$5,300 EPT Main Event Day 1b | 2023 PokerStars EPT Cyprus

10-17-2023 13:49 UTC+2

Van Bemmel Makes Hero Call on River to Bust Cheong

Matt Warburton

Level 3 : Blinds 100/300, 300 ante

Nick Van Bemmel had 2,500 on the table in a reraised pot in the small blind and Kyle Cheong had raised it up again to 8,200 from the big blind. Van Bemmel called.

The flop came 3♠6♠J♦. Van Bemmel checked and Cheong continued for 4,000, which Van Bemmel called.

The turn was the 9♣. Van Bemmel checked and Cheong sized up to 8,000. Van Bemmel called again to make for an inflated pot.

The river came the 6♦. Van Bemmel checked for a third street and Cheong moved all in for 27,000. Van Bemmel went into the tank for a long time, occassionally glancing across at his opponent. Eventually, he moved his chips into the middle for the call.

Cheong showed A♣8♦ for a bluff. Van Bemmel showed A♦Q♣ and had caught the bluff with just ace-queen high to win the pot. Cheong was eliminated, congratulating van Bemmel as he left the table.

"Nice call man," said Cheong, a sentiment echoed by others around the table.

Player	Chips	Progress
Nick Van Bemmel	88,000 88,000	88,000
Kyle Cheong	Busted

Tags: Kyle Cheong Nick Van Bemmel

10-17-2023 12:17 UTC+2

Tsugu Forces the Folds

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Josh Noy

Level 2 : Blinds 100/200, 200 ante

Three-way action on a board showing 9♣A♠10♠K♥ saw Chakib Mhiri check from the big blind and Erik Bauer check in the cutoff before Takahiro Tsugu fired a bet of 2,200 on the button.

Both opponents called to the 9♦ river before checking to Tsugu one last time. After taking a moment, Tsugu slid out a bet of 12,000, and it was Mhiri's turn to take some time. He eventually made the fold, as did Bauer allowing Tsugu to take down a nice pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Takahiro Tsugu	44,000 44,000	44,000
Chakib Mhiri	38,000 38,000	38,000
Erik Bauer	26,000 26,000	26,000

Tags: Chakib Mhiri Erik Bauer Takahiro Tsugu

10-17-2023 11:56 UTC+2

Kaufmann Makes Broadway

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Josh Noy

Level 1 : Blinds 100/100, 100 ante

Three-way action to the turn saw David Kaufmann lead out for 1,200 from the big blind on the J♥4♠10♥J♠ board. Ran Shahar called in the cutoff before Elias Abou Saleh folded on the button.

The A♣ river saw Kaufmann lead out again for 2,300 and Shahar looked him up with a call. Kaufmann showed K♠Q♠ for a rivered straight, good enough to take down a nice pot as Shahar mucked.

Player	Chips	Progress
David Kaufmann	34,000

Elias Abou Saleh	30,500
Ran Shahar	22,800

Tags: David Kaufmann Elias Saleh Ran Shahar

10-17-2023 10:02 UTC+2

Final Starting Flight of the $5,300 EPT Cyprus Main Event Starts Today

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Matt Warburton

It's time for Day 1b of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus $5,300 Main Event, running at the luxurious Merit Royal Diamond Hotel & Spa. The action gets underway at noon local time.

Day 1b consists of 10 one-hour long levels. Blinds kick off at 100/100 with a 100 ante and players will have starting stacks of 30,000 chips. There will be a 20-minute break every two levels and a 75-minute dinner break at the end of Level 6.

Players can take a single reentry across both starting flights and late registration is open until the start of Day 2.

Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip count	Big blinds
1	Milos Skrbic	Serbia	402,000	335
2	Dario Sammartino	Italy	297,000	248
3	Parker Talbot	Canada	276,000	230
4	Klemens Roiter	Austria	272,000	227
5	Vadym Koriagin	Ukraine	266,000	222
6	Marian Virlanuta	Romania	264,000	220
7	Lukas Robinson	United Kingdom	247,000	206
8	Simon Wiciak	France	233,000	194
9	Daniyar Aubakirov	Kazakhstan	217,500	181
10	Dimitar Danchev	Bulgaria	211,000	176

Day 1a attracted 467 entrants and 133 players survived to make it through to Day 2. Milos Skrbic ended the flight as chip leader with 402,000. Dario Sammartino is in second, and PokerStars Team Pro Parker Talbot sits in third.

Day 1b is expected to be the busier of the two flights. As this is the inaugural stop in Cyprus, there is no reigning champion to speak of. However, this is the fourth stop on the EPT calendar and so far this year Razvan Belea, Mike Watson, and Simon Wiciak have all been crowned EPT Main Event winners. One player is soon to join them.