How to sum a day like day 1b... 166 players arrived, a figure changed to 167 when Gus Hansen showed up in the nick of time to play, before deciding to return tomorrow instead. When he changed his mind again and took his seat he became part of the bigger share of the combined day one field in Kyiv, which now stands at an official 296. Each of them played seven one hour levels amid indoor humidity and outdoor sunshine that remained tantalisingly out of reach save for those eliminated, and that afflicted 60 today. For those still standing those first breaths of dark night time air will be all the sweeter and their day one stories will be varied and meaty - let this summary be the bones. Excuse the gristle.

Watch EPT Kyiv S6: Day 1b Overview on PokerStars.tv

First among equals when he appears in any tournament field is Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri. The pocket-Italian created a crowd from out of nowhere as he took his seat, press and players abandoning prior responsibilities to stand and watch for a while.

What they saw was some trademark Minieri. If poker was an extreme sport his performance would have been the type to take years off his loved ones, bolting uncontrolled to more than 60,000 in the early stages before being reigned back to 30,000. Soon he was down to 8,000 and then... the inevitable.

Minieri burned twice as bright but survived only half as long, which coincidentally is exactly how you'd describe the electricity supply to the Palace of Sports today. A few levels into play the building was plunged into darkness, complete darkness given there are no windows in the tournament area, as a nearby construction site drilled/chopped/sawed/dynamited their way through nearby power lines. Forced into quick improvisation officials grabbed torches.

Not since British nurse Florence Nightingale tended patients in the Crimea a few hundred miles from here some 160 years ago has a solitary figure with a lamp been made to feel so welcome. Hands were completed one by one before the generator kicked into life. Dealers snapped back into action making up for lost time. It was plain sailing for some, needing no power source other than their own momentum to finish well.

Russian Viktor Ivanov found himself on top of the pile thanks largely to a big hand with Nicolas Levi. Levi laid down a straight to Ivanov's flopped full house which left him with a little more than 100,000. His domination continued though, closing the day on nearly 150,000.

Behind him was a bunch of rivals with the same idea. Anatoly Zharnitsky closed in 125,000 while Jason Kudron did the same with 118,100. Dragan Galic, who led almost from start to finish back in San Remo last season, bagged up a little more than 110,000. Alexander Rykov from the Ukraine bagged up 105,300 tonight while English hopes were kept alive by Andrew Feldman who ended the day on 100,000. Let's not forget the feature player of the day in the PokerStars Blog Feature Seat - Michele Limongi, who occupied the seat all day, finished with 70,000.

Ivan Demidov part slept-part powered* his way through seven levels, closing on 43,000 while fellow Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater bagged up 16,000.

PokerStars player Shaun Deeb transferred his online talents once more to the live scene, counting himself among those making waves early on with a crafty double up. He almost pressed his advantage even further, flopping an unlikely straight and calling an all in only for a runner-runner to provide the set back. Never discouraged Deeb fought back like a terrier, eliminating others who could only hope their departure was painless. Deeb finished on close to 59,000 and can now likely be found playing online somewhere keeping loose.

There's always a dark side and that means eliminations, although with the new structure and 30,000 chips the casualty list hasn't been as long as previous day ones.

Aside from Minieri it was an all too brief day for Gus Hansen who stepped out of the darkness not long after arriving into it, running an already short stack into aces. Team PokerStars Pros Leo Fernandez joined them too, busting early along with Team PokerStars Italy's Pierpaolo Fabretti.

The Team PokerStars local boy Vlad Zguba blazed his trail on home soil despite early setbacks, thriving on a tough table opposite the likes of Thater, Kabbaj and Tristan Clemencon, but busted before the close.

Tomorrow things take another step forward as the two starting fields combine as one to continue a slow march to a payday yet to appear as even a smudge on the horizon.
You can catch up on all of the day's action below by browsing any or all of links below. We recommend all. You can also find the chip counts, to be made official when the information is made available by tournament staff.

Introduction: Again with day one
Superstars arrive in Ukraine
Eric Turner: From Dallas, Texas... just
The Italian job
Lights out: Poker in the dark
Fun with Deeb: Watching the fun table
Uniting the nations
The wild wild east
Enter the Dragan

And the level by level:

Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Level 6
Level 7

You can also find all sorts of mischief, at least as far as the alphabet is concerned, on our German and Russian blogs. Video blogs, as always, can be found at PokerStars.tv.

