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Eureka5 Prague: Day 3 updates

* Prize-winners so far are on the prize-winners page

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8.50pm - Gallardo makes brave, right call, is knocked out anyhow
Level 29 - Blinds 50,000-100,000 (10,000 ante)
Maximiliano Gallardo is our 13th placed finisher, but got pretty unlucky here. I'm not sure what happened pre-flop, but he was looking at a board of [5c][8c][9d] and was up against Mihaita Croitoru, who checked.

Gallardo bet 200,000 at it. We later found out he had [as][8s]. But Croitoro now check-raised all in, covering Gallardo's million-ish chips.

Gallardo called with middle pair and was in pretty good shape against Croitoro's [ad][7d]. But when the [6h] came on the turn, Croitoro was pumping his fist quietly and respectfully and Gallardo was heading away. Gallardo wins €17,330.

Maximiliano Gallardo

8.45pm - Tamasauskas more than doubles
Level 29 - Blinds 50,000-100,000 (10,000 ante)
Martin Staszko opened his button, making it 200,000 to go. Vladas Burneikis, in the small blind, called the bet but then Vladas Tamasauskas shoved from the big blind, for about 350,000 more.

Staszko then four-bet to around 800,000, attempting to isolate the short stack, and it worked as Burneikis folded. Tamasauskas tabled [ac][kh] to Staszko's [qh][js] and Tamasauskas survived. Just. The flop was blank but the turn brought the [qc]. The [kc] on the river bailed out the Lithuanian and allowed him to fight on.

8.35pm - Huge power shift among Lithuanian men named Vladas
Level 29 - Blinds 50,000-100,000 (10,000 ante)
There's been a massive shift in momentum after the break and there's a big swing in the Lithuanian ranks too. Vladas Burneikis has just pulled off a full double up through his neighbour, countryman and namesake Vladas Tamasauskas and is now a massive chip leader.

I don't know how this played out beyond the fact that at the end, the pair were talking in Lithuanian and Burneikis was stacking an enormous pile of chips--more than 9 million. The board was still out: [7d][2c][7h][7c][kh] and Burneikis's winning two cards were [kc][qs].

Tamasauskas is now down to about 400,000, a tenth of what he had at the start of the hand. That's a big moment. Tamasauskas had been unbeatable until that point.

At the time that all that was going on, Pete Charalambous, the last British player in the field, was wandering away from the other table, busted in 14th.

8.25pm - Meylan hits the rail in 15th
Level 29 - Blinds 50,000-100,000 (10,000 ante)
Alexandre Meylan is out in 15th, picking up €15,500. The dominant chip leader Igor Untilov opened to 200,000 from the cut off and Meylan, with only about 800,000 behind, called.

The flop came [kd][3s][th] and it was always going in here. Meylan probably thought he was doubling up; he had [kc][3c]. But Untilov had [ks][tc] and there was nothing miraculous on turn or river.

8.15pm - Dangerous game, bluffing
Level 29 - Blinds 50,000-100,000 (10,000 ante)
Maximos Pertsinidis may have suffered some bad service at the restaurant he ate in during the dinner break, because he's come back full of fury. He just got involved in a postprandial pot against Simon Persson that cost him more than two thirds of his stack.

Pertsinidis opened to 250,000 from UTG+1 and Persson, in the cut-off, bumped it up to 525,000. Everybody else got out of the way, but then Pertsinidis called. The flop was seemingly safe: [3s][6d][4h] and Pertsinidis check-called Persson's bet of 425,000. The pattern repeated on the [6c] turn--check, bet 650,000, call--and that took them to a river of [qd].

Pertsinidis now took over the betting lead and slid out 625,000. Persson didn't ponder too long before calling, forcing Pertsinidis to reveal his [kd][td], for king high.

Until the river he had been ahead, however. Persson showed his [jh][qh] and took a huge pot to start off this session and get his stack up to around 6 million.

