A three-way all-in pot played out between Sergey Fedyaev, Lan Haoyenan, and Sergei Varnaev with them all getting their stacks in the middle.
Lan Haoyenan: A♦10♦
Sergei Varnaev: 10♣10♠
Sergey Fedyaev: K♥10♥
Fedyaev had both players covered and Haoyenan held the shortest stack with 70,000, meaning he would need to beat both opponents in order to stay alive. Varnaev had the best hand and with 82,000 in his stack, had to effectively win a flip in order to triple up.
However, Varnaev's hand went from best to worst on the A♣K♣6♣ flop, though he did add a flush draw to give himself a chance at survival. The J♥ turn gave each player a gutshot to Broadway, but the 5♠ river was a brick, which meant Varnaev was eliminated, and Haoyenan tripled up.
Leo Worthington-Leese raised to 12,000 under the gun. Pablo Minguez called in the seat next over before the action folded to PokerStars' Benjamin Spragg in the small blind.
He was down to 50,000, which he promptly put in the middle. Worthington-Leese looked him up before Minguez quickly got out of the way.
Benjamin Spragg: K♦K♣
Leo Worthington-Leese: J♥J♣
"What a scorcher," Worthington-Leese said regarding Spragg's hand.
It started to look like a comfortable double-up for Spragg when the 5♣A♦4♥ flop and 5♥ turn posed no threat. The river came the J♠, however, giving Worthington-Leese a full house to send out Spragg.
"That's also a scorcher," Worthington-Leese noted.
The pair exchanged some banter before Spragg joined his fellow Red Spade Fintan Hand, who had busted some minutes earlier, on the rail.
Denis Zelenkin opened the cutoff to 10,000 and Alessandro Siena three-bet the small blind to 33,000. Mathias Moutaoukil was in the big blind and after around a minute, he shoved for around 370,000. Zelenkin quickly folded, and Siena snap-called for his stack of 252,000.
Alessandro Siena: A♥A♦
Mathias Moutaoukil: 10♠10♣
Siena had a great opportunity to land an early double-up and kept his lead after the Q♥J♦4♥ flop. An 8♠ on the turn did give Moutaoukil a few extra outs with a gutshot, but the 2♠ river was a brick, which meant Siena doubled up.
With around 50,000 chips already in the pot on a board of 9♠5♦Q♦7♠, Yueksel Savsa had checked it over to Leo Worthington-Leese, who fired a bet of 45,000. Savsa then put in a raise to around 100,000, and Worthington-Leese called.
A 4♠ dropped on the river and Savsa instantly shoved for around 150,000, and Worthington-Leese snap-called.
Savsa quickly tabled Q♥7♦ for two pair, but Worthington-Leese had that crushed with 8♠6♠ for a turned straight that improved to a flush on the river, to eliminate Savsa.
After six action-packed starting flights, a total field of 2,803 entrants has been whittled down to 418 players for Day 2 of the $1,100 Eureka Main Event at 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus. Those figures generated a $2,662,850 prize pool, comfortably exceeding the numbers of the 2023 edition.
The remaining players, all of whom are in the money, will return at noon local time today, October 12, to Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa in Northern Cyprus, all of whom will be aiming to negotiate the eight 60-minute levels required to progress to Day 3.
Marian Virlanuta of Romania leads the field, after bagging up a 1,156,000 stack in Day 1c. He is closely followed by Mark Smith of the United Kingdom (1,050,000), the only other player to exceed the seven-figure mark. Atanas Pavlov of Bulgaria (972,000) completes the podium places.
Virlanuta boasts recorded cashes of just under $150,000, his current biggest score being a $27,185 payday for finishing 15th in the €2,200 High Roller at EPT Barcelona 2018, and he'll be hoping to set a new personal best in this event.
Smith is seeking his first EPT cash, and he will be hoping to make it a big one.
UK based Bulgarian Pavlov sits 16th in the Bulgarian all-time money list, having accumulated cashes of just over $1,500,000. He appears to be the most experienced player in the top ten, and will be aiming to surpass his current biggest EPT score, a $56,724 payday for finishing third in the €2,200 Deep Stack at EPT Barcelona 2022.
Atanas Pavlov
Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Marian Virlanuta
Romania
1,156,000
231
2
Mark Steven Smith
United Kingdom
1,050,000
210
3
Atanas Pavlov
Bulgaria
972,000
194
4
Roman Korenev
Russia
692,000
138
5
Recep Aydemir
Turkey
629,000
125
6
Omer Cubukcu
Turkey
607,000
121
7
Sergei Bortsov
Russia
598,000
119
8
Azizjon Rakhimov
Uzbekistan
589,000
117
9
Murat Taysi
Turkey
583,000
116
10
Tian Hao Zheng
China
583,000
116
PokerStars Ambassadors performed strongly, with no fewer than seven still in the mix - Georgina James (156,000), Sebastian Huber (155,000), Julien Brecard (149,000), Fintan Hand (142,000), Benjamin Spragg (116,000), Benjamin Bruneteaux (109,000) and reigning EPT Paris Main Event champion Barny Boatman (100,000).
Plenty of other big names are also still standing, including Tom Vogelsang (418,000), Michael Wang (355,000) and Julien Sitbon (298,000).
The players will return to 12 minutes left at Level 16, with blinds at 2,000/5,000, with a 5,000 big blind ante. Levels increase to 60 minutes for the remainder of the tournament, and players will have to navigate eight of those to progress to Day 3.
Payouts will be confirmed as soon as they are finalized. Stay tuned to PokerNews for all your coverage of what is sure to be an exciting day of poker thrills and spills.