Another day ends at the Palace of Sports. Until tomorrow.

All photography is (c) Neil Stoddart.

CLICK HERE FOR CHIP COUNTS

*he may not have slept.

Live updates from day 1B, level 7 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 50-300-600.

8.25pm: The end
That's it. We're through seven levels, and done with day 1b of PokerStars EPT Kyiv. We'll have a full wrap of today's events up shortly. In the meantime, you can marvel at the unofficial chip counts, which will be replaced by the full official overnight counts very soon.

8.10pm: Frenchman down
Micro stacked Tristan Clemencon has just been eliminated. He was sitting on 3,850 and when faced with a late position raise and call decided it was a good spot to get the rest in. The cut off player then re-raised all in to isolate and it worked as the small blind folded. Clemencon was happy to see his [kc][js] in a race against [tc][td]. He was less happy though when the board ran out [5s][2s][3h][7d][8s] to send him to the rail.

7.55pm: Hansen late to arrive, early to depart
Moved to a table with the aggressive and chipped up Romanian Cristian Dragomir, Gus Hansen was already nursing a short stack of a little less than 3,000. After folding to early-position raises, he must have been delighted that action was folded to him on the button. Predictably enough, he moved all in and Ivan Lunchkin made the call in the small blind. The big blind declined to participate and Hansen was up against a solitary opponent. But it was a solitary opponent with aces. Hansen flipped [js][7h] as Lunchkin revealed his black aces. The board had a seven on it. "That's a seven," confirmed Hansen as the [7d][2c][kd] flop came down. But the turn [qs] and the river [3d] offered no help.

The Great Dane is downed.

7.45: Deeb down on himself

Shaun Deeb has the cut of a dejected man right now. He seems to be feeling he's not getting the run of the cards and opponents are playing hands in strange ways. He's vented his frustration to a friend on a neighboring table but he's still plugging away trying to play his game.

He made a raise from the cut off to 1,525 and was called by the big blind before the flop came [ac][3h][8d]. It was checked to him so he continued his aggression with a 1,850 bet only to fold to a raise to 4,325.

The very next hand he made the same raise and was called by both blinds. The flop came [th][kh][2d] but he manged to take this one down with a 2,850 bet when checked to him. that put him back on his starting stack at 30,000.

Earlier this afternoon, there was no doubt where the fun table was, featuring Shaun Deeb, Andrew Malott and a clutch of other big online players, who all seemed to know one another from their time around the virtual tables. The conversation was typical. On the one hand it was self deprecation ("Why do you think I bust so quick from live tournaments?" said Deeb after he was all in during the first level), on the other it was mutual insults. It was all punctuated by chatter of three-betting, ranges, "that time during the Sunday Million" and all the other babble that marks out the men who know their poker.

This happy family was broken at around level three, when Malott was moved one table along and found himself sitting opposite Dario Minieri. Then there was the blackout, then the Dario-out, and then Dragan Gallic arrived to fill Minieri's former seat. Once again, Malott had found himself at the fun table.

Galic is the Croatian player who needs very little introduction to anyone who has played either the Austrian Poker Tour or was in San Remo for the EPT there this year. He made the final table in eight of the Austrian events he played before moving up in stakes and flaying all that came before him on his charge to the chip lead at the final table. Galic was at the top of the chip charts from day one to that final day, eventually succumbing in fourth.

Dragan Galic

Malott and Galic have already begun their good-spirited verbal jousting, but only in the short periods that Malott is not chatting away to his new neighbour, the Canadian Anatoly Zharnitsky.

Zharnitsky is a new, if distinctive, name to the biggest poker tournaments, but he's making hay in Kyiv today. He was the first player in the field to break through 100,000 chip barrier, and has accrued something close to 120,000 as we enter the last level of the day.

Galic has about 70,000; Malott about 60,000 and Darren Mould, the British PokerStars qualifier, is confidently playing a quiet game in seat one. He is up to about 50,000.

* * * * *

DESPERATION OF THE LEVEL

"We are having a break after this level, aren't we?" said a desperate Anatoly Zharnitsky, recalling that the intended break at the end of level four fell foul of the power cut. "My McDonalds in gonna be freezing. That's it up there. [Points at solitary McDonalds bag sitting in stadium seating] It's been there about 40 minutes."

A cowboy leans back in his chair, part of a well fed gut protruding over a fine looking belt buckle, and fans himself with a giant Stetson. He nods amiably at a passerby while enjoying the wet end of a cigar and tolerating as best he can the afternoon heat...