7pm - Dinner counts
Level 28 - Blinds 40,000-80,000 (10,000 ante)
There are 15 players left at the dinner break. Here's (roughly) what they're all playing:

Seat 1 - Martin Staszko (Czech Republic) - 3,000,000
Seat 2 - empty
Seat 3 - Vladas Burneikis (Lithuania) - 4,800,000
Seat 4 - Vladas Tamasauskas (Lithuania) - 4,800,000
Seat 5 - Meir Ben Shimon (Israel) - 3,350,000
Seat 6 - Maximos Pertsinidis (Greece) - 3,200,000
Seat 7 - Torsti Kettula (Finland) - 2,700,000
Seat 8 - Simon Persson (Sweden) - 4,200,000

Seat 1 - Mihaita Croitoru (Romania) - 1,550,000
Seat 2 - Maximiliano Gallardo (Argentina) - 1,650,000
Seat 3 - Igor Untilov (Moldova) - 6,800,000
Seat 4 - Javier Rojas Mederos (Spain) - 3,600,000
Seat 5 - Cosimo Sabatini (Italy) - 1,200,000
Seat 6 - Alexandre Meylan (Switzerland) - 850,000
Seat 7 - Peter Charalambous (UK) - 1,250,000
Seat 8 - Gianluca Speranza (Italy) - 4,400,000

Igor Untilov: Chip leader at the break

6.40pm - Schwenk out in 16th
Level 28 - Blinds 40,000-80,000 (10,000 ante)
As the big hand was playing out between Speranza and Mederos, there was a much more routine coup going down on the other table between Christian Schwenk and Torsti Kettula.

They had it all in pre-flop, with Schwenk's [ah][7h] against Kettula's [8d][8s]. The flop came [qs][8h][2s] and if that wasn't emphatic enough, the [qc] on the turn ended all doubt. Schwenk went out in 16th for €13.660.

6.30pm - Speranza gets the full double, clips Mederos
Level 28 - Blinds 40,000-80,000 (10,000 ante)
It's clear we're not seeing every hand today, which is how come it came as a pretty big surprise to see Javier Rojas Mederos at the top of the chip counts at the latest break. I genuinely don't think I've seen him involved at all, yet he has clearly been bossing.

However, I did just see the hand, from start to finish, that lost him that chip lead and put Gianluca Speranza close to 5 million himself.

Speranza opened to 165,000 from UTG+1 and it was folded round to Mederos on the button. He called. That took them to a flop of [7h][5h][3d]. Speranza told a consistent story. He bet 185,000 and Mederos called.

The [kd] came on the turn and again Speranza kept up his attack. He now bet 410,00, which Speranza also called.

The river was the [7c] and Mederos announced that he was all in, for about 1.3 million on top of what was already invested. Mederos didn't seem to like this one bit--was he being played?--and eventually called.

Speranza had played his [ks][kc] pretty well, it must be said. Mederos forlornly flashed pocket jacks as he mucked.

6.10pm - New level, new order
Level 28 - Blinds 40,000-80,000 (10,000 ante)
Off they go in Level 28, with 16 players left on two tables. These are approximate stacks:

Seat 1 - Martin Staszko (Czech Republic) - 2,400,000
Seat 2 - Christian Schwenk (Germany) - 1,500,000
Seat 3 - Vladas Burneikis (Lithuania) - 4,100,000
Seat 4 - Vladas Tamasauskas (Lithuania) - 4,000,000
Seat 5 - Meir Ben Shimon (Israel) - 2,700,000
Seat 6 - Maximos Pertsinidis (Greece) - 3,760,000
Seat 7 - Torsti Kettula (Finland) - 2,100,000
Seat 8 - Simon Persson (Sweden) - 4,600,000

Seat 1: Mihaita Croitoru (Romania) - 4,100,000
Seat 2: Maximiliano Gallardo (Argentina) - 1,600,000
Seat 3: Igor Untilov - 4,700,000
Seat 4: Javier Rojas Mederos (Spain) - 5,400,000
Seat 5: Cosimo Sabatini (Italy) - 950,000
Seat 6: Alexandre Meylan (Switzerland) - 1,200,000
Seat 7: Peter Charalambous (UK) - 750,000
Seat 8: Gianluca Speranza (Italy) - 2,500,000

Javier Rojas Mederos

5.55pm - Delfoco is done
Level 27 - Blinds 30,000-60,000 (10,000 ante)
Francesco Delfoco's long and deliberate vigil is over after he got tricky with a short stack one too many times. He limped from the small blind and must have been delighted when Igor Untinov set him all in. He was sitting with [qd][qs] and, naturally, called. Untinov was behind with his [kd][9d] but he was not dead, and when the [kh] came on the river, Delfoco was out in 17th.

That's another redraw for the last two tables.

