A total of 16 players will return tomorrow to determine the winner of Eureka Poker Tour Bulgaria.
Only one can walk away with the top prize of €55,145 and whilst 100 players failed to stay in contention during the 10 levels of play today, one player who certainly did was Idan Greenberg. He will return tomorrow as chip leader with a tower of chips totaling 689,000.
The Israeli seized the chip lead during the seventh level of Day 2 and never let it go. Already sitting in second place in the chip counts he picked up pocket aces and found chip leader Milen Bakardjiev waiting with pocket jacks. A kanve-less board saw a tournament changing 600,000 pot shipped to Greenberg. Whilst Bakardjiev, who was chip leader with 36 left, was left short stacked and was eliminated in 35th spot soon after.
But at least Bakardjiev had something to show for his efforts. Of the 116 who returned today only 36 would make the money. The bubble burst just one minute before the dinner break after a near six levels of play and it was Orhan Rakipov who was feeling sick to his stomach.
His exit hand was a fairly standard affair losing with K♣ Q♠ to Henrik Lundstrom’s A♥ Q♥ . But, just 40 minutes earlier, he had lost a 60 big blind pot when his aces were cracked by Popescu Gabriel Petrica’s pocket kings which rivered a flush. If you need proof that poker is a cruel game Petrica sits fifth in chips going into tomorrow with 375,500.
Others who’ll return tomorrow with high hopes of making the final table are: Iani Tulica (515,000), Igor Golubovic (405,500) and Georgi Harasimov (403,000). Players from seven different countries are still in with a shot of winning with the most likely destination for the trophy not Bulgaria, but Romania who have seven representatives still in. For full end of day chip counts click here.
A few familiar Eureka Poker Tour faces made the money but not Day 3. The Eureka Slovenia runner-up, Plamen Todorov, nursed his short stack all the way to 26th place (€1,650). Whilst Damian Porebski (19th, €2,050) made his second cash in seven days at PokerStars events having finished 24th at a UKIPT tournament this past weekend. To find out who made the money today take a look at the payouts page.
Tomorrow promises to be the best yet so join me from 2pm (12pm BST) as the tournament plays to it’s conclusion. However, today was a cracker, to catch up on all the action click the links below.
Levels 10-13
Levels 14-17
Levels 18 & 19
All photographs must be credited to Thomas Stacha. You’d be wise to do so because behind his smiling veneer is a roundhouse kick that is feared throughout Europe.
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