It can only be EPT Kyiv, where Italian Alfonso Amendola plays cowboy, and poker, alongside Russian Ivan Demidov, occasionally resting his Cohiba on his chip stack of 29,000 and continuing an Italian poker practice of holding conversations with each other despite being seated at tables 30 feet apart.

Eric Turner sits in seat one, whose day continues at steady pace, his dad watching from the stands about 30 feet away (Turner walks over to chat, doesn't shout). He spoke to the video blog team earlier today...

Watch EPT Kyiv S6: Eric Turner on PokerStars.tv

His is a standard table five levels in to a tournament. A couple of older guys like Amendola in seat nine and Sendetskiy in seat six; a couple much younger like Priit Turner from Estonia and Vasil Rodskyy who wears a t-shirt with a hood, big sunglasses and a broom-like moustache putting him anywhere between 21 and 50-years-old. Then there's a player everyone recognises...

Demidov, for his part, looks like a man with regrets. Either that or he's just dog tired. Every now and then his girlfriend Liya Gerasimova stops by for a word before returning to her own table and a stack of 36,000. Judging from the next hand though that word might have been "kill".

Priit Turner made it 775 pre-flop from the cut off which Sendetskiy in the small blind and Demidov in the big both called for a flop of [9h][4s][jc]. Amendola made a phone call.

Sendetskiy checked while an Italian voice from a nearby table says "I lose 80 per cent. 80 per cent!" But everyone has their own problems. Demidov checked before Turner made it 1,200. Before Sendetskiy folded Demidov took another look. He likes to get down low to check his cards and he keeps his chips far to the right, almost in the space of the player next to him, to give his elbows some room to bend. He decides to re-raise to 3,650.
"How much?" asks Turner.

"Thirty-six-fifty" replies the table in unison. Too rich for Turner, sending Demidov back above the waterline to 34,000.

* * * * *

POKERSTARS BLOG FEATURE SEAT UPDATE OF THE LEVEL

Michele Limongi still has the honour, currently playing a stack of 33,500.

Live updates from day 1B, level 6 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 50-200-400.

6.05pm: PokerStars Blog Feature Seat is on fire
Liya Gerasimova has got her stack up to 50,000, a good 15,000 or so above her boyfriend, Team PokerStars Pro Ivan Demidov. It's no wonder she got her stack moving in the right direction as after facing a raise and a three-bet in front of her she had no qualms in four-betting and making her two opponents run to the hills.

6.40pm: That's your Mallot
Dragan Gallic and Andrew Malott are both big stacks at their table and neither are afraid to voice their opinions of each others game. Malott was just suggesting that his opponent played ace-jack badly against his same hand. I doubt Galic cares too much though as he has an 83,000 stack at present.

Malott, who to me looks like a cross between Jean Robert Bellande and Adam Levy, is catching up though. He raised to 1,125 from the button and was called by the small blind before the flop came down [qh][7s][3h]. The small blind led out for 1,500 and Malott called before facing a 6,000 bet on the [3d] turn. it was about 40% of of the small blind's stack and after staring him down Malott put him all in. The small blind shrugged and called with [Kh][th] for a flush draw. Malott had made a good read with his [qs][8d] and it got better as the [8s] fell on the river to secure him the pot at his opponent's expense who was eliminated. Malott up to 74,000 now.

EPT Kyiv has really begun to take shape in the past couple of hours. Yes, there was that power cut, but there was also the arrival into the building of Gus Hansen, some notable eliminations -- Dario Minieri, Leo Fernandez and Pierpaolo Fabretti -- plus the announcement of the grand total number of players.

Today's 167 add to yesterday's 129 to make a field for the first EPT event in the CIS of 296. Russia is clearly the most heavily represented nation here, with 116 players making the journey from poker-boom-land across the border to the east. Ukraine is the next, with 33 players, ahead of Italy (28) and the United States (20). The full, and always fascinating, nationality breakdown is at the end of this post. (I still have fond memories of my holiday in Unknown.)

The bean counters will give us the prize breakdown as and when they know it, but there's more than a million euros to be sliced among the top 27 (probably). Exactly how the pie is divided will be revealed very soon. (LIVE UPDATE! The prize structure is now available! Click through to the prizewinners page to find it in all its glory.)

