Live updates from day 3, level 14 of EPT Kyiv Sports Poker Championship brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young.
Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected chip counts can be found by clicking right here. Blinds 300-1,500-3,000.
3pm: Refreshments
That's the end of the level. Players are now nipping off for comfort breaks/refreshments/tobacco or all three (though hopefully not at the same time).
New end-of-level chip counts will very soon. - SY
2.50pm: Flipping heck - he folded A-K!
It was Cengizcan Ulusu who famously flipped a coin on the final table of EPT Dortmund last season to decide if he should call all-in. He called, turned over K-2... and bust.
Now Artem Litvinov is at it as well. Facing an all-in push for 45,000 from Sergey Antonenko, it was folded around to him on the button. He only had 29,400 behind, less than ten big blinds, and seemed to like his cards. But he could not quite bring himself to call. So he got out his coin, flipped it, and let that decide his fate.
The result was a fold - but not before he showed his hand... A-K. - SY
2.45pm: A bad joke in good pictures
This little collage is called: "Shuffle up and peal". The dreadful pun is mine; the tip-top pictures are Neil Stoddart's. - HS
2.40pm: Tent batons down
Fitzgerald has been getting busy just eight players off the money. After a 7,700 pre-flop bet found no takers he then made it 26,000 from the big blind behind a bet of 10,000 from Bernard Boutboul which was called by Torsten Tent in the small blind. Boutboul passed while Tent moved all-in showing aces when Fitzgerald called with K♦T♣.
"You set me up, nice hand," said Fitzgerald as the board ran out A♦Q♥9♥Q♠T♥. Boutboul thumped the table. "What you have, quads?" asked Fitzgerald. "I had a queen," he replied. "But I lose!" Fitzgerald down to 131,000. Tent up to 82,000. -- SB
2.35pm: Priit comes unstuck
Priit "Stick" Turner is out. Turner had A♣K♠ and was up against Joram Voelklein's Q♣Q♦. The money went in on a board of 7♣4♣3♣, Turn calling Voelklein's shove. Neither the turn nor river was a club, nor an ace, nor a king, and the queens took it, consigning Turner to the scrapheap. The nattily head-banded Estonian is gone. - HS
And here's Turner in moving pictures:
Watch EPT Kyiv S6: Pritt Turner on PokerStars.tv
2.30pm; Big stacks do battle
Alex Fitzgerald and Kirill Boydachenko went to war. By the time the turn was dealt, there was at least 180,000 in the middle, this board K♥7♦5♠K♦, and a bet of 82,000 in front of Boydachenko. Fitzgerald counted his own chips then folded, leaving him with about 180,000 and Boydachenko passed 390,000. - HS
2.25: Getting the Maxim
Vyacheslav Rotach opened the pot with a raise to 9,000 from under-the-gun and found a caller in the shape Maxim Lykov in late position before the flop came 6♣9♠Q♣. Both players checked to see the 4♣ turn where Rotach check called a 11,000 bet from Lykov. The 8♠ river prompted a 40,000 bet from Lykov when checked to him and this caused a serious tank session from his opponent. It was at least four minutes before he slid eight yellow chips over the line in a call. The muck was much quicker in coming from him though when he saw Lykov had a straight with J♠T♣. He now becomes our first man to 500,000 chips.
2.22pm: Igor on the up
Igor Dubinsky on table five keeps taking the blinds and antes, literally throwing in raises of 8,000 with no takers. Andrew Malott, wearing the Phoenix colours of former NBA star Kevin Johnson today, just arrived at this table carrying a rack of more than 150,000. -- SB
2.20pm: In the feature seat
Another table breaks leaving just just six tables seating 48 players. Sitting in the PokerStars Blog Feature Seat right now is Serguei Pomerantsev, from Russia, with 137,400. -- SB
2.16pm: No flash for Falaschi
Alex Fitzgerald just added a bit more to a stack that has blossomed on day three. On a flop of T♦5♦3♦ Luca Falaschi made it 12,000 which Fitzgerald raised up to 27,000. The 15,000 more was too rich for Falaschi who folded. "Vamos!" someone shouted from the rail. -- SB
2.15pm: Italians call rail summit
Fabio Bianchi moved his short stack all in pre-flop and Jonas Kronwitter took a small nibble out of his monster stack to call. Bianchi had A♦Q♠ and Kronwitter had T♣9♠. They were going all the way to the river, and the board ran out 5♣3♣4♦6♥7♦, putting a straight on the board and splitting the pot. "Lucky," said Kronwitter, which didn't go down well with Bianchi. "You think I'm lucky?" Bianchi said. "Me? Lucky?" There was much gesticulating. "It's better than a nine or a ten," Kronwitter said, but Bianchi had seen enough. He joined the ever-present Italian railbirds, and Francesco Cirianni, who is still in the tournament, for a post-mortem of the hand. There was much more gesticulating. - HS
2.10pm: Short-stack pile up
It's time for desperate moves for those short stacks who want to build up enough momentum to make it to the money and beyond. Three of them just went to war on the same table, all getting their chips in the middle pre-flop. One, Ruslan Prydrk, had just lost a monster pot to Michele Limongi from Italy (who may now be challenging the chip lead) and fancied his chances when the cards were turned over:
Ilya Kainov: A-K
Ruslan Prydryk: Q-Q
Iliya Gorodetskiy: K-J
They all leaned forward to see their fate, and watched as the board ran out 3♦2♠4♦2♦7♠, good enough for Prydryk to triple up to 65,000. Kainov took the 2,800 side pot with his A-K, but that left him on just 5,000 or so. Gorodetskiy has 21,000. - SY
2.05pm: Three way inaction
There's at least 50,000 in the middle pre-flop and Maxim Lykov, Vyacheslav Rotach, and Mihaylo Demidenko have cards. The flop comes K♥3♦2♦ and Demidenko checks. Rotach bets 40,000 and Lykov and Demidenko decide to protect their stacks, and fold. Lykov still has way more than 400,000 and is on fire, despite shipping that small pot.
At this point, 49 players remain; nine off the bubble. - HS
2.00pm: Dude moving through the gears
With a stack over 200,000 Alex Fitzgerald seems to be more comfortable with his tournament situation. This coupled with the fact we're eight players off the money means it's a good time to start moving through the gears and it seems the young American is doing just that. He's just raised two hands in a row from the first two positions, got customers both times and managed to take down both pots with bets on the flop and on the turn. This has helped him reach the 250,000 mark.-MC
1.51pm: Ivanov v Sangatullin
Viktor Ivanov made it 13,000 from the big blind and Albert Sungatullin called from the button for a 4♠2♦7♣ flop. Both checked for a 4♦ turn. Ivanov made it 10,000 at this point which Sungatullin called for a 5♦ on the river. Ivanov checked while Sungatullin made it 14,000. Eventually Ivanov called. Sungatullin showed A♠3♣ for the straight and a stack of 240,000. Ivanov mucked and is down to 245,000. - SB
1.46pm: Chips!
Full and official chip counts are now available. If a player's name does not appear, they're out.
1.45pm: Bianchi in the red
On a board of T♦3♠8♠7♥9♠ and with 75,000 in the middle, David Aslanyan bet 25,000. Italian Fabio Bianchi said: "I have to call," and flung in some chips, followed by a sharp, staccato Biblical name. Aslanyan showed J♣A♦ to Bianchi's T♠9♣. He's down to 25,000 now as Aslanyan continues a climb to 365,000. -- SB
1.40pm: Back to the action
Players have now returned from the break, and here's a gratuitous photo of a dealer in Kyiv.
