Kenny Hallaert took his seat at the start of Level 3, but has lost a significant chunk of his stack after a pot with Nicolas Chouity.
The action was missed but on a full board of 10♥5♦10♠6♣K♠, there were around 25,000 chips in the middle when Hallaert checked, and Chouity shoved for 17,500. Hallaert had 18,500 remaining in his stack, and after some time in the tank, he elected to fold.
Zoran Marich made it 600 to go from early position and Nicolas Betbese called from the next seat. Alexander Ivanov then three-bet the hijack to 2,700, and Toni Kaukua cold four-bet on the button to 5,400. Marich folded with around 5,000 behind, Betbese got out of the way, and Ivanov shoved for around 12,000 total. Kaukua called.
Alexander Ivanov: Q♠Q♣
Toni Kaukua: A♦K♥
It was an all-too-familiar coinflip and Ivanov was already standing up, either in preparation to leave or his usual ritual, but kept his advantage after the J♦3♠4♦ flop. However, Kaukua found a great card with the 2♦ turn as he picked up a plethora of outs in both straight and flush draws to go along with his overcards. One of those outs appeared on the river as the K♣ gave Kaukua a pair, sending Ivanov to the rail early on.
Mats Ullereng got the action going from middle position with a raise to 800, and he found three willing callers ready to see the flop.
When the dealer revealed 3♥10♠8♠, everyone checked until it was Serghei Tsoy’s turn to act. Being last to speak, Tsoy seized the moment and made a bet of 1,500, which only Elie Farah in the small blind decided to call.
The 5♠ landed on the turn, prompting Farah to check again. Tsoy didn’t hold back and fired off a bet of 2,400, and Farah called once more.
As the river brought the 4♠, Farah checked for a third time. Tsoy seized the opportunity and placed a bet of 3,000, prompting called once more. Tsoy revealed J♠9♠, showcasing a jack-high flush that earned him the pot.
Action was on the flop on a board of 2♦6♠9♦ and Georgios Vrakas checked. Kursat Bayrakci bet 10,000 and Vrakas check-raised all in for 27,800. Bayrakci was left scratching his head and after a moment he made the call.
Bayracki had 9♣8♣ for a pair of nines and Vrakas had 2♣2♠ for a set of deuces.
The turn came the 2♥ to give Vrakas quads and the river was the K♦. Vrakas won the pot and doubled up his stack.
Tom Talboom was seen raking in a pot to get him back to almost the starting stack, with Estonia's Andrey Koks being the one that had to fork out the chips.
The full board read K♦J♦5♦10♦2♣ and all the chips were already in the middle. Koks cards were mucked, after a quick check to see if he had a diamond, but he couldn't beat the J♥J♠ of Talboom, which meant the Dutchman doubled up to around 27,000.
Around 14,000 was in the middle in a hand between Aleksandr Chernikov in the cutoff and Mehmet Demirkol in the big blind.
The flop read 10♦7♠3♥, and Demirkol checked. Chernikov moved all in for 20,700, and Demirkol went deep into the tank.
After around three minutes, the clock was called. With about ten seconds left, Demirkol flicked in a calling chip with the covering stack.
Aleksandr Chernikov: A♥K♥
Mehmet Demirkol: J♣J♦
Demirkol was ahead with pocket jacks versus Chernikov's two overcards, and although Chernikov picked up extra outs on the 6♥ turn, the 7♣ river was a brick to send the pot to Demirkol.
PokerNews is excited to announce that our Home Games Leaderboard is continuing in October and readers can continue to pit themselves against one another in our private PokerNews Home Games group on the PokerStars platform.
PokerNews Home Games has already awarded over $8,000 worth of tickets and with games running daily, there is always time to jump and grab some of that juicy value.
Members can compete on the virtual felt on both mobile and desktop, and PokerNews will add incredible value to the heap of online poker tournaments running throughout the year. Don't worry if you are a new player as everyone is welcome, we have a variety of buy-ins and games that will be running so you too can enjoy battling for bragging rights and big blinds.
Throughout October, PokerNews will be running daily Added Value MTTs in which the winner shall receive a tournament ticket, of $11, for winning the MTT and this is on top of the prizepool itself. Buyins are an affordable $1.10 and there are also Leaderboard prizes for the top 10 finishers at the end of the month. Any MTT in which registration closes with over 30 players, PokerNews will double the 1st place ticket, so the incentive is there to get all of your poker playing buddies involved and get even more value.
