On neighboring tables, the fates of Gurkan Gorguren and Benjamin Winsor took different directions. The three-way turn of saw Gorguren call a bet of 110,000 before the heads-up river of was checked. Gorguren showed for the nut flush and his sole remaining opponent mucked .
As far as Winsor is concerned, he called a bet of 110,000 by Andrey Kozlenko on the turn. The river was checked by Kozlenko and Winsor moved all in to see Kozlenko snap-call with for a flush. Winsor only had for a set of sixes and dropped to fewer than half a million chips.
Daniyar Aubakirov raised to 30,000 and was called by Franco Cantarella from one seat over. The flop of brought no betting action before Aubakirov check-called a bet of 35,000 on the turn. The player from Kazakhstan checked the on the river and folded when facing a bet of 400,000 by Cantarella.
Without showdown, the Italian chipped up further and closes in on three times the starting stack.
Possible chip leader Shyngis Satubayev raised to 30,000 from the cutoff and Aduard Shvedov three-bet to 80,000 from the button.
Igor Khachaturov was in the small blind and he four-bet all in for 186,000. Satubayev folded quickly, but Shvedov called putting Khachaturov at risk.
Khachaturov:
Shvedov:
The flop came giving Shvedov a full house. There was to be no miracle runner-runner straight flush or such like for Khachaturov as the turn came the and the river sealed his elimination.
partypoker Sponsored Pro Anatoly Filatov has been lurking around the halls and corridors of the Sochi Casino & Resort all day, perhaps itching to get in on the action. Last month Filatov took down the partypoker German Poker Championships High Roller in Rozvadov for €64,125 (pictured) and today, finally, with just under two levels left in play, he has taken his seat.
We asked him how he felt to be finally playing the Main Event.
"Excited," he said with a smile, "Excited to double up!"
With such a positive outlook, and having declared his intentions clearly to all and sundry, we stuck with his table to see what exactly his first orbit would be like.
1. A player in early position opened and the player on the button three-bet. Anatoly Filatov folded.
2. A player under the gun raised and the button called. Filatov folded.
3. The hijack opened and Filatov folded.
4. Shyngis Satubayev opened to 28,000 from under the gun. Filatov three-bet from the cutoff and Satubayev folded.
5. Filatov opened to 30,000 from the hijack and took down the blinds and antes.
6. A player under the gun opened and Filatov folded.
7. Filatov open-folded in early position.
8. Filatov raised under the gun to 30,000 and Shyngis Satubayev called in the cutoff.
The flop came and Filatov continued for 50,000. Satubayev called. The turn was the and Filatov check-folded to a bet of 110,000 from his opponent.
All in all it was a mixed bag of a first orbit for Filatov, but there is still plenty of time not just in the day but in the tournament for him to get going and build up a stack.
Oleg Titov and Ilya Gorodetskiy have almost doubled up his stack. Among the short stacks at the end of the penultimate level of Day 1a are Josef Gulas and Andreas Klatt.
It looked like the hand was going to fizzle out, but by the time it got around to the cutoff, they opened to 24,000 and the button called.
Alexey Melnikov thought about it in the small blind before three-betting to 116,000. partypoker Sponsored Pro Dzmitry Urbanovich was in the big blind and he four-bet to 265,000.
The initial raiser and caller folded and action was back on Melnikov.
Melnikov calmly dragged back his three-bet and pushed forward a five-bet to 555,000. Urbanovich quickly folded and Melnikov raked in the pot.
While a satellite for tomorrow's Day 1b has kicked off and shows 135 out of 147 players remaining in level five, the first of three starting days has entered the final level of the night. According to the screens, 180 players out of a 260-entry strong field remain and will be bagging up the chips in one hour from now.
After the dinner, the stack of Alexander Zubov has taken a hit and the Russian dropped down to fewer than two million chips. However, he has since recovered and just scooped a decent pot.
On the tail end of a hand that saw the board show , Zubov bet the river for 150,000 with some 260,000 in the middle and his sole opponent called. Zubov rolled over for a full house and that was more than enough to win the hand.
Leon Tsoukernik leads the way in the $10,300 High Roller
With just three tables still in play and only 12 players paid, everyone is chasing that initial payout of $22,800 in the High Roller. But one man is playing as if he only wants the win and $285,000 top prize.
Leon Tsoukernik has a massive stack of 1.6 million chips, which at more than double the average, is leading the field. At the opposite end of the leaderboard is Pierre Neuville, who has just 215,000 a little over 13 big blinds. Who'll cash and make the final table in fine fettle? We'll keep you posted right here.