Our final dozen is now taking a one-hour dinner break. See you back here at approximately 7:40 p.m. local time (that's GMT+2). Here are stacks to which players will be returning:
Alexander Dovzhenko -- 2.24 million
Vadim Markushevski -- 1.93 million
Maxim Lykov -- 1.73 million
Torsten Tent -- 1.1 million
Lucasz Plichta -- 429,000
Alexey Maslov -- 370,000
Adrian Schapp -- 352,000
Vitaly Tolokonnikov -- 259,000
Arthur Simonyan -- 192,000
Michael Meyburg -- 142,000
Bernard Boutboul -- 89,000
Volodymyr Pilyavskyy -- 64,000
Andrew Malott and Alexander Dovzhenko had been taking turns putting in preflop raises and devouring the blinds and antes over at the feature table for the last level. As play reached the last hand of Level 20, Malott once again was raising before the flop, this time to 31,000 from under the gun. It folded to Dovzhenko who called from the cutoff, and the others folded.
The flop came . Malott continued for 45,000, and Dovzhenko thought a moment before calling. "You should have folded," said Malott.
The turn was the . This time Malott checked, and Dovzhenko took about fifteen seconds before betting 100,000. Malott instantly check-raised to approximately 240,000. "I tried to tell you, friend," he said. "You should have folded."
Dovzhenko then announced he was all in, and Malott snap-called. committing his remaining 400,000 or so. Dovzhenko flipped over for the flopped set. "Jesus," said Malott, as he tabled his . He needed an ace on the river to survive.
"Can I use my one time now?" he said with a somewhat weary grin, already starting to pack up his belongings. He congratulated Dovzhenko on a well played hand with a fist bump, then saw river bring the , knocking Malott out in 13th place.
We'll get counts on all of the remaining twelve players during the upcoming break, but that pot appeared to push Dovzhenko up to about 2 million -- challenging Vadim Markushevski for the chip lead.
We pick up the action on the flop in a heads-up, all-Russian pot. It came down , and Max Lykov checked. His lone opponent, Vitaly Tolokonnikov fired out a small bet, and Lykov came right along with the call.
The turn card was the , and Lykov would check-call another bet, 56,000 this time. The river came the , and Max tapped the felt again. Tolokonnikov smoothly counted out a bet of 160,000 and shoved it forward, sending his opponent deep into the tank as the EPT commentators argued back and forth about which player had ace-queen and which player had ace-king. After a long pause and some careful consideration, Lykov put in the call.
Tolokonnikov turned over for the three-barrel bluff, and Lykov had to be proud as he turned over , astoundingly calling his fellow Russian down the whole way with just king high. That high card is the winner, sending a very nice pot across the felt in his direction.
With just 101,000 chips in front of him, Arthur Simonyan elected to raise to 50,000 to open a pot up on the featured table. He found action from Lucasz Plichta who raised enough to put his opponent all in, and Simonyan quickly obliged, calling away the rest of his chips to put himself at risk.
Showdown
Simonyan:
Plichta:
The board ran safe for Simonyan: . With his kings holding up, he has earned himself a much-needed double up, the first step towards a big comeback.
Alexander Dovzhenko opened with a raise to 30,000 from middle position, and Andrew Malott made the call from the big blind.
Heads up, the flop came out , and both players checked. On the turn, Malott opted to fire out a bet of 45,000 which Dovzhenko quickly called.
The river came the , and Malott checked this time. Dovzhenko stacked out some of his new blue T10,000 chips and fired a bet of 70,000 across the line in a long string. Malott instantly called, and Dovzhenko tabled . The American patted the felt and said, "Nice hand, sir," as he slid his cards into the muck.
After having worked his stack up dangerously close to 1,000,000, Malott has slipped back to about 675,000. Dovzhenko, on the other hand, is all the way up to 1,350,000.
We've seen a couple of interesting, similar hands on the each of the tables recently, both of which featured a couple of aces come out on the flop.
First, over on the secondary feature table, Michael Meyburg opened with a raise to 35,000 from the cutoff, and Adrian Schaap called from the button. The flop came . Meyburg checked, Schaap bet 46,000, then Meyburg check-raised to 100,000. Schaap thought a moment, then announced he was all in for 220,000 total.
Meyburg -- who only had about 135,000 left and so would be committing nearly all of it should he call -- was in misery. "You have a strong hand, huh?" he asked Schaap, who said nothing and sat with his eyes closed and arms folded. "Queens any good?" asked Meyburg. Still, no answer.
Finally Meyburg folded. Schaap was over 300,000 after that one.
Later, over on the feature table, Alexey Maslov raised to 32,000 and Lucasz Plichta called from the big blind. The flop came , and both checked. The turn was the . Plichta bet 40,000, and Maslov called. The river was the . Plichta bet 60,000 this time, and Maslov again called. Plichta showed ace-ten for trips, and Maslov folded. Plichta moved up to 495,000, while Maslov slipped to 680,000.
Andrew Malott opened with a raise to 31,000 from the button, Bernard Boutboul folded in the small blind, then Alex Fitzgerald pushed all in for just over 260,000 from the big blind. Malott thought for just a few moments, then made the call.
Fitzgerald
Malott
The last two Americans in the field had been sharing a lot of table talk since being joined on the secondary table, and each wished the other luck as they awaited the community cards. They came , and Fitgerald is out in 14th place. Malott now has a nice-sized stack of 955,000.
Lucasz Plichta got things started with a raise to 30,000, and Alexey Maslov made the call a couple seats over. When the action came to Jonas Kronwitter, he moved all in for a bit less than 200,000. Plichta hemmed and hawed and folded, but Maslov instantly called with the covering stack, Kronwitter now at risk of elimination.
Showdown
Maslov:
Kronwitter:
The board would frown on the jovial Kronwitter, ending his day as it came out . He's been eliminated in 15th place, good for €12,000.
Jonas Kronwitter has moved all in before the flop on the last two hands, and he has taken down the blinds and antes to add more than 45,000 chips to his stack.