Eduard Norel Leads Final Six; Ankit Ahuja Back For Another Shot in the Eureka Main Event at EPT Cyprus
The last pot on Day 3 of the $1,100 Eureka Main Event at the PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus went to Eduard Norel and helped make the Romanian the man to catch at the final table.
Norel busted Delrouz Babak in seventh place to bring Day 3 to a close, boosting his stack up to 19,575,000 as he leads the final six who will return tomorrow at noon local time to play down to a champion. Norel is already guaranteed his largest career score. He won a tournament here in Cyprus in 2016 for $35,010 and also finished third in a PokerStars Festival in Bucharest in 2017.
Andrei Vavilonskii is in second place with 17,300,000 and is enjoying his first recorded live cash. In third place is the man who, at one point today, looked like he was going to run away from the field, then looked as if he was in for a stunning fall.
Final Six Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eduard Norel | Romania | 19,575,000 | 78 |
| 2 | Andrei Vavilonskii | Russia | 17,300,000 | 69 |
| 3 | Ankit Ahuja | India | 15,625,000 | 63 |
| 4 | Andrei Teodorescu | Romania | 13,825,000 | 55 |
| 5 | Mykhailo Demydenko | Ukraine | 9,175,000 | 37 |
| 6 | Roman Gadzhiev | Russia | 4,500,000 | 18 |
Ankit Ahuja began the day as chip leader and still had a massive advantage at the start of the final table. But three big hits right at the start of the nine-handed table saw him tumble down the leaderboard. He managed to reclaim some of those lost chips to end up with 15,625,000 as he looks to better his fifth-place finish from the Estrellas Main Event at EPT Barcelona last month.
Andrei Teodorescu (13,825,000), Mykhailo Demydenko (9,175,000), and Roman Gadzhiev (4,500,000) round out the six who are all that remains from a massive starting field of 2,659 entries, the third-largest Eureka event in history. Everyone left is already guaranteed $73,650 for making it this far, and they’ll all be chasing the $362,365 top prize tomorrow.
Day 3 action
Day 3 began with 31 players spread out across four tables. Ahuja was the chip leader, while Ali Al-Kubasi began in second place but soon saw a dream run through the field turn into a nightmare. Al-Kubasi ran into a set three times on his way to busting in 27th place when Ramon Kropmanns hit a set of nines to crack Al-Kubasi’s jacks.
Florian Guimond (24th), David Kaufmann (19th), and Iulian-Remus Blebea (17th) also fell along the way. Kropmanns served up a massive double up to Teodorescu when Teodorescu made two pair on the turn to beat Kropmanns’ top pair. Kropmanns then shoved for 4,000,000 but ran into the kings of Ahuja to crash out in 11th place.
Dutch high roller Tom Vogelsang lost a race with nines to Ahuja’s ace-king on the final table bubble as Ahuja took a massive chip lead of 25,500,000 into the final table, but it quickly became a steep fall down the leaderboard. First, he lost a big pot to Norel’s rivered nut straight. Ahuja then made a set of tens, but Vavilonskii had a straight to win the pot.
Finally, both Ahuja and Teodorescu flopped trip kings but Teodorescu doubled up in a 10,000,000-chip pot with his ace-kicker. Ahuja got back to claiming pots when he busted Walter Treccarichi in ninth place with a pair of nines.
Michel Atallah finished in eighth place after moving all in for 4,000,000 with a set of sevens, but Teodorescu had turned a straight and dodged the river to win the pot. Babak survived several all-in shoves at the final table, but his luck finally ran out when he moved all in for 3,375,000 with king-jack but Norel picked him off with king-queen to bring the day to an end.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $362,365 | ||
| 2 | $226,550 | ||
| 3 | $161,800 | ||
| 4 | $124,475 | ||
| 5 | $95,750 | ||
| 6 | $73,650 | ||
| 7 | Delrouz Babak | Iran | $56,650 |
| 8 | Michel Atallah | Lebanon | $43,375 |
The action tomorrow will pick up with 43 minutes remaining in Level 33 with blinds of 125,000/250,000 and a 250,000 big blind ante. Ahuja has been here before; for everyone else, it will be the biggest moment of their poker careers.
PokerNews will be following the action as six play down to one tomorrow at the luxurious Merit Royal Diamond Hotel and Spa in Northern Cyprus.