In addition to those big names we noticed in the very early stages, several other notables have slithered their way in. There was Hansen, of course, who has now found a spot on the same table as Alexander Kostritsyn, permitting a fond exchange of tales winning the Aussie Millions, if they so desired.

Alexander Kostritsyn

There's also a WPT champion in the house. Vadim Trincher took $730,000 for victory in Foxwoods in April.

Vadim Trincher

And a whole host of EPT final table players. In this group, we find Ciprian Hrisca and Albert Iverson, who finished second and fourth respectively in Budapest last November. Also the young Frenchman Tristan Clemencon, who came third in Deauville, plus Dragan Galic, who led through four days of EPT San Remo and eventually finished fourth.

They also don't come much better these days than Liya Gerasimova, who is second-best known as Ivan Demidov's girlfriend. Her main claim to fame, however, is her own tournament record. She came fourth in the High Roller event at this year's PCA, and also made a World Series Final table in the summer.

Liya Gerasimova

CLICK HERE FOR CHIP COUNTS

NATIONALITY BREAKDOWN FOR EPT KYIV

Russia - 116
Ukraine - 33
Italy - 28
USA - 20
France - 16
Germany - 15
UK - 9
Canada - 6
Holland - 5
Romania - 5
Estonia - 4
Belarus - 3
Denmark - 3
Sweden - 3
Austria - 2
Bulgaria - 2
Hungary - 2
Israel - 2
Kazakhstan - 2
Argentina - 1
Armenia - 1
Costa Rica - 1
Croatia - 1
Cyprus - 1
Czech Republic - 1
Ireland - 1
Japan - 1
Lithuania - 1
Moldova - 1
Monaco - 1
Norway - 1
Poland - 1
Unknown - 5

Live updates from day 1B, level 5 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 25-150-300.

6.15pm: Hansen on the rise
Gus Hansen is still mixing it up with his table mates. In one hand he saw a [jh][4c][8c] raised pot with two players in early position including fellow Aussie Millions Champion Alexander Kostritsyn. A 2,500 bet was made from Kostritsyn's neighbour that only the Dane called. When faced with a check on the [3d] turn he bet 5,625 and it was good enough to take the pot as his opponent folded.

A couple of hands later Hansen saw his mid position raise three-bet by the player in the next seat. Hansen then four-bet but his stubborn opponent made the call. Before the [9d][2h][td] flop came down Hansen had already thrown his whole 20,000 plus remaining stack over the line. The ploy worked as the fold was quick in coming and that put Hansen up to 36,000.

6.05pm: PokerStars Blog Feature Seat is on fire
The occupant of today's PokerStars Blog Feature Seat (table 2, seat 7) is showing no sign of leaving it any time soon - he's up to 55,000. Michele Limongi, from Italy, just won another nice pot on a tricky-looking board.

With [ah][jc][5c][ad][10d] staring at him from the felt, he checked the turn and river and faced a long, perhaps unnecessary stare down from his opponent on the button. Eventually the other player checked as well, and Limongi turned over [ac][8d]. It was good.

Feature Seat occupant Michele Limongi

Meanwhile, fellow Italian Christiano Blanco is out. On a board showing [qc][8d][qs][6s][7h] he was aghast to find his 6-6 for the full house had been bettered by 8-8.

5.50pm: The Nutter makes his move
I just had a catch-up with PokerStars qualifier Stuart Rutter who managed to get his day back on track. Down to 6,000 at one point he is now back above his starting stack, his highest position of the day. This was largely due to two double-ups where he was quite fortunate in both.

The first hand he limped on the button with seven-eight suited and managed to flop top two-pair and then get a full double-up of the small blind player who thought his queen-eight was good. The next hand he raised with pocket kings and found two callers. The small blind player led out and Rutter just called to see a lovely king appear on the turn. His opponent then moved all in and Rutter called only to see how fortunate he was as his opponent had flopped a set of eights.

5.40pm: Devil's hand
The turn was out giving us a [6d][7c][kh][4h] flop. Alexander Kostritsyn had seemingly been an early position raiser and been called by both blinds. The big blind led out at this stage though for 2,000 before Kostritsyn bumped it up to 5,400. The small blind folded but the big blind snap called. The river was [ac] and the big blind check-called a 4,100 from the Russian who tabled [7s][4s] for two-pair. No good here though as the big blind held [6s][6h] for a set.