Francesco Delfoco

5.45pm - Engel in a tangle
Level 27 - Blinds 30,000-60,000 (10,000 ante)
Ari Engel is out. The last North American in the field after Andrew Chen was knocked out earlier today found himself in a weird and inescapable spot againstMihaita Croitou. I didn't see the hand play out, but based on what people at the table said, Engel limped from late position with [4h][6h] and Croitou called from the small blind with [6d][8s]. The flop brought the world for Croitou -- it came [4c][5d][7s] -- and he check called Engel's bet. But if the flop was good for the Romanian, the turn was even better. It was the [4s] and Engel now had every reason to get it in.

The [3s] on the end was not the paired board he needed. Engel is ousted in 19th.

Ari Engel

5.35pm - Sabatini with another double
Level 27 - Blinds 30,000-60,000 (10,000 ante)
Action is pretty slow on Table 3 where the short-stacked Italian pair of Cosimo Sabatini and Francesco Delfoco are not committing their chips without giving it a good long think.

That said, it was Ari Engel who was in the tank most recently after Sabatini shoved for 550,000 total over Engel's open to 135,000 from early position. Everyone else folded and Engel pondered his decision. Eventually Engel called, tabling [ad][4s]. Sabatini had [ac][8c] however and the eight on the flop all but sealed it in the Italian's favour.

Not so lucky for Roman Nikulin, however. He was the latest to head to the payout table, out in 20th.

5.15pm - Chips and seats
Level 27 - Blinds 30,000-60,000 (10,000 ante)
Idan Raviv is out, trudging to the payouts table to collect the last four-figure payday of the week. It seems he had his pocket queens outdrawn by Dmitry Zotov's [9s][9d] when a nine flopped. Raviv had only marginally more chips than Zotov at that stage, but lost the remainder soon after.

Mitch Johnson was knocked out just before that too. They both took €9,990 with the next player out slated to get €11,830.

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5pm - Snowman thawed by the Iceman
Level 27 - Blinds 30,000-60,000 (10,000 ante)
Petr Hlavacek, who has had a toy snowman on the table in front of him throughout this tournament, was the first player eliminated after the break, hitting a king on the flop with his K-J, but getting the last of his chips in on the river, by which point Simon Persson's pocket eights had made a set.

That leaves only one player from the Czech Republic still in (Martin Staszko) and Persson now smoothly stacking about 5 million chips again. Hlavacek gets €8,240 for 24th. (Correction to previous post, by the way: Persson's polo-neck is dark blue. Not black.)

Benjamin Lamprecht went out soon after, taking €9,990 for 23rd.

Simon Persson, right

In between the two eliminations, Cosimo Sabatini doubled up his short stack. He found jacks and shoved pre-flop. It folded to Mihaita Croitou in the big blind and he called with [ts][qh]. There was a jack on the flop and little changed after that.

4.45pm - Chips and seats
Level 27 - Blinds 30,000-60,000 (10,000 ante)
Players are returning from their second break of the day and assembling around the final two tables. Here's the line-up, with Israel's Meir Ben Shimon now out front.

Table 1
1 - Torsti Kettula (Finland) - 1.475 million
2 - Benjamin Lamprecht (Austria) - 1.73 million
3 - Javier Rojas Mederos (Spain) - 2.8 million
4 - Idan Raviv (Israel) - 1.33 million
5 - Meir Ben Shimon (Israel) - 4.55 million
6 - Gianluca Speranza (Italy) - 2.03 million
7 - Vladas Burneikis (Lithuania) - 2.84 million
8 - Dmitry Zotov (Russia) - 1.13 million

Table 2
1 - Maximiliano Gallardo (Argentina) - 1.95 million
2 - Roman Nikulin (Russia) - 900,000
3 - Martin Staszko (Czech Republic) - 1.3 million
4 - Simon Persson (Sweden) - 4.2 million
5 - Maximos Pertsinidis (Greece) - 2.6 million
6 - Alexandre Meylan (Switzerland) - 1 million
7 - Mitch Johnson (UK) - 1.02 million
8 - Petr Hlavacek (Czech Republic) - 720,000

Table 3
1 - Mihaita Croitou (Romania) - 2,55 million
2 - Cosimo Sabatini (Italy) - 420,000
3 - Francesco Delfoco (Italy) - 680,000
4 - Igor Untinov (Moldova) - 3,8 million
5 - Peter Charalambous (UK) - 1,1 million
6 - Christian Schwenk (Germany) - 970,000
7 - Vladas Tamasauskas (Lithuania) - 3,85 million
8 - Ari Engel (USA) - 2,155 million

4.25pm: Small pots
Level 26: Blinds 25,000-50,000 (5,000 ante)
Very stealthily, Simon Persson has built himself an enormous stack this afternoon, befitting a man dressed in a black polo neck and looking every inch as calm as the Milk Tray man. He has around 5 million now and doesn't need to think too long about trying to keep the revolving door spinning as he sends player after player to the rail.

