The action is set to resume at 2:00 P.M. local time inside the Poker Arena at King's Casino for the final day of Event #5: THE COLOSSUS €550 No-Limit Hold'em. There will be 12 players returning after a long Day 2 that saw the field dwindle from 256 players.
One of those that will be in search of the title and a WSOP gold bracelet is Makarios Avramidis who comes into the day second in chips with 5,775,000. Making the final table will be no stranger to Avramidis, as he won the €2,200 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Max event two years ago in Berlin where the WSOP Europe was held. He also has nearly $500,000 in career earnings, making him the most experienced of those remaining.
Jonathan Khalifa will hold the chip lead after bagging 6,915,000 to end Day 2. The two players are seated at the same table for the time being and would be no surprise if they were to engage in some large pots. Roman Matovsky (5,625,000) and Matous Skorepa (5,010,000), two local Czech players, are also in contention with some of the larger stacks.
When play gets underway, the blinds will change to 80,000/160,000 with a 20,000 ante. That doesn't leave a lot of room for the short stacks to manoeuvre and eliminations could happen quickly. The returning players are all guaranteed to take home a prize of €18,324 but will be battling for the first-place prize of €270,015.
After three more eliminations, the official final table will be moved to the feature table and will be live-streamed. The PokerNews coverage will continue on a 30-minute delay to be in sync with the live stream.
Philipp Lutkemeier came into the day as the short stack and shoved all in from under the gun for just under 900,000. The action folded around to Ivaylo Sivinov in the big blind who looked down at his cards and quickly made the call.
Lutkemeier:
Sivinov:
The flop came giving Sivinov a set of eights and leaving Lutkemeier drawing slim. The turn was the and the river landed the . Lutkemeier became the first casualty of the day while Sivinov is in the process of building up a stack.
Ivaylo Sivinov raised to 400,000 from under the gun and Ruben Garcia Blancas checked his stack in the big blind before calling with 1.9 million behind. The flop fell and Garcia Blancas checked, Sivinov bet 550,000 and the Spaniard moved all in to pick up a quick call.
"Do you have a jack?" Garcia Blancas asked, but Sivinov shook his head before the cards were turned over.
Ruben Garcia Blancas:
Ivaylo Sivinov:
The on the turn gave Sivinov an additional gutshot, and the on the river improved him to a flush, eliminating Garcia Blancas in 11th place for €18,324.
All remaining ten hopefuls will now combine to the unofficial ten-handed final table and move to the feature table after losing one more player.
Hand #5: Pascal Pflock raised to 510,000 from early position with and Skorepa called on the button with . Gaetan Cauchy was in the big blind with and pushed all in for 2,665,000. Pflock laid his hand down and the action was back on Skorepa. After asking for a count, he made the call and the hands were tabled.
The flop came and Skorepa was still in the lead with his pair of nines. The landed on the turn and the hit the river. Skorepa improved to a full house and Cauchy was eliminated in ninth place.
Hand #14: Pascal Pflock moved all in for 1,815,000 from under the gun with . Nebojsa Ankucic also pushed all in with for 1,100,000 directly to his left. Jonathan Khalifa was in middle position with and he made the call. The rest of the table folded and the three hands were face up.
The flop came giving Ankucic the best hand with a pair of jacks and a flush draw. The hit the turn as Khalifa turned the nut straight. The river brought the and Khalifa held with the nuts eliminating Ankucic in 8th place and Pflock in 7th place.
Hand #23: Matous Skorepa raised to 650,000 from under the gun with and Jonathan Khalifa called on the button with . Roman Motovsky moved all in for 2,175,000 with in the big blind. Skorepa called while Khalifa folded.
The flop came giving Motovsky the lead with a pair of kings and a flush draw. The turn was the and Skorepa turned two pair. The river landed the and Motovsky was unable to hit any of his outs, being eliminated in 6th place.
Hand #44: Matous Skorepa announced all in from the small blind with and Ivaylo Sivinov called for 6,050,000 in the big blind with .
The flop came and Skorepa was still out front with a pair of tens. The turn brought the giving Sivinov a pair of eights, although he was still behind. The river landed the and Sivinov was eliminated in 4th place.
The players will be taking a quick eight-minute break.
Hand #69: Matous Skorepa raised to 1,300,000 in the small blind with and Jonathan Khalifa shoved all in for 11,425,000 from the big blind with . The action was back on Skorepa who asked for a count before taking his decision into consideration. He eventually made the call and it was a coin flip for a massive pot.
The flop came and Khalifa was still in the lead with two pair now. He was seen on the rail, hugging his friend, not watching the cards hit the felt. The turn was the and the river brought the . Skorepa rivered a pair of tens to oust Khalifa in third place, leaving Matous to battle heads-up with Florian Fuchs.
Hand #80: Matous Skorepa moved all in from the small blind and Florian Fuchs called from the big blind for his last 5,600,000.
Florian Fuchs:
Matous Skorepa:
The flop of was a bad one for Fuchs, and the turn took away any split pots to leave Fuchs with three outs only.
The on the river was a blank and Skorepa took a bow on the stage before shaking hands with Fuchs. The Austrian was eliminated in 2nd place for €166,855, while Skorepa claimed the third Czech bracelet of the 2017 World Series of Poker Europe.
giving Sivinov a set of eights and leaving Lutkemeier drawing slim. The turn was the 
and the river landed the 
. Lutkemeier became the first casualty of the day while Sivinov is in the process of building up a stack.
and Garcia Blancas checked, Sivinov bet 550,000 and the Spaniard moved all in to pick up a quick call.
on the river improved him to a flush, eliminating Garcia Blancas in 11th place for €18,324.
and Skorepa called on the button with 
. Gaetan Cauchy was in the big blind with 
and Skorepa was still in the lead with his pair of nines. The 
landed on the turn and the 
hit the river. Skorepa improved to a full house and Cauchy was eliminated in ninth place.
. Nebojsa Ankucic also pushed all in with 
hit the turn as Khalifa turned the nut straight. The river brought the 
and Jonathan Khalifa called on the button with 
. Roman Motovsky moved all in for 2,175,000 with 
and Motovsky was unable to hit any of his outs, being eliminated in 6th place.
and Sivinov was eliminated in 4th place.
and Jonathan Khalifa shoved all in for 11,425,000 from the big blind with 
and Khalifa was still in the lead with two pair now. He was seen on the rail, hugging his friend, not watching the cards hit the felt. The turn was the 
was a bad one for Fuchs, and the