Kostritsyn still sitting on a healthy 41,000 stack.
Alexander Kostritsyn

5.30pm: Mould chipping up
The PokerStars qualifier Darren Mould, from England, has not had the easiest of tables today. First he had to sit through the worldwind that was Dario Minieri (who has now breezed out of the tournament), and now the Italian's seat has been taken by Dragan Galic, the Croatian who final tabled EPT San Remo last April.

Despite that, Mould is playing a solid game and has inched up to over 40,000. Countryman John Kabbaj is heading the other way, though, and is now down to 8,000.

Some years ago there was a peanut commercial featuring a man in a halted train carriage, all dark and dreary, with a handful of monochrome people seated around him, oblivious to what looked like a bleak future. The man is resigned to his fate until he sees another train, also stopped, this one in full colour and with a party taking place with beautiful women, martinis, you name it - all out of the reach of the man now desperate to switch trains. It was an homage to Frederico Fellini's 8 ½. The film was a masterpiece. I don't know how many peanuts were sold.

Right now those two carriages could be poker tables. On the fun table would be Shaun Deeb, while living a less vibrant existence on the table alongside would Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater.

Deeb is enjoying himself with company. Listening to Deeb talk shop with Andrew Malott (dressed as a Phoenix Sun) and Carter Phillips is like listening to a police scanner or overhearing kids talk batting averages or the 0-60mph capabilities of Lamborghinis and Porches. Enthusiastic gibberish to all but the informed. Actually, it's probably more akin to being under local anaesthetic as your doctors discuss how best to remove something you've had since you were born - the chit chat of great knowledge and talent - three Americans enjoying a motor-mouth hour 4,500 miles from home.

Phillips had been talking about burnout while Deeb confessed to never resting, instead finding it difficult to understand how a poker player, any poker player, could resist even a few hands.

"Every day I miss poker," he said. "is a day the games get harder."

This was his explanation to Phillips as to why he had the urge to log-in and play a $1K tourney when he woke at 5am this morning, seven hours before he arrived here. Deeb inhabits a different poker world, and not just one of pyjamas and never going out. Phillips knew that. Malott knew that and I dare say the others at the table would know that had they spoken English.

Deeb may be a grand master of poker but despite his overwhelming success he dresses like a man wearing everything he owns - a baseball cap, t-shirt, casual shorts and tatty flip-flops - just the bare essentials for a comfortable day ruining the day of others.

Meanwhile on the Thater table it's a showcase for every set of headphones and pair of sunglasses ever made, like a window display at Bloomingdales. It's quiet here, introspective. The only movement, beyond the flick of a chip, is from the tall thin guy in seat five who bounces his leg up and down at 80 beats a minute. No one speaks but this table does feature equal measure of talent to the peanut table next door.

As well as Thater there's John Kabbaj, a recent World Series bracelet winner; Tristan Clemencon who came third at EPT Deauville last season, and Team PokerStars Ukraine's Vlad Zguba. And while they may be a little of the quiet side at least they can conjure up a big pot.

When Elio Fox, who looks a little cat like, made it 600 pre-flop from the button he found callers in all of the above. With [10c][8h][6c] on the board Thater checked form the big blind as did Kabbaj. Zguba meanwhile made it another 1,000 which everyone but Thater called.

With a [ks] on the turn Kabbaj checked, allowing Zguba to make it 2,000. Fox and Kabbaj eventually called for a river card [8s]. Kabbaj checked again giving the option to Zguba who still hadn't changed his expression from that of stoic local in Elvis sunglasses. He checked before Fox threw out 8,500.

Kabbaj, still deep in a massage to have earlier pain removed from his shoulders, called to keep an interest in what's now a huge pot. Vlad did the same, with less of the stress. He showed pocket aces to Kabbaj's ace-king. Fox mucked before seeing either hand. Zguba took the lot. Fox had nothing left to do than to look longingly at Zguba, but he got nothing back. Zguba now has 54,000.

* * * * *

CLICK HERE FOR CHIP COUNTS

* * * * *

SLIGHTLY RELEVANT PRICE OF THE LEVEL

A packet of peanuts from the lobby shop: 5 Hryvnia

You've heard of Poker After Dark, well, EPT Kyiv has just introduced us to Poker In The Dark. A power cut within the past hour at the Palace of Sports plunged the tournament cavern into pitch black. There are no windows in this huge hall and the total blackout, interrupted only by cellphone screens, camera flashes and the flickering flames of cigarette lighters, reminded us of our dubious histories in soft rock. It's the final song at a Scorpions gig: a vast arena, hundreds of people gathered in front of a stage, lit only by flames waved aloft.