Persson opened one hand to 105,000 under the gun and Christian Schwenk moved all in for about 450,000 total. It was folded back to Persson, who called, even though he had only [kh][2h]. Schwenk's [ac][9h] held up and doubled up, but Persson is still doing very well indeed.

4.15pm: How Monnig bust
Level 26: Blinds 25,000-50,000 (5,000 ante)
It turned out that Robin Scherr didn't see Malte Monnig bust either, but he was able to get the general gist. Meir Ben Shimon opened from the cut off; Monnig shoved for about 600,000 with pocket fours and Shimon called with ace-king suited. Shimon turned a flush.

It's also the end of the road for Dawid Grabinski, who lamented that he lost with set-over-set, fives against aces. There are 15 minutes left on this level, and we'll get a chip-count for the last 25 players at the break.

3.55pm: Pay, jumped. Two bust in quick succession
Level 26: Blinds 25,000-50,000 (5,000 ante)
Within the space of a few minutes both Malte Monnig and Francis-Nicolas Bouchard have been knocked out. Monnig was the last man to get €7,030; Bouchard the first to take home €8,240.

I'll have details of Monnig's bust out just as soon as I can steal them from Robin on the German blog. As for Bouchard, he got his last chips in with [ks][js] but couldn't outdraw Mein Ben Shimon's [ad][qd] on a [9c][3c][2h][tc][th] board.

3.40pm: Manzano busts to Grabinski
Level 26: Blinds 25,000-50,000 (5,000 ante)
Here's Dawid Grabinski again. His incognito years are now well behind him. He has been chatting away all day to Clemens Manzano and, after Manzano open-shoved under the gun for 345,000, it was folded all the way round to Grabinski in the big blind, offering him the chance to make a significant impact on his new friend's day.

"Can we look at the hand together?" Grabinski asked the dealer, revealing that he hadn't yet checked his cards and wondering if Manzano could also peer over at the squeeze.
"I would do it for fun," Manzano said, agreeing to the plan in principle.
"I can get a reaction," Grabinski said.

The dealer, unfortunately, had to shake her head and tell them it was against the rules. But Grabinski didn't take too long after looking down at [ad][9c] to call. Manzano's [as][5h] was behind.

Grabinski told his neighbour that there was still a good chance of chopping this pot, but it wasn't to be. The board ran [kc][6s][td][6d][9h].

Manzano was out in 29th for €7,030.

The next player out also gets €7,030 but there's a pay jump after that to €8,240.

3.20pm: Small pots
Level 25: Blinds 20,000-40,000 (5,000 ante)
With 29 players left, it's getting even more cagey. Next player out will have outlasted 1,864 others and will probably think he deserves more than €7,030 for that. It's why it's worth clinging on until the end of today, when only eight will be left and a payday of at least €30,460 will be assured.

It's been small ball for the past 20 minutes or so. These are the only hands I saw:

Clemens Manzano raised to 80,000 from the cut off and Ari Engel defended his big blind. The flop came [5h][6d][qs] and Engel check-called Manzano's 85,000 continuation bet. They checked the [2h] turn and then also checked the [ac] river. Engel's [as][tc] was good by that point.

On the same table, it was folded to Igor Untilov in the small blind and he opened to 105,000. One seat next to him, Dawid Grabinski moved all in from the big blind and Untilov quickly folded.

Grabinski had earlier been joking that he had been playing "incognito" because his tournament ID ticket was turned face down on the table and that no reporter had ever asked him to turn it the right way up. It's ironic because Grabinski has likely never done anything previously incognito: he is at least 2 metres tall (6ft 5in at the very minimum) and is by far the tallest man in this tournament still.

Over on another table, Mitch Johnson also took a small pot from Constantin Calea. Calea opened to 85,000 and Johnson defended his big blind. They both checked a flop of [8d][6h][qd] and then Johnson won when he bet 90,000 at the [7s] on the turn.

2.55pm: Naydenov busts, is furious
Level 25: Blinds 20,000-40,000 (5,000 ante)
And just like that, the Bulgarian bracelet winner is out, slapping his cards down, defeated, after Idan Raviv took it all.

