | 226,000 |
|
211,000 | 46,000 |
|
|
198,000 | 198,000 |
|
|
182,000 | 18,000 |
Done for the Day
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
We'll be back as soon as possible with end of day chip counts, a recap, and later tonight the seat draw for Day 4.
Price Doubles Through Gnatenko
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
Oliver Price opened under the gun, and Serdar Saglam three-bet from the button to 47,000. Oleksandr Gnatenko in the big blind cold four-bet from the big blind to 278,000, and Price shoved all in for 295,000 total. Saglam folded after some thinking, but Gnatenko made the call for a couple of bucks more.
Oliver Price: 
Oleksandr Gnatenko: 
Price got up from the table as soon as the flop was dealt, because the was in the window. The and 
accompanied the ace though, and Price got back in his seat with his flopped middle set. The 
hit the turn, and the 
fell on the river, double up for Price.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
645,000 | 350,000 |
|
|
165,000 | -295,000 |
Sam Trickett Eliminated in 31st Place ($9,500)
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
Sam Trickett lost a huge pot where we saw him bet out 80,000 on a board of 
. His opponent was Yuri Salikaev from Russia, and that player shoved all in for just a little more.
Trickett said he was sure Salikaev had pocket nines, and folded after just fifteen seconds of thinking or so.
Not much later, the remaining chips went in the middle. Alexander Lakhov opened the cutoff for 17,000, and instantly called Trickett's button shove.
Trickett:
Lakhov: 
The 
on the flop gave Trickett a gutshot, but no queen was delivered with the on the turn and 
on the river.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
Evgeniy Nam Eliminated in 33rd Place ($9,500)
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
Evgeniy Nam was ready for his miraculous comeback from one ante, but it wasn't meant to be.
Nam committed his remaining chips before the flop, and Trickett and Dmitry Mezhirov were in the pot as well.
We missed the flop action, but Trickett bet out 45,000 on the turn of a 
board, and Mezhirov open folded his pocket sevens.
Nam showed 
, and was live against Trickett's .
The on the river paired Trickett, and Nam made his way to the exit.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
352,000 | -168,000 |
|
Busted |
Dmitry Pokhabov Eliminated in 34th Place ($9,500)
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
Vitaly Zholudev opened for 16,000 from early position, and Dmitry Pokhabov made a three-bet from the blinds. Zholudev shoved all in, Pokhabov made the call.
Dmitry Pokhabov:
Vitaly Zholudev:
The 
board improved no one, and the nines went face down in the muck.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
320,000 | 111,000 |
|
Busted |
Nam Had One Ante (No He Has Eight)
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
Andrii Nadieliaiev opened for 16,000 from the button, and Dmitry Mezhirov in the small blind pushed all in for 70,000. Evgeniy Nam in the big blind pushed from the big blind for 71,000, and Nadieliaiev thought long and hard, before folding.
Dmitry Mezhirov:
Evgeniy Nam:
The paired both, but made no real difference. The 
fell on the turn, which brought a flush draw for Mezhirov. The paired Nam, but brought the flush, and Nam was left with just 1,000.
He was all in blind as an ante the next hand, and won the hand when he made a full house with 
. Comeback time?
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
164,000 | 79,000 |
|
|
8,000 | 8,000 |
Maksoud Doubles Gromov
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
[Removed:2] open shoved the button, effectively putting the short stacks in the small and big blind to the test. The small blind quickly folded, but Dmitry Gromov in the big blind made the call.
Dmitry Gromov:
[Removed:2]: 
The board was good for Gromov, and Maksoud handed in 116,000 of his chips to double his Russian opponent.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
700,000 | -116,000 |
|
|
244,000 | 128,000 |