"New chip leader!" declared one press-room wag, suggesting that a few players might take the chance to pilfer from their neighbours. Being of the circumspect kind, several players lifted their stacks from the felt. Others did not have the opportunity: they were already in hands with their chips in the middle. There was at least 30,000 in a pot on one central table, but no one could see the cards.

Shaun Deeb ponders the blackout

Elsewhere, Dario Minieri had raised pre-flop and two other players were waiting to act. "I can't get a tell, Dario," said Andrew Malott, to widespread chuckles around the surrounding area.

The interruption was apparently caused by a construction company nearby cutting the power to this entire section of Kyiv -- I shudder at the thought of the streets if traffic lights are out -- and the building maintenance company eventually found the switch for the back-up generator as the lights buzzed back on.

Before that, though, the tournament staff had also found their back-up generator: Alen Babic with a flashlight. The ever-reliable member of Thomas Kremser's officiating staff went round one table at a time providing the illumination for players to finish the hand they were on.

Alen Babic's tie (pink) illuminated as its owner keeps EPY Kyiv going

The spirit of the London blitz was very much in evidence as players joked their way through the 15-minute interruption. There was no more harm done than the odd media representative's laptop battery draining, and play is now underway once more.

NEIL STODDART'S BLACKOUT GALLERY

Live updates from day 1B, level 4 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 150-300.

5.10pm: Pickled Kabbaj
John Kabbaj called a mid-position raise to 800 whilst sitting in the big blind to see a [jc][3c][tc] flop. He check called an 800 bet and a 2,300 bet on the [3s] turn. When the [8s] river came Kabbaj took the lead with a 2,500 bet that was called. Kabbaj tabled [ks][jh] but it couldn't beat his opponent's [ac][as]. That leaves Kabbaj on 15,600 chips.

5.00pm: Danger board saves chips
I arrived at the table with the river out and Christiano Blanco facing a 10,000 bet from David Sonelin that he called. Sonelin tabled pockets aces for top set and it was good for the pot. Blanco said he had pocket nines for middle set on the flop. The flop was all clubs though with a fourth club appearing on the turn. Neither player had a club but if the board had been rainbow Blanco would lost a lot more chips.

4.45pm: Italy, shed a tear now
Double disaster for followers of Italian Poker - Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri, and Team PokerStars Italy player Pierpaolo Fabretti are both out of EPT Kyiv.

Minieri was first out of the door. After a typically roller-coaster day, which saw him zoom to as high as 70,000 at one point, he then sank to a low of 7,000 when his final moment came.

On a flop of [5h][3h][qd] Minieri pushed his last chips over the line, insta-called by his opponent in seat 9.

"I have pocket tens," Minieri said as he flipped [10d][10c]. "Oh," he added as he was presented with [qh][jh]. "Nice hand again." The [4c][kd] failed to bring a magical 10, and Minieri exited stage left.

Soon after Fabretti suffered the same fate. Like Minieri, he had built a stack before sliding down to his last 7,850.

When Constantine Turchenko raised to 900 pre-flop, and Nicolas Levi called, Fabretti made a stand and pushed all in. Turchenko called - then folded when Levi re-raised to 21,500.

Levi: [as][qc]
Fabretti: [ad][10c]

No help for the Italian from the dealer, and he joined Minieri on the rail.

4.30:Gus sees the light
The lights are fully blazing away again in all corners of the room and it seems to have had affect on Gus Hansen's mood as he sat down at his table ready to play some cards. He's been pretty active so far too. After folding for a few hands he then raised three hands in a row from the three earliest positions. He got no action the first two hands but got action from a player on the button on the third hand. Well Gus led out on the river with the board showing [kd][th][js][9c][ad] his opponent moved all in. Gus called and they split the pot as both held a queen.

Hansen on around 30,000 right now.

3.50: EPT Kyiv plunged into darkness!
Chaos has just erupted in the Palace of Sports - all the lights have gone out. Yes, we have a power cut. Play has stopped, players are guarding their chips, men with screwdrivers are trying to get it fixed.

3.45: Thater takes a hit
Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater just took a hit. On a flop of [7h][6h][js] she bet 5,500 but was re-raised by the player to her left to 11,500. After hitting the tank for several minutes, she elected to fold, leaving her with around 24,000.

Katja Thater

Level 5 updates can be found here.