Victoria Coren-Mitchell opened on the button for 1,700 and got a fold from the small blind but Dimitar Danchev in the big blind wasn’t going to give up and decided to see a flop.
That flop was . Both players checked and on the turn card a check from Danchev saw Coren-Mitchell flick out a 2,000 bet. That got the job done.
Rui Ferreira had opened the action and Ludovic Geilich had called in position. On a flop of Ferreira continued for 2,100 and Geilich gave it some thought before placing out the call.
The turn card was the which didn’t slow Ferreira down as he bet 4,400. Another slight pause from Geilich before he raised him to 9,600. Ferreira threw in the towel and Geilich collected a few more chips.
From a low of 5,000 yesterday Geilich is back in the hunt.
An early-positioned player opened with a raise only to have Albert Mercier three-bet all in from a few seats over for somewhere around 15,000. Pasquale Grimaldi four-bet all in over the top and action folded back to the original raiser who kicked his cards in as well. The hands were turned over to reveal the two flipping for Mercier's tournament life.
Mercier:
Grimaldi:
The board ran out , pairing Grimaldi's king on the turn for the win. Mercier exited the tournament area and Grimaldi boosted his stack to around 90,000.
Carlo Savinelli and Konstantin Puchkov looked down at a completed board of . With approximately 9,500 already in the middle, Savinelli reached for chips and moved 6,000 into the middle.
Puchkov went into the tank for a bit, pondering his action while facing this bet. In the end, he opted to let it go and his stack now sits at just 25,500.
Jake Cody started with 53,000 and is still below that but could have been out of the door already. He was all in with pocket jacks versus pocket queens according to our French colleagues and the board ran out in his favor, reading .
Ludovic Geilich works on a miracle comeback after being down to 5,000 several times on Day 1b and is now up to 11 times of that lowest peak. Thomas Butzhammer next to him lost a few big pots, one with set of fives versus set of aces, before knocking out a short stack with pocket tens versus .
After a raise to 1,800 from early position, it was Eugene Katchalov making the call on the button. Mike Neuens in the small blind made the call as well, then Yury Gulyy in the big blind squeezed to 7,200. The initial raiser made the call and so did Eugene Katchalov for 7,200 each.
With so much already in the middle, small blind Neuens then resqueezed all in for (what we think was) 22,800. Gulyy shoved over the top for 34,800 and the initial raiser folded. Eugene Katchalov thought about it for some time before eventually calling as well.
Mike Neuens
Yury Gulyy
Eugene Katchalov
Things were looking good for Katchalov after the flop. The on the turn was also as safe a card as could come for him. But the on the river wasn't good for the Team PokerStars Pro. Neuens tripled up while Gulyy busted. Katchalov received the 24,000 in the side pot so didn't lose all that much in the end.
The next hand Katchalov won a 20,000 pot to get back to even. Katchalov opened from the cutoff and the big blind came along. The big blind check called Katchalov's 2,300 bet on and both players checked the on the turn. The big blind bet out 4,800 on the river and Katchalov called after some hefty thinking. The big blind mucked, Katchalov did the same after receiving the pot.
Action folded to Amir Mozaffarian in the small blind and the German player raised it up to 2,400. PokerStars Team Pro Eugene Katchalov in the big blind made the call.
Mozaffarian bet out 1,800 and Katchalov raised to 4,500 after a few seconds of thinking. Mozaffarian wasn't backing down though and three bet to 10,600. Katchalov four bet to 16,700 and Mozaffarian instantly pushed all in. Katchalov called it off for 33,800 total.
Katchalov confidently turned over for flopped trips. Mozaffarian showed for the flush draw (and backdoor full house draw).
The on the turn was of no harm for Katchalov, and neither was the on the river. Katchalov doubled again and plays well over average now after starting out today as one of the shorter stacks in the tournament.
Action folded round to Artur Yarovoy in the small blind who moved all in. He just had to get through Philippe Gellman in the big blind, who had him covered, but Gellman insta-called with while Yarovoy held .
Yarovoy was looking for his ace and he didn’t wait long as the cards ran out to give him a double up and some breathing room.
The screens show 315 out of 593 players remaining and former EPT champion David Vamplew is among the players who ran out of chips thus far. Henrik Hecklen only bought in before the start of Day 2 and is also gone as well.