Live updates from day 2, level 8 of EPT Kyiv Sports Poker Championship brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young.

Click refresh to see the latest updates below, while the latest selected chip counts can be found by clicking right here. Blinds 75-400-800.

1.25pm: Battle of Ukraine
Over on table one, two Ukranians sit side by side. And while the rest of the room is disappearing off for a 15-minute end-of-level break, these two are still locked in a hand. The board is showing 8♦ K♥ 7♣ 8♣ and Alexander Aleynikov in seat two has bet out 2,000.

Aleksandr Ziv in seat one is not impressed, re-raising to 4,000 total. Call. The river comes A♦ and now both of them check. Aleynikov shows K♠ J♥ , and it’s good – prompting Ziv to show 9-10 before throwing his cards into the muck with such force that the dealer was at risk of losing a finger.

1.20pm: No comeback for Katja
Team PokerStars Pro Katja, left crippled after the last hand, has now been eliminated. She did manage to triple-up but that still left her very short and she moved all-in with 8♦ 7♦ after there was already a raise in front of her. The raiser held Q♥ Q♠ but fell behind to Thater on the 7♥ J♠ 7♣ flop. Things still looked good for the German as the 3♣ came next but the cruel Q♣ fell on the river to see Thater eliminated.

1.18pm: Katja crippled
Our PokerStars qualifier friend Jason Kudron in need of a double-up and took his chance with 10♠ 2♦ . In the next seat was Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater also in need of a double-up and with just a few hundred more chips came along for the ride with A♣ 10♣ . Thater was in great shape to virtually double through and eliminate Kudron but things don’t always go to plan in this great and frustrating game as the board ran 6♣ 2♣ 7♠ 3♥ 5♦ . A pair of twos good for the pot.

1.05pm: Boutboul busts bluff
With 12,000 already in the pot, the Frenchman Bernard Boutboul was looking at a bet of 6,000 from Oleksandr Ziv. The board was fully out — 10♥ 3♥ K♠ Q♣ A♦ — and Boutboul eventually called. Ziv was massively reluctant to show his hand and Boutboul emphatically reminded him: “I’ve called.” At this point Ziv showed a meagre 5♦ 6♦ , barely better than playing the board, and Boutboul’s A♠ 6♠ for top pair was good.

1.10pm: Kostritzyn constricted
Alexander Kostritzyn raised from the cut off to 2,400 before the small blind player re-raised to 7,400. Kostritzyn then moved in all in and was called quickly by his opponent with A♦ K♠ . Kostritzyn was in bad shape with A♣ Q♦ and it didn’t get any better as the board came 8♦ 10♠ 7♠ 3♠ 4♠ . He politely stands up, seems to wish the table good luck in Russian and makes his exit.

Sat at the same table is Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater. And she’s only fairing a little better. She just moved her last 8,000 into the middle when folded around to her in the cut off. The folds were quick in coming but she’ll need more than a blind steal to get back in this.

12.55: Lunkin out of luck
Vitaly Lunkin, the man who destroyed the World Series in the summer, is out of action here. Details are scarce but the bracelet winner was seen walking the outskirts of the room chatting to friends. His smile remains in place; his chips are elsewhere.

12.45: Iverson out
Albert Iverson, who finished fourth in Budapest last season, won’t be repeating his exploits here in Kyiv. He found a terrific spot to double up his overnight stack of around 30,000, getting it all in pre-flop against the similar-sized stack of Dmitry Kim. Iverson had A♥ K♣ , Kim had A♠ Q♦ . Flop and turn were blanks, but the Q♣ rivered and Iverson’s day was done. Kim has around 60,000.

12.25: Jason’s stack slashed
It’s been a bad start for PokerStars qualifier Jason Kudron. Starting with 118,000 he now sits with 30,000. All the damage was done over the course of two hands.

Firstly he raised from mid position only to see the big blind move all in. He snap called with K♥ 4♣ but had ran into K♣ K♦ of his opponent. The board ran out K♠ 3♣ 8♣ 4♠ 2♥ . Against any random not paired hand he would’ve been in good shape but he ran into the worst possible hand to face.

“I guess it’s going to be one of those days” he sighed.

He was right too as just a few hands later he raised to 2,000 from under-the-gun only to raise a three-bet to 6,000 from Serguei Pomerantsev in the big blind. His answer was to four-bet to 18,000 causing his opponent to move all in for around 45,000. Again he snap called, this time with J♦ J♣ but once again his timing was off as Pomerantsev opened A♣ A♠ . The board ran out 8♣ 6♣ 4♦ 2♦ K♣ .

The Russian raked in the pot and Kudron just sat there in silence, clearly in a state of shock with the way his day has begun.

12.10pm: And we’re off
Day 2 play has begun and, as is customary on these occasions, the short stacks have been pushing early. Some, of course, survive, but others fall on their swords. After ten minutes, we have lost four players, and a whole lot more will suffer the same fate before this 75-minute level is done.

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