Main Event Day 2 | 2017 PokerStars Festival Bucharest

Main Event

Day 2 Completed

08-04-2017 19:37 UTC

Nandor Solyom Leads PokerStars Festival Bucharest Main Event Day 2

Will Shillibier

Level 18 : 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante

An action-packed Day 2 drew to a close with just 58 players remaining from the 325 that started the PokerStars Festival Bucharest Main Event. Action was fast and furious on a day where both the prizepool was announced and the money bubble burst.

Leading the way is Nandor Solyom (1,466,000) but only just! A late pot won by Daniel Nietrzebka (1,436,000) propelled him to within inches of the chiplead, but fell just short. Those two players are the only two over one million in chips, then there is a large gap down to Yuriy Kudrynskyy (805,000), Pugzlys Linas (777,000), Ioannis Taramas (733,000) and Traian Bostan (718,000).
After play had finished Solymon said that he had run very well.

“I made a lot of chips during the bubble. I had good position on the big stacks,” he said, “That was my advantage.”

However, Solymon (pictured below facing a difficult decision during the money bubble earlier in the day) hadn’t set his sights just yet on a deep run.

“It is far [away]!” he said, “It’s not 20 players; it’s pretty far. If you have 700,000 or 1.4m then that’s about the same.”

A total of 111 players were set to receive a minimum payment of €1,770, but the likes of Andreas Klatt and Ori Miller were eliminated short of the money, and the bubble was reached shortly before the last break of the day.

It was a rollercoaster hand between Paul Ciaca and Petre Ionescu which burst the bubble half a dozen hands into hand for hand play. Ciaca had shoved from the button to isolate the players in the blinds, but Ionescu had woken up with Ace-King and called. Ciaca showed Seven-Eight of diamonds and was well behind.

However, there was a Seven on the flop which pushed Ionescu closer to the exit. A King on the turn breathed new life into his chances, but they were crushed as an Eight on the river gave Ciaca two pair and burst the money bubble.

Players to bust in the money include Andreas Vlachos, who eliminated Chris Moneymaker on Day 1c, and Avishai Shitrit. Shitrit had won Eureka Bucharest last year, and was de facto defending champion, but he was eliminated shortly inside the money and failed to make Day 3.

All but one of the Day 1 chipleaders made it through to Day 3. Stefan Fabian was the overall chipleader, and stuck around at the top of the counts for a long while before finally bagging 385,000. Tamas Kabatnic had a similar day, but faded towards the end and bagged 231,000. Unfortunately for Okan Gursan, the Day 1c chipleader finished in 62nd place for €2,230.

The 58 players who remain will return tomorrow at 1 p.m. local time with the plan to play down to a final table. Join us here on PokerNews to keep up-to-date with all the action from here in Bucharest.

08-04-2017 19:35 UTC

Chip Counts at the End of Day 2 (full)

Will Shillibier

Level 18 : 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Nandor Csaba Solyom	1,466,000 416,000	416,000

Daniel Nietrzebka	1,436,000 511,000	511,000
Yuriy Kudrynskyy	805,000 605,000	605,000
Linas Pugzlys	777,000 713,800	713,800
Ioannis Taramas	733,000 93,000	93,000
Traian Bostan	718,000 348,000	348,000
Oshri Lahmani	711,000 526,000	526,000
Paul Ciaca	664,000 -76,000	-76,000
Mattia Baccassino	650,000 30,000	30,000
Iulian Iacob	574,000 374,000	374,000
Yaniv Avinoam	571,000 373,000	373,000
Silviu Togui	540,000 128,000	128,000
Mircea Alexandru Flutur	521,000 -159,000	-159,000
Mike Christiansen	482,000 365,300	365,300
Cristian Neicu	434,000 64,000	64,000
Ionel Tanase	431,000 341,200	341,200
Razvan Lucian Cetanas	430,000 230,000	230,000
Kurtev Krasimir	421,000 338,900	338,900
Massimo Caratelli	409,000 278,100	278,100
Johann Eclapier	399,000 359,000	359,000
Stefan Fabian	385,000 -195,000	-195,000

Amadeus Lacwik	375,000 80,000	80,000
Mehmet Kacar	369,000 149,000	149,000
Ionut Vasile	356,000 92,000	92,000
Sam Grafton	344,000 249,000	249,000

Read full

08-04-2017 19:34 UTC

Three More hands

Will Shillibier

Level 18 : 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante

Tournament staff have announced that there will be three more hands before players bag up for the night.

Stay tuned for a full recap from the day's events.

08-04-2017 18:48 UTC

Safavi Wins Three-Way All-in; Eliminates Two Players

Will Shillibier

Level 18 : 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante

Marius Asanache:
Sahin Bulent:
[Removed:321] Safavi:

In a three-way all in Asanache showed first before Bulent stopped to try and get Safavi to show first. When it became clear that Asanach wasn't going to, Bulent quickly showed nines. Safavi triumphantly showed tens and the three players went to a flop.

There was a ten in the window of a flop, and although one player called for an eight, the turn was the and the river the meaning Safavi eliminated both Bulent and Asanache with around 30 minutes left in the level.

Player	Chips	Progress
Sayed Mohammad Mehdi Safavi	620,000 220,000	220,000
Sahin Bulent	Busted
Marius Asanache	Busted

08-04-2017 18:39 UTC

Checking in on the Big Stacks

Will Shillibier

Level 18 : 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante

"It wasn't a big 900,000 chip pot," said Daniel Nietrzebka, as he caught us staring at his newly acquired chips "Just 200 here, 250 there."

However, Nietrzebka still has a small way to go to catch current chipleader Nandor Solyom who appears to be the first player over 1m chips.

Player	Chips	Progress
Nandor Csaba Solyom	1,050,000 340,000	340,000

Daniel Nietrzebka	925,000 600,000	600,000
Paul Calin Ciaca	725,000 725,000	725,000
Mircea Alexandru Flutur	680,000 330,000	330,000
Ioannis Taramas	640,000 572,800	572,800
Mattia Baccassino	620,000 66,000	66,000
Stefan Fabian	580,000 170,000	170,000

Tamas Kabatnic	350,000 -190,000	-190,000

08-04-2017 18:27 UTC

Recent Eliminations

Will Shillibier

Level 18 : 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante

Recent eliminations from the field include Andreas Vlachos, who eliminated Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker from the PokerStars Festival Bucharest Main Event. Also eliminated is Eureka Bucharest defending champion Avishai Shitrit. Both players received €1,950 for their efforts.

Player	Chips	Progress
Andreas Vlachos	Busted
Avishai Shitrit	Busted

Andrei Taranu	Busted
Gheorghe Serban	Busted
Ezat Aysami	Busted
Michal Nahum	Busted
Razvan Constantin Gherghe	Busted
Kahalon Gadi	Busted
Andrei Miron	Busted
Piotr Wroblewski	Busted
Dan Serban Borlan	Busted
Zandi Mehran Milo	Busted
Petre Laurentiu Chiriac	Busted

Level: 18

Blinds: 4,000/8,000

Ante: 1,000

08-04-2017 18:23 UTC

Bubble Hand

Will Shillibier

Thanks to poker photographer Tomas Stacha, we are able to bring you these photos from the bubble. It starts with bubble boy Petre Ionescu receiving a massage, and goes all the way until his opponent Paul Ciaca celebrates with his friend, and Ionescu pays for his massage.