Having been reduced to four big blinds yesterday, Irishman Alex Tikhoniouk might well have thought his first EPT Main event would soon be over. But then he started doubling up, ending the day as chip leader, as the PokerStars Blog reports.
Eric Qu three-bet shoved for his last 27,000 with 
and was called by an opponent with 
to double through thanks to a board of 
.
Andrius Bielskis opened from middle position and Nikita Nikolaev shoved all in for 71,000 from the button. Both blinds folded and Bielskis asked for a count before calling with 
. Nikolaev showed 
and would make no connection with the board at any point: 
. Down to 107 players, 20 from the money.
The board read 
when we found Olivier Piechaczyk and Jouny Hanna heads up in the hand. Piechaczyk checked the turn and Hanna took this chance to move 39,000 past the betting line. Piechaczyk thought for about 30 seconds before placing out calling chips.
The river paired the board with the 
and Piechaczyk checked once more. Hanna instantly checked the action back. Piechaczyk threw on the table for trip sevens, prompting Hanna to slam his hand down on the table. He flung his cards at the muck and watch on as the pot was pushed to Piechaczyk.
With this victory, Piechaczyk is now at 400,000 in chips.
Eugene Katchalov got it in with and managed to spike a straight on a board of 
to better the 
of his table neighbor.
Tatiana Barausova moved all in for her last 55,000 from late position and found a call from France's Pascal Aznar in the big blind. The hands were revealed to show that Barausova was in need of some help.
Barausova: 
Aznar: 
Barausova found a glimmer of hope when she flopped an open-ended straight draw with 
, but ultimately nothing materialized as the and the 
finished off the board. She was eliminated from play and Aznar's stack increased to about 190,000.
Kevin MacPhee opened for 8,000 and faced a three-bet from Bernd Vogelhuber to 23,000. MacPhee moved all in and had him covered. It took a few minutes thinking time before Vogelhuber plonked out his chips to make the call and the cards were flipped over.
MacPhee showed 
and was shaking his head as he saw the of Vogelhuber. It was a bit pot with Vogelhuber putting in close to 150,000.
The final board showed 
and, with Vogelhuber busted, MacPhee moved to over 400,000.
The media card of Nathan Gozlan was already waiting to be picked up when Emmanuel Nakache got it in with 
and his table neighbor held 
. The board ran out 
to give his opponent not only the jack but even a flush.
Paul Berende has been eliminated from the tournament. Details are scarce, but Rob Strong one table over told us that Berende got it in with kings versus ace king before the flop. Unfortunately for Berende the kings didn't held up, and the Dutchman hit the rail.
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