Live updates from day 3, level 15 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 400-2,000-4,000.
4.25pm: Break Time
Players are on a 15 minute break. Just enough time to discuss bubble strategy.
4.15pm: Bubble Time
It's the second worst place to finish in a tournament and the same feeling all those 5th place athletes must be experiencing in Berlin. The player going through that torment is Ruslan Prydryk who moved all in for somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000. The caller he found was Iliya Gorodetskiy holding A♣J♦. Prydryk was dominated with A♥4♦ and the board ran K♦6♦6♣A♦K♥. We're now hand-for-hand until we lose one more player. - MC
4.10pm: Fitzgerald keeps Jaoui in the game
David Jaoui moved all-in with pocket sevens for not much, getting called by Alex Fitzgerald with J♦6♦. The board did nothing for Fitzgerald but prolonged the tournament life of Jaoui a little more. 42 players remain. -- SB
4.07pm: Chip-leader
Maxim Lykov continues a formidable charge and has probably taken over the chip lead. He now has 760,000. -- HS
4.06pm: Pair of big stacks have one pair each
At the more comfortable end of proceedings, Joram Voelklein and Vitaly Tolokonnikov got involved with their mighty stacks. There was close to 140,000 in the middle by the time the river was out, revealing a full board of J♠6♦5♠A♥Q♦. Both players' betting was slow by now, and they checked the river. Tolokonnikov's A♦8♥ bested Voelklein's K♠Q♣. - HS
4.05pm: Closing in on the bubble
Vasyl Lagutin became our 43rd place finisher, getting all in with A♠T♥ and being called by Iliya Gorodetskiy with A♥Q♣ and a bigger stack. The flop came 6♦6♥8♣5♣6♣ and the queen played. Lagutin is out and we're getting very close to bubble time. - SB
4.00pm: Not so Fabio
With only 20,400 in front of him Fabio Bianchi was not in a position to hang on and try and make the money so it was understandable him pushing all in with J♥2♠ when folded around to him in the cut off. The big blind looked down and saw K♣T♠ and made the call. The board ran out T♠8♥T♦T♠5♦ to move us ever closer to the bubble. - MC
3.59pm: Litvinov flips again
Our professional coin flipper Artem Litvinov has done it again. Facing a 12,000 raise from Volodymyr Pilyavskiy, he got out his trusted coin, flipped it - and moved all in. Call.
Litvinov: 4♦4♠
Pilyavskiy: A♥9♠
The board ran out T♠4♠6♦Q♦A♦ and the flopped set doubled up Litvinov to 65,000.
He enjoyed that so much he cheered a "come on", then turned around and high-fived the girl massaging his back. - SY
3.50pm: Double the excitement
Two all-ins at the same time on two separate tables. It's the kind of excitement most find irresistible, but which one to watch? Iliya Gorodetskiy beat Artem Litvinov to it. On table five Gorodetskiy pushed in for 39,600 then Litvinov did the same on table four for 25,500. But while he found no takers Michele Limongi was all too happy to pay off the Russian who then showed A♦A♥ without even a trace of smugness. "You can still lose," joked Limongi, showing A♣K♠. "I know," replied Gorodetskiy. But not this time. 6♣3♣6♠Q♦5♦ on the board. Gorodetskiy up to 80,000. Still 44 players remaining, four away from the money. -- SB
3.45pm: Litvinov flips, wins
Artem Litvinov has been having a massage from the start of the day and is now almost certainly looking at a bill in Euros that's larger than his stack. He's also been performing his coin-flip routine at regular intervals and just did it again. Adrian Schaap called in the cut off and Litvinov pulled out his lucky coin, seemed to say a prayer, and then tossed it aloft, looking at the result and moving all in for 13,100, which was 9,100 more than the 4,000 call from Schaap. Schaap decided to give this one up, revealing 3♠2♣ and Litvinov showed A♥K♣. "You have ace-king. Why did you do the flip?" said Schaap. Litvinov shrugged and continued enjoying the massage. - HS
3.40pm: When folding comes good
Vasyl Lagutin makes it 9,100 pre-flop and it's folded around to Volodyhyr Sendetskiy. He takes one look at his cards, likes what he sees and pushes all-in for 81,800.
