Antal Mezei in the cutoff raised to 13,000. He was called by the small blind, but Eimantas Plekavicius in the big blind three-bet to 31,000. Mezei was the only one to call.
Plekavicius fired a first barrel of 25,000 on the 8♥4♠10♦ flop, then a second one of 30,000 on the turn 10♣. He was called twice. But on the river 3♦, he slowed down and check.
Mezei took this opportunity to bet 52,000, Plekavicius' stack. Clearly unhappy, Plekavicius folded to keep his 7 blinds. Mezei then revealed Q♦J♦ and scooped the pot.
Christoph Hillinger raised to 16,000 from the hijack, and he was called by Antal Mezei to his left and by Mody Rubinstein in a the big blind.
Hillinger continued for 16,000 on a flop of K♦7♥7♦, but his two opponents didn't back down and both called. Then all three of them checked on the turn A♦.
The 6♠ landed on the river, and Hillinger bet 32,000. Mezei eventually called, but not Rubinstein. And when Hillinger showed A♥8♦, Mezei's cards went into the muck.
Down to 49,000 chips, Eimantas Plekavicius moved all-in from middle position. He was called by Konstantinos Giannoutas to his left, and by Antal Mezei who defended from the big blind.
Giannoutas and Mezei checked all the way through the board of 9♥Q♠8♣3♥3♠, so all three players had to reveal their cards.
Eimantas Plekavicius: 2♥2♣
Konstantinos Giannoutas: 10♣10♦
Antal Mezei: A♦J♣
Giannoutas won this one with his tens, but he also burst the bubble.
After a long bubble, Day 1b of the EAPT Bratislava Main Event ended with 13 players remaining, here at Banco Casino. They are the last survivors of a field of 84 entrants, and they all secured a spot on Day 2 and in the money.
During the last minutes of the day, Benjamin Lakatos, Adrian Filip, and Christoph Hillinger all became the chip leader one after the other. But at the end of the day, Filip is the one who filled his bag with the most chips (630,000). Lakatos follows closely behind with 602,000 chips, while Christoph Hillinger takes the third place (546,000).
Day 1b Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Counts
Big Blinds
1
Adrian Filip
Romania
630,000
79
2
Benjamin Lakatos
Hungary
602,000
75
3
Christoph Hillinger
Austria
546,000
68
4
Konstantinos Giannoutas
Greece
424,000
53
5
Antal Mezei
Hungary
207,000
26
6
Yurii Savin
Ukraine
207,000
26
7
Mody Rubinstein
Israel
192,000
24
8
Vili Päivärinta
Finland
185,000
23
9
Imre Lascsik
Hungary
136,000
17
10
Richard Turoczi
Hungary
119,000
15
11
Mario Eder
Austria
107,000
13
12
Christian Horvath
Austria
89,000
11
13
Gani Weiss
Israel
87,000
11
Greece's Konstantinos Giannoutas also ended the day with more than 50 big blinds (424,000). Then the gap is quite big with the other qualified players, as Antal Mezei (207,000), Yurii Savin (207,000), Mody Rubinstein (192,000), and Vili Päivärinta (185,000) will all be back on Day 2 with approximately 25 blinds — half of Giannoutas's stack.
At the back of the pack, it's been a close call for Christian Horvath (89,000) and Gani Weiss (87,000). Both of them had to move all-in on the bubble to steal blinds, and it worked as they put 10 blinds in their bags.
While Day 1b was still playing, Day 1c Turbo ended on Level 10 (blinds of 1,000/2,000 and a 2,000 big blind ante) with only two players remaining out of a field of 10 entrants. Ukraine's Ruslan Volkov finished this flight with a big chiplead of 332,000 chips, ahead of Benjamin Svetina (68,000).
Tomorrow, Friday, January 26 will be the last day to try to qualify for Day 2. Two flights are scheduled: Day 1d at 2:00 p.m. local time with 40-minute levels starting on blinds of 100/200 and a 200 big blind ante, and Day 1e Turbo at 8:00 p.m. with 20-minute levels.
On both flights, players will have 40,000 chip-starting stacks and nine levels to enter or reenter the tournament. Only one reentry per flight is allowed, and the day will end when 15% of the field remains.
Follow along as PokerNews provides all the live updates throughout the tournament.