6.25pm: End of the level
Players are on a 15 minute break, level five updates will be available soon in a new post. — NW
6.10pm: Emergency flushed as Rakic stays alive
I joined the action to see a board of 4♣ 8♦ 9â™ 5♣ and Niklas Ulhoi all-in for his last 5,000 with 8♣ 6♣ and Milan Rakic calling with 9♣ 9♦ . The dealer burned and turned the river card which was the Q♣ , Ulhoi collected the pot whilst Rakic got straight on the phone, inevitably to tell some one his bad beat story! — NW
6pm: Big stacks at the double
A few players have already doubled their initial starting stack of 15,000, they’re: Simon Tsonev (34,950), Bernhadt Balazas (33,000), Alexandru Cezarescu (32,550), Anna Davydova (32,225). — NW
5.45pm: Kaludercic KO’d
Fifth place finisher in Eureka Poker Tour Slovenia, Aleksander Kaludercic is an early casualty here in Bulgaria. So far 10 of the 131 starters have been eliminated. — NW
5.30pm: Sir this is not a cash game
A quite extraordinary and at the same time ridiculous story was just passed on to me by Tournament Director Thomas Lamatsch. A player called Juri Vasilev (who has now been eliminated) bought in just before the tournament started but upon sitting down at his table asked for a table move as he didn’t like his table draw!
The tournament director told him that this was not possible, so Vasilev asked for his money back, again not possible, not least because he had already been dealt into three hands. The player clearly had the hump and refused to fill out his I.D card saying he wanted to remain anonymous.
After all that kerfuffle his tournament came to an early end during the latter part of level three. — NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 100-200
5.25pm: Kfir slips a bit
Early pace setter Yamin Kfir has been pulled back into the pack somewhat and now has a stack of around 33,000.
I saw him lose a small pot to Jarmo Muro, both players had checked the Q♦ Q♣ flop before Kfir bet 400 on the 2♣ turn a bet Muro called. The river was the 7♥ and after giving Muro a long old stare, Kfir bet 900 and Muro quickly called, Kfir had pocket threes but Muro a bigger full house with the Aâ™ 7â™ . — NW
5.20pm: Rizov wins big pot
I just saw a big pot at the aforementioned table of doom. The action was started by Ivan Uzanov who raised to 400, he got two callers before Miroslav Rizov made it 2,600 to play.
Back on Uzanov and he made it 6,600 to go, the two flat callers folded but Rizov did not follow suit. Instead he five-bet to 16,600, effectively setting Uzanov all-in. Quite a crowd had gathered by this point, but Uzanov didn’t give them what they wanted, electing to fold. — NW
5.15pm: It’s a numbers game
Tournament director Thomas Lamatsch just confirmed to me that the total number of runners for Day 1A is 131. — NW
5pm: Table of doom
Table 17 is definitely not the softest in the tournament but it could well be the toughest. All sat at that table are: Jaroslav Urban, Peter Zografov and Miha Staric. — NW
4.50pm: Bulgaria is…
Wild, according to Neil Rawnsley. I caught up the serial satellite qualifier during the break and he told me his table is very wild and it’s a case of just waiting to pick your spots and your moments. — NW
4.35pm: Five not alive
In total five players were eliminated during the first two levels, the two exits I’ve yet to mention were Shiaul Shiei and Dimidar Yosifov. — NW
4.25pm: Cards back in the air
Players are back in the air-conditioned card room after spending the last 15 minutes outside in glorious sunshine.– NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 75-150
4.10pm: End of the level
That’s the end of the level and of late registration, players are on a 15 minute break. — NW
4pm: Odor out the door
There will be no second final table on the Eureka Poker Tour for Bartosz Odor he ran queens into kings, also out is Ivan Vadev. — NW
3.50pm: I win, er no you don’t
I reached the action on the turn to see a board of 4♦ 7♣ 6♥ 2♥ and Evegeni Nikalov Sterev firing out a bet of 625, next to act Neil Rawnsley raised to 1,600, he was flat called by Cristian Ivanov and back on Sterev he comically said, “check” wish is what he wished he’d done. However faced with fold, call or raise he chose the call option and the three of them saw the 8♦ fall on the river.
First to act was Ivanov who checked as did Sterev, now Rawnsley began to think, after perhaps only 45 seconds to a minute Sterev called the clock, but before a member of tournament staff was beckoned over Rawnsley checked behind. “I win,” said Sterev turning over 8♥ 7♥ for two pair, “No I win,” said Ivanov who turned over 10♥ 9♥ for the nuts, Rawnsley meanwhile showed 7♦ 6♦ for an ahead to the river but last after the river two pair. — NW
3.30pm: Other notables
A few other notables I’ve spotted so far include: Alain Medesan (4th EPT Snowfest, 14th Eureka Slovenia), Jaroslav Urban (5th, Eureka Prague) and Bartosz Odor (6th Eureka Prague). — NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 50-100
3.10pm: Chips
Due to regulations the tournament chips have been provided by the host casino and as you can see from the shot below they’re quite similar in colour which is confusing! Also they only have the denomination printed on one side. Hopefully this won’t lead to any mis-reading of the size of pots but bear with me whilst I adjust myself to the different shades of blue. Just to clarify:
Blue/Yellow = 5k
Blue/Brown = 500
Blue/Dark Blue = 100
Blue/Green = 25
3pm: First man out
The first player out is Robert Dimitrescu who was involved in the flush over flush over flush hand. — NW
2.45pm: Three way all-in, one big chip leader
The phrase ‘must be nice’ gets overused almost as much as the word ‘sick’ when it comes to poker, but both phrases are more than apt in the following hand.
On a flop of 8♥ 7♥ 6♥ three players got it all-in with the following hands:
A♥ 5♥
Q♥ 10♥
4♥ 3♥
The turn and river were blanks, Yamin Kfir was the beneficiary and although he was the shortest of the the three stacks in the hand he now has around 45,000 chips. He might as well go to the beach for a bit. — NW
2.30pm: It’s a long way from Ireland
Ireland’s first Supernova Elite Mick Graydon is one familiar face I spotted on my first lap of the card room. “I’ve got a holiday apartment nearby which I’ve had for two years and never used,” he explained. “So I decided this tournament was as good excuse as any to use it!” He’s had a few deep runs in PokerStars live events without sealing the deal and is definitely one to watch. — NW
2.20pm: Cards are in the air
Play has started, the plan is to play nine one hour levels today, there’s currently around 130 players registered for today. — NW
2.10pm: Eureka Bulgaria set to start
Welcome to the third event of the Eureka Poker Tour. It takes place in the Grand Casino International in the sunny seaside resort of Varna. Located on the coast of the Black Sea this is a fantastic setting for a summer poker tournament.
And it really is a win win situation for the players, make it deep in the tournament and they’ll take home some cash, bust out early and there’s a plethora of options including side events, restaurants, night clubs, the swimming pool and even a scheduled mini-golf tournament!
Play is not too far from starting and the tournament staff are running through the tournament rules and regulations, including the fact that the Eureka Poker Tour leaderboard winner will win a years buy-in to the PokerStars Sunday Million. — NW
PokerStars Blog reporting team at Eureka Poker Tour Bulgaria: Nick Wright. Photos courtesy of Tomas Stacha.
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