Lagutin slumps back in his seat two chair, then leans forward again to interrogate Sendetskiy, who is partly hidden in seat 8 behind the dealer.
"Have you got a pair?" he asks. No response. So he tries it in Russian instead.
"HДVЗ УФЦ GФT Д PДIЯ?"
But that didn't work either. The silence spoke a thousand words to Lagutin, who folded. Sendetskiy then showed A♠K♦.
"Oh, I had A-Q," he claimed, to nods of approval. - SY
3.38pm: Falaschi still fighting
On a flop of J♥4♠2♠ Kirill Boydachenko checked to Luca Falaschi who bet 16,000. There's around 30,000 in the pot when Boydachenko asks the Italian, in a deep Russian voice, how much he has left. Falaschi holds up five fingers which can only mean 50,000. Boydachenko calls for a K♦ on the turn. Falaschi moves all-in now. "Will you show if I fold?" asks Boydachenko. "Yes!" replies Falaschi immediately and Boydachenko folds immediately. Falaschi showed K♥Q♠ and gets some vital relief in for his stack, now up to 120,000 with 44 players remaining. -- SB
3.35pm: Double up for Gorodetskiy
The shortest stack at the recent break, that belonging to Iliya Gorodetskiy, has now doubled in size. He got it all in with A♣3♣ against Igor Dubinsky, who had him crushed with A♦5♦. The board favoured Gorodetskiy, running out 6♠3♥Q♠7♥2♠ and that vital three kept Gorodetskiy alive with a stack of 45,000. Gorodetskiy is best known in these parts for his commentary on the Russian version of EPT Live throughout the past EPT season.
Probably a good time to remind you that EPT Live starts tomorrow, in all kinds of lingo. - HS
1.35pm: Bokked by Friend
A short stacked David Sonelin moved all in and managed to steal the blinds. Two hands later he moved all in again for 39,200. It was folded all the way around to the considerably larger stacked Jonas Kronwitter in the big blind who squeezed one card and saw K♣ then squeezed the other card and saw Q♠. After some deliberation he decided to call because he could afford to rather than because he had a price to. Sonelin tabled A♦8♥ and after the flop came A♣T♣7♦ his friend on the rail prematurely celebrated the paired ace not seeing the gutshot opportunity for Kronwitter. Wouldn't you know it, instant service came on the turn in the form of J♠ to end the hand and eliminate the quietly spoken Swede.
3.20pm: Chips!
The new, official chip counts are in. If you see red, click it.
3.18pm: Ups and downs
Maxin Lykov and Mihaylo Demidenkogo at it, betting and calling to the river where Lykov's 2♦2♥ are good over Demidenkogo's A♦J♠ on a blank board. Demidenkogo on 142,000, Lykov's up to around 440,000. -- SB
3.15pm: Some words about Michael Meyburg
The highest-ranked PokerStars qualifier coming into today was the German Michael Meyburg. Last night he made a massive surge up the leaderboard, sending us off to our trusted friend and resource for some information. There we discovered that he was a former backgammon world champion, but there was precious little about his poker exploits. Today, our German blogger Robin Scherr was dispatched to find out more about him, and as ever did the business.
Meyburg is a 45-year-old former backgammon world champion, who has recently been focusing more on his poker. He won two seats to EPT Kyiv in two 2,500 FPP satellites, essentially qualifying for his first EPT event for absolutely zilch.
Although he doesn't play as much backgammon as he used to, he now teaches a number of young players and instead follows their progress through the major tournaments. With only 45 players left, he still has in the region of 250,000 chips and is looking like turning that nothing into something like cash.
3.10pm: Into the new level
Fitzgerald hands never seen to get further than the re-raise he makes. This time he captures the 10,500 bet from Oleksander Vaserfirer in the cut off, moving all-in from the small blind. -- SB
