Shashank Jain opened to 3,500 from middle position, and action folded to Dimitar Danchev in the big blind, who produced a three-bet to 13,500. Jain thought for a moment before four-bet jamming for around 71,000 with the slightly covering stack, and Danchev quickly got his chips in the middle.
Dimitar Danchev: A♦K♦
Shashank Jain: Q♣Q♠
It was the classic race, and Danchev missed the 10♥9♦4♠10♠2♠ runout, making it a quick Day 2 for the Bulgarian.
Arriving on a flop of 7♣5♦10♠, Xiaosheng Zheng made a bet of 5,500 from early position. Mehdi Chaoui then raised to 18,000 in the cutoff before Umberto Ruggeri bumped it up to 30,500 on the button.
Zheng quickly got out of the way but Chaoui called after spending a time bank. The 5♠ fell on the turn and saw Ruggeri size down to 12,000. Chaoui tossed in a quick call, after which the A♦ river went check-check.
Chaoui was first to show and tabled 5♥5♣ for quad fives. Ruggeri could not beat the nuts and swiftly added his cards to the muck as he saw the pot being shipped to Chaoui.
After several preflop raises, Vladislav Dubanov's stack of 62,000 had been pushed in from the cutoff and he was at risk against Andras Nemeth in the small blind.
Vladislav Dubanov: 9♠9♥
Andras Nemeth: A♠5♠
Dubanov needed to fade an ace, and he did just that on the 10♣4♠7♦K♥J♦ runout to double up early on Day 2.
The penultimate day of the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus kicks off today with Day 2 of the $10,300 EPT High Roller taking place at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa.
A total of 405 entries were recorded on Day 1, and that number will surely rise as registration is still open until the start of play at 12:30 p.m. local time. The 164 survivors from Day 1 will all be looking to grind their way through twelve 50-minute levels, and the person in the best position to do so is Parahat Nurmuhammedov, who bagged up an impressive 524,000 chips at the end of play yesterday.
Ray Qartomy bagged a respectable 378,000 chips at the conclusion of Day 1. With nearly two decades of live tournament cashes under his belt, the American is still chasing his first cash outside his native United States, according to TheHendonMob. He’ll be hoping Cyprus is where he finally adds an international flag to his record. Joining him in the top ten are Simeon Spasov (324,000), Boris Kuzmanovic (286,000), and Xiaosheng Zheng (276,000).
Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Parahat Nurmuhammedov
Turkmenistan
524,000
349
2
Berthold Winz
Germany
391,000
261
3
Ray Qartomy
United States
378,000
252
4
Simeon Spasov
Bulgaria
324,000
216
5
Umberto Ruggeri
Italy
314,500
210
6
Aleksei Gortikov
Russia
310,500
207
7
Nichan Khorchidian
Lebanon
306,000
204
8
Boris Kuzmanovic
Croatia
286,000
191
9
Xiaosheng Zheng
China
276,000
184
10
Belarmino De Souza
Brazil
268,000
179
The EPT has consistently drawn poker talent from every corner of the globe, and this tournament field is no exception. In a remarkable display of the tour's international appeal, the top twelve chip leaders hail from twelve different nations, showcasing the truly global nature of the competition.
Sergi Reixach finished fourth in this event last year and pulled through Day 1 with 164,000 chips. Two more of last year's finalists survived Day 1 as Markkos Ladev, who finished eighth in 2023, bagged up a short stack of 34,500 and Nariman Yaghmai, who finished ninth last year, came through with 148,500.
Sergi Reixach
A number of notables remain in the star-studded field including Roberto Romanello (231,500), Steve O'Dwyer (198,500), Tom Middleton (191,500), Stephen Song (156,000), Hossein Ensan (133,000), and Elias Gutierrez (102,500), who has already won two titles this series.
Once the total number of entries is confirmed, the prize pool and payouts will be revealed, and the real chase for a place in the money will begin.
The action gets underway back up at Level 11 with blinds at 1,000/1,500 and a 1,500 big blind ante. Starting from today, levels will be shortened to 50 minutes each. The plan for Day 2 is to play until the money is reached and continue through to the end of Level 22. The surviving players will return for the final day tomorrow, October 20, and play down until a winner is crowned.
Stay tuned to PokerNews as we provide continued coverage of the $10,300 EPT High Roller directly from the felt.