Raviv opened from under the gun, making it 85,000 to play and originally it looked as though Francis-Nicolas Bouchard, in the small blind, was going to play. He asked for a count of Raviv (about 1.3 million), but folded, leaving it down to Naydenov in the big blind to look up Raviv.

So it was just the two of them to a flop of [7s][5d][8h], which Naydenov checked. Raviv made a continuation bet of 115,000 and Naydenov called. The [6d] came on the turn and both players checked, taking them to a [9s] river.

Naydenov announced pretty quickly that he was all in and Raviv didn't take long to call the bet, putting one chip over the line. Naydenov immediately slapped his cards on the table, face down, and it looked initially like a bluff gone wrong. But it wasn't even that: when asked to show (as a called all in must be) Naydenov showed his [6h][6s] for a flopped straight draw, turned set and rivered straight.

But Raviv calmly showed [kd][td] for the rivered bigger straight and that was the end of Naydenov. He leaves in 32nd.

2.45pm: Staszko's muscle
Level 25: Blinds 20,000-40,000 (5,000 ante)
Martin Staszko also has some name recognition in these parts, it's fair to say. Actually, that's a bit of an understatement. No Czech player has ever got as near to global superstardom as he has, having finished runner up to Pius Heinz at the World Series Main Event. Staszko is a difficult player to report on because he doesn't seem to like playing many flops. He just gets his aggression out of the way early and forces opponents out of their comfort zone.

Case in point: Simon Persson opened to 80,00 from the cut off. Staszko three-bet to 200,000 from the button. Persson made it 465,000 with his four bet (no others were involved) and Staszko shoved. Fold.

2.30pm: Where's your bracelet?
Level 25: Blinds 20,000-40,000 (5,000 ante)
Ari Engel is probably the best known player to an American audience still alive in this event. Engel has $2.2 million in live tournament earnings, but is arguably even more famous for his online exploits. BodogAri was one of the earliest online crushers and has a SCOOP title among his many accolades.

Ari Engel

But take Engel to central Europe and sit him next to Simeon Naydenov, which is precisely what has happened today, and he's nobody. Naydenov, you see, is became the first Bulgarian ever to win a World Series bracelet, in a shootout event in Las Vegas in 2013, and is quite the household name in the Eureka zone.

The two haven't played a huge number of pots against one another as far as I've seen, but Naydenov just took a really small one. Engel opened from under the gun, Naydenov called from the big blind, and then they checked all the way on a board of [qh][9h][qc][10s][7s]. Naydenov's [jd][9c] took it down.

Naydenov has slightly more than 1 million chips at this stage. Engel has slightly less than 2 million. There's still scope for them to renew their relationship.

2.15pm: Break-time chips
Level 25: Blinds 20,000-40,000 (5,000 ante)
When players return from their break, they will be playing blinds of 20,000-40,000, meaning a small blind and an ante now costs them a starting stack.

Here's a selection of the chip counts, including the biggest piles and the biggest names:

Vladas Tamasauskas - 4.7 million
Simon Persson - 4.1 million
Vladas Burneikis - 3 million
Mihaita Croitoru - 2.8 million
Igor Untilov - 1.95 million
Ari Engel - 1.9 million
Malte Monnig - 1.6 million
Dmitry Zotov - 1.6 million
Mitch Johnson - 1.1 million
Peter Charalambous - 980,000

2.05pm: Pay up
Break time
Players in the Eureka Main Event are on their first break of the day. There are 33 of them left. Stephen Graner was among those to fall in the last level, proving that he is mortal in the Czech Republic after all. Graner went out in 39th place. We'll do a quick chip count of some of the big stacks now.

1.55pm: Pay up
Level 24: Blinds 15,000-30,000 (4,000 ante)
Roman Nikulin opened to 66,000 from under the gun and action folded to Maximiliano Gallardo in the big blind. Gallardo, with about 1.8 million in total, approximately double Nikulin's stack, raised to 180,000. Nikulin pondered awhile before calling, leaving himself about 900,000 behind.

The flop came [as][3s][6s] and Gallardo led an amount sufficient to result in a quick fold from Nikulin.

1.45pm: Campanologist silenced
Level 24: Blinds 15,000-30,000 (4,000 ante)
Manuel Fernandes, the bell-ringing Portuguese player who was the chip leader at the end of Day 1, is now out, silenced in 33. There was a strangled jangled of the bell when he shoved all in for about 250,000 and was called almost immediately by Xavier El Fassy.

