Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov has been going pretty well so far in this tournament. Only last month he finished 2nd at EPT Deauville for €379,500. With that in mind it was time to observe just how the Ukrainian does it.
Table 65, Blinds 150/300 (25)
Seat 1: Francesco Cirianni, Italy
Seat 2: Rene Crha, Czech Republic
Seat 3: John Christian, Germany, PokerStars qualifier
Seat 4: Eugene Katchalov, Ukraine, Team PokerStars Pro
Seat 5: Rami Taqtaq, Canada
Seat 6: Philippe Metzler, Luxembourg
Seat 7: Evgenii Starikov, Russia
Seat 8: Stefan Nowak, Germany
Seat 9: Mario Lehenauer, Austria, PokerStars qualifier
Seat 10: Risto Antero Ailamo, Finland
Hand 1:
Starikov had the button. Katchalov raised to 700 preflop, Taqtaq called behind him and Lenhenauer called in the big blind. The flop was 3♥ 2♦ 9♥ and it was checked to Katchalov who bet 1,000. Taqtaq folded but Lenhenauer made the call before leading out for 1,800 on the J♦ turn. This time Katchalov made the call and the dealer put out the 10♠ on the river.
Lenhenauer checked and Katchalov bet 4,600. The Austrian tanked for five minutes, chewing on his glasses before he finally said, “Call.”
Katchalov turned over 3♦ 3♠ for a flopped set and won the pot.
Hand 2:
It was passed to Stefan Nowak who raised to 700 on the button, Risto Antero Ailamo moved all in for 7,575, making Nowak fold.
Hand 3:
Taqtaq raised to 800 and Nowak called in the cutoff. Taqtaq fired bets of 1,100, 2,100 and 4,600 on the flop, turn and river respectively of a K♦ 2♠ 3♦ 9♥ Q♠ board. Nowak called the first two bets before instantly folding to the one on the river.
Hand 4:
Lehenauer raised to 850 from the cutoff, Crha defended in the big blind. Both players checked the 7♠ 3♣ 4♥ flop before Crha won the pot with a 925 bet on the 5♠ turn.
Hand 5:
Lehenauer raised to 850 again but quickly folded when John Christian moved all in from the big blind.
Hand 6:
Ailamo raised to 750 from middle position and Katchalov defended his big blind. Both players checked the 8♣ 4♣ K♦ flop before Katchalov check-called a bet of 750 on the 3♣ turn. The J♦ river was checked down and Katchalov’s A♥ 8♠ was still good.
Hand 7:
Ailamo raised to 600 and was called by Crha, Christian and Taqtaq for a four-way flop. The 2♠ J♦ 8♦ board was checked to Christian on the button who bet 1,400 and the other players all folded.
Hand 8:
Lehenauer raised to 850 from early postion and won the blinds and antes.
Hand 9:
Crha raised to 700 preflop, Christian called as did Starikov in the big blind. The flop came 7♠ 4♣ Q♠ and it was checked to the raiser Crha who bet 925. Christian folded but Starikov called to see the K♥ on the turn, the Russian checked a second time and Crha fired a second bullet worth 1,375. This time Starikov check-raised to 4,000 and Crha thought briefly before folding.
Hand 10:
Ailamo limped for 300 before Christian raised to 900. Metzler made the call on the button and Ailamo came along for the ride. The dealer put out a flop of A♦ J♠ 4♠ which was checked to Metzler who bet 1,250. Ailamo called and Christian folded with a slight sigh. The 7♥ on the turn did not seem to change much but Ailamo moved all in for 4,025 and Metzler called.
Ailamo: K♠ 2♠
Metzler: A♣ Q♠
The 5♣ on the river changed nothing and the Finn was eliminated. Katchalov finished the orbit with 57,000.
Tournament Update:
– There are 760 players remaining out of 965 who entered
– Team PokerStars Pro Martin Hruby has been knocked out
– Recent eliminations include former EPT winner Anton Wigg, Michael Piper, Konstantin Puchkov, David Yan, Andrew Chen, Yury Gulyy, Ognjen Sekularac, Mateusz Moolhuizen
– Both Louis Salter and Jack Salter were knocked out within minutes of each other, “I started before him so I technically lasted longer” said Jack.