Yuri Kaganovich raised to 20,000 from early position and Marko Banovic called out of the big blind to see a flop of 
. Banovic checked, Kaganovich fired a continuation bet of 36,000 with another 150,000 behind. Banovic gave it a lot of thought, eventually seeing another opponent on the table ask for time.
The tournament director gave Banovic one further minute and he eventually mucked the 
.
Joining the action on a flop of 
, Manig Loeser made a bet of 13,000 out of the small blind and then called the raise of Mehmet Sinan Ogan from one seat over to 32,000. On the 
turn, the German check-called a bet of 63,000 and both players then checked the [/s] river.
Ogan showed 
for two pair and that won the hand.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
820,000 | 119,000 |
|
620,000 | -116,000 |
Level: 22
Blinds: 5,000/10,000
Ante: 1,000
| Player | Nationality | Chips | Seat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ates Hikmet | Turkey | 636,000 | 1 |
| Marko Banovic | Serbia | 545,000 | 2 |
| Fuat Tanindi | Turkey | 206,000 | 3 |
| Yuri Kaganovich | Russia | 228,000 | 4 |
| Serhat Cetiner | Turkey | 285,000 | 5 |
| Sergey Minaev | Ukraine | 123,000 | 6 |
| Manig Loeser | Germany | 736,000 | 7 |
| Mehmet Sinan Ogan | Turkey | 701,000 | 8 |
| Yevgeniy Dudos | Russia | 269,000 | 9 |
The action is scheduled to get underway shortly and most of the finalists are currently opening their bags next to the feature stage.
Only nine players from a 150-entry field remain in the World Poker Tour €770 LEI Main Event, and the most well known finalist is leading the pack. Manig Loeser, who already has $1,402,706 in live earnings to his name according to the Hendon Mob, accumulated 736,000 chips thus far. The lead of the German came off a successful coin flip with the 
against the pocket fours of Atanas Kavrakov, and an ace appeared on the flop to send the Bulgarian to the rail in 11th place.
Fellow countryman and World Series of Poker bracelet winner Simeon Naydenov busted less than 10 spots off the money, as only the first 17 players claimed at least €1,450. Among those who settle for a min-cash was Ahmet Ucali, who took down the Live Events International Cyprus Main Event in August 2014 for a payday of $87,000. All of the remaining nine players have at least €2,600 locked up for their efforts, but all eyes are set on the winner's trophy and first-place payout of €25,070.
The action at the Noah's Ark Deluxe Hotel & Spa in Bafra, Cyprus will resume at 13:00 local time (12:00 CET) with 21:05 minutes left in Level 22 at blinds of 5,000/10,000 and a running ante of 1,000. Each level for the first two days of the tournament lasted 40 minutes, but the duration will increase to 60 minutes per level on the final day.
The PokerNews Live Reporting team will be there to cover all crucial hands until a winner is crowned, so stay tuned and be prepared to enjoy the show.
Then, on Friday, Jan. 23, Day 1a of the partypoker WPT National Cyprus Main Event will kick off with quite a few big names from the international poker circuit expected at the tables. The event features a buy-in of €2,000 with two starting days, a starting stack of 30,000 in chips, and levels of 45 minutes on each Day 1.
LEI Main Event
Day 3 Started