El Fassy had [jh][js] and was ahead of Fernandes's [7s][6s]. Fernandes started to make an explanation for the shove with suited connectors but couldn't quite find the words. The flop was [4d][3d][3c], offering hope, but there was no five forthcoming to fill a straight. The turn was the [as] and the river the [ks]. That was the end of Fernandes's jingling run.

Manuel Fernandes

1.25pm: Johnson hanging tough
Level 24: Blinds 15,000-30,000 (4,000 ante)
Constantin Calea opened to 70,000 from early position and it folded round to Mitch Johnson in the big blind. Johnson thought for a moment then announced that he was all in, prompting Calea to ask for a count. "About four-fifty?" Calea said. "Bit less," Johnson said, showing that it was about 427,000 total. Either way, it was too much. Calea folded.

1.20pm: A challenge
Level 24: Blinds 15,000-30,000 (4,000 ante)
Malte Monnig all but doubled after he won a flip that sent Mustafa Biz to the rail. This was as standard as it gets between two players with small-ish stacks: Monnig had [ad][ks] and Biz found [jh][js]. They got it all in pre-flop and the board ran [ah][3h][9c][7s][th].

1.10pm: A challenge
Level 24: Blinds 15,000-30,000 (4,000 ante)
There is now a challenge to Lithuanian dominance here, in the form of Mihaita Croitoru, from Romania. Croitoru was on the same table as Vladas Tamasauskas, whose fortunes have dipped of late. Croitoru now has about 3.6 million; Tamasauskas has about 2.2 million; Javier Rojas Mederos has 2.6 million.

Vladas Tamasauskas

12.50pm: Home-court advantage
Level 23: Blinds 12,000-24,000 (3,000 ante)
Stephen Graner offered his judgment on a recent play by Martin Staszko. "Home-court advantage," Graner said after Staszko opened to 50,000 from the cut off; Meir Ben Shimon raised to 130,000 from the button and Staszko, a Czech native, returned with a four bet to 295,000. Shimon didn't like it and folded like a broken ironing board.

"Home-court advantage," Graner said, even though this is pretty much becoming his own home court having won the EPT here last year.

But Graner does have a point. Anybody a long way from home is finding it hard going so far today. Andrew Chen and Frank Williams are two more of the first-level casualties today.

Here's the full list of players knocked out so far:

44. Andrew Chen - €4,960
45. Frank Williams - €4,960
46. Akseli Paalanen - €4,960
47. Dietrich Fast - €4,960
48. Stefan Ivanov - €4,960
49. Martin Romba - €4,960
50. Anthony Picault - €4,960
51. Krysztof Laprus - €4,960
52. Diogo Cardoso - €4,960
53. Diego Menceyra Alonso - €4,960

Don't forget, prize-winners so far can be found on the prize-winners page.

12.35pm: The next double up
Level 23: Blinds 12,000-24,000 (3,000 ante)
Christian Schwenk is the latest player to double up, getting his chips in with [as][ks] and finding Miltiadis Kyriakides with [7d][7c]. The flop hit the big slick. It came [ac][jh][ah] and the [ts][3s] turn and river changed little.

Double ups
12.10p.m.: Level 23: Blinds 12,000-24,000 (3,000 ante)
Dietrich Fast and Andrius Bielskis have both found early double ups. Fast, who started the day with 219,000, got them in with [qh][4h] and Francesco Delfoco called with [9c][9h]. That was looking bleak for Fast, but the board ran [kc][jd][qd][8d][2d].

Dietrich Fast

On the neighbouring table, Bielskis got his 300,000 in with [ts][td] and butted into Roman Nikulin's [4d][4s]. There were no surprises and Bielskis doubled up, keeping alive the dreams alive of a Lithuanian 1,2,3,4 and 5.

A world of hurt on Southern Europe
12.05p.m.: Level 23: Blinds 12,000-24,000 (3,000 ante)
It's been an explosive start here in Prague with two players eliminated on what might have been the first hand. Even our exceptionally well organised German colleague Robin Scherr wasn't in position in time, but the general gist is that Vladas Tamasauskas put some hurt on southern Europe--and then some.

Tamasauskas now has 4 million chips, nearly double what he ended yesterday with (and he was the chip leader) and the seats previously occupied by Portugal's Diogo Cardoso and Spain's Diego Menceyra Alonso are both empty.