Martin Staszko opened from middle position and was three-bet from the button by Matias Knaapinen to 3,000. Staszko called and the pair saw a flop of .
Staszko check-called a bet of 3,600 and the came on the turn. Again Staszko checked and Knaapinen bet 6,000. Staszko raised all in and Knaapinen called. Knaapinen showed and Staszko turned over .
"I almost folded," said Staszko, as the was dealt on the river.
Makarios Avramidis opened the action and faced an all-in from Elyahu Braginskyi for close to 9,000 which he called from his big stack.
Braginskyi had lost a big pot earlier on and has been grinding for several levels and he now faced a flip for his tournament life holding against the of Avramidis.
The board ran out with the king in the window holding up to secure a much needed double up for the Israeli.
Georgios Skotadis raised to 1,250 from early position and got three callers including Viktor Kovachev in the hijack. The flop came . The two players in the blinds checked to Skotadis who continued for 3,500. Kovachev was the only caller.
The turn was the and Skotadis bet 6,100. Kovachev called.
On the river, which was the Skotadis moved all in. Kovachev asked for a count. Skotadis was all in for 12,100, and Kovachev called.
Skotadis mucked his cards face down and got to his feet, the dealer turned over for queen-high. Kovachev showed and took down the pot with a set of nines, eliminating Skotadis in the process.
Konstantinos Tsirakidis raised to 1,100 from early position. It folded round to Matthias Gude in the small blind who three-bet all in for around 11,000.
Tsirakidis thought for a while, and there were numerous comments from Gude before the Greek player called and showed . Gude turned over .
"I can live with that," said Tsirakidis in German, and he watched as the board ran out giving him no help, and handing Gude a double up.
Adi Alkalay opened to 1,025 from early position and a call before it got to one of the more colourful characters in the tournament whose registration slip insists is ChiKKata BanAAna, and his yellow sponsored jacket backs it up. He played yesterday but didn’t progress to day two so is back again to fight.
Five players checked it down to the river whereupon Alkalay bet just 1,000. That got one fold but BanAAna declared the he would punish himself and just call as there were players behind. A third player said he too would take his punishment and called.
Alkalay tabled . “That doesn’t win,” insisted BanAAna before he showed his matching while the other player showed his and mucked.
“If he wasn’t there I raise!” BanAAna declared while Alkalay insisted he would have gone on in and BanAAna said he would call. In the end though they settled for chopping up a small pot.
It folded to Stefano Grandinetti on the button who, having once had a stack of over 50,000, had fallen on hard times and was down to his last 25 big blinds. He looked as if he was going to raise, before deftly picking up a small tower and moving all in for 12,775.
Pavel Havranek was sat in the big blind with a smaller stack, albeit mostly made up of blue 5,000-value chips, and re-raised all in himself for just over 20,000.
The big blind folded.
Havranek held and was ahead of his opponent holding . However, the ten on the flop of all but assured Grandinetti the double up. The turn was the and the river the and the pot was shipped to the Italian.
The flop was and a bet of 5,000 from big blind Stefano Grandinetti was met by a raise from the original raiser, Domenico Gala, to 8,300.
Grandinetti called and they turn card was the . Both players checked and Grandinetti then assembled and bet just under 20,000.
Gala gave it some thought and counted out the call. If he called and lost he would be left on fumes. Instead, after close to two minutes, he committed the rest of his chips. Grandinetti called the shove.
Gala had for the rivered full house meaning the flush of Grandinetti was no good and Gala doubled up.
Yuksel Tok was in the small and Igor Baliner in the big blind and they had reached the river of a board reading with 20,000 in the middle.
Tok had checked and Baliner moved all in for 9,450. Tok mulled it over for a while as he had 18,000 behind. Eventually he folded his face up in disgust which got some nods around the table but Baliner kept his council.
.
came on the turn. Again Staszko checked and Knaapinen bet 6,000. Staszko raised all in and Knaapinen called. Knaapinen showed 
and Staszko turned over 
.
was dealt on the river.
![[user252447]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
against the 
with the king in the window holding up to secure a much needed double up for the Israeli.
. The two players in the blinds checked to Skotadis who continued for 3,500. Kovachev was the only caller.
for queen-high. Kovachev showed 
.
giving him no help, and handing Gude a double up.
. “That doesn’t win,” insisted BanAAna before he showed his matching 
while the other player showed his 
and mucked.
and the river the 
