We began predicting chaos and Biblical fury; in the end it was just the regular whirlwind that howls through day two fields on the European Poker Tour.

EPT Kyiv was seven levels old when 203 players returned to the Palace of Sports at noon on the second day. "We will play five or six levels today," intoned Thomas Kremser in his introductory speech to the room. By the second of those, the decision was made. "We will play five levels," he declared emphatically. By that point, about 50 players had already been eliminated. By the end of the day, only 70 remained.

CLICK HERE FOR CHIP COUNTS

At the top of the leaderboard are these three: Vitaly Tolokonnikov and Max Lykov, from Russia, and Jonas Kronwitter, from Germany. Kronwitter took two huge strides to the summit: first crippling Allan Baekke in an aces versus queens tangle, next busting Shaun Deeb in a hand where he had the queens, crushing Deeb's pocket threes.

Jonas Kronwitter

Tolokonnikov and Lykov, on the other hand, completed their rise to prominence in the most efficient fashion of all: completely under the radar, simply emerging with towers of yellow chips.

Vitaly Tolokonnikov

At the very end, Tolokonnikov was tormenting the table featuring Alex Fitzgerald and Andrew Malott. "He's running like Usain Bolt," observed the latter, but Lazarus is a more apt comparison. Tolokonnikov started day two with 12,000 and change. He had 371,000 by the end.

CLICK HERE FOR CHIP COUNTS

Deeb's departure was one of many for poker's star names. Katja Thater perished inside two levels, when her ace-ten was not good enough to beat Jason Kudron's ten-deuce. Alexander Kravchenko ground and ground, as is his style, but eventually bust late in the day.

Ivan Demidov cursed his own play with a [kh][jh] that flopped top pair, but still wasn't good enough to beat aces.

Ivan Demidov busted early enough to give his girlfriend Lika Gerasimova some encouragement

Dragan Galic and Jeffrey Sarwer both held the chip lead for long periods today, but Galic was gone and Sarwer finished barely above the felt. Andrew Feldman and Nicolas Levi both also flew high but busted before the bagging.

Although Team PokerStars Pro perished, there are qualifiers still flying the flag. The German former backgammon World Champion Michael Meyburg bagged up 270,000 and the aforementioned Malott has close to 190,000.

Andrew Malott

Also still in the mix is the player from Kazakhstan, Aleksandr Ivanchenko, who remains in with a chance of completing perhaps the most extraordinary poker story of them all. He won a freeroll for 9,000 players and is here for free, still prospering.

Tomorrow we will play down to our final four tables; 32 for the big money. By that point we will have burst the bubble -- 40 get paid -- and have watched another breathless day on the EPT.

Look back on today's action in these terrific shiny hyperlinks:

Introduction to day two


Alexsander Ivanchenko freerolls from Kazakhstan
Andrew Malott has a lot...
The enigma of Alex Kravchenko
I'll get you Jeff Sarwer...
Action Shaun Deeb
Alexander Fitzgerald from the rail

Or take it level-by-level style:

Level eight updates
Level nine updates
Level 10 updates
Level 11 updates
Level 12 updates

There are a lot of words on the Russian and German blogs. If they mean anything to you, you're a better man than me.

As ever, televisual poker entertainment is at PokerStars.tv and all the static photography comes with a big (c) Neil Stoddart attached.

Join us again tomorrow.

GФФD ИIGHT FЯФM ЦКЯДIЙЗ

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My curiosity as to the progress of Alex Fitzgerald had inadvertently turned me into a stalker. I'd been hanging around his table for far too long, moving position every once in a while to keep the blood flowing in my feet and so not to draw attention to myself, forgetting each time to avoid stepping on a metal plate hidden under the carpeting that rattled like a fire alarm, to watch one a 21-year-old online pro work the live game on a table mixed up of young locals and older guys wanting to teach them a thing or two.

Fitzgerald had been sat at table five for some time, one of those tables that escape wider attention for a lack of other recognisable faces and any particularly large stack. But if any of this bothered him it was impossible to tell as he played on in level 11 with 47,000, (800-1600-100) sitting back in his chair, a white shirt open at the neck and jeans frayed at the heel, folding hands as others around him make moves and bust out.

Dmitry Vitkind tried but showed little of the same poise in the face of adversity. He shoved in, immediately striking a pose that was intended to provide a smoke and mirror effect for Bernard Boutboul who had the option to call. He did, showed jacks to Vitkind's tens and that was that. Pose and player gone.

Fitzgerald played a few hands, each it seemed with as little risk as possible. One took him back up a few grand against Boutboul then a quick all-in behind a weak raise to pick up that, the blinds and the antes. But that was a read on the player, not the first signs of panic.

"It's not super urgent, but the guy had 15 big blinds and I could tell he didn't have much, and I can't raise," said Fitzgerald at the break, eyeing the new blinds. "I have 25 big blinds so it's a little more do or die now."

The day had started better from the former Seattle native, who came out the blocks just how he'd intended."I was up to 130k in the first hour, then down to 30k," he said, "because that's the kind of player I am."

The player he is is a good one. Such set backs are all part of the job for a poker prospector, ready to get muddy taking a few chances early on to hit gold later. Known as "Assassinator" online (the Portuguese for Assassin), Fitzgerald has paid his way across Europe, to tournament as far apart as Manila and Rio de Janeiro during his career as a poker pro; living in Malta. He's been there for a year now though he's now casting his eyes east, the Far East, to Korea and Japan for the carefree lifestyle most 21-year-olds can only dream of. Yes, Fitzgerald is only 21.

But despite this degree of freedom Fitzgerald's approach seems more pragmatic than most poker addicts, as his account of the World Series showed.

"To be honest I didn't cash in any events but I won a lot online. So I had a successful summer, but I wish I'd stayed at home on the beach!" he said.

Now his attention returns to Europe and the quest for similar success to that in EPT San Remo, where he finished 7th in EPT San Remo last season, a little earlier than he'd planned. "I keep getting rid of chips before the final tables."

Even if that is a problem, it may well be put right in season six. Especially if the stalkers stop hanging around while he plays.

* * * * *

CLICK HERE FOR CHIP COUNTS

Live updates from day 2, level 12 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 200-1,000-2,000.

7.35: End of the day
That's it. Play has ended for the day with around 71 players remaining. We'll have a full wrap of today's events up shortly. The selected approx chip counts are currently here, and will soon be replaced by the full, official end-of-day chip counts.

7.20pm: A new kid in town
Vitaly Tolokonnikov has about 375,000 chips, good for the chip lead but also good for a remarkable comeback from his overnight 12,000-odd. "He's running like Usain Bolt," observed his table-mate Andrew Malott. "Are you from Jamaica?" Tolokonnikov is not from Jamaica. He's from Russia. But the analogy is otherwise perfect: he just three-bet Malott with [8d][5d] and the flop came all diamonds. Malott lost the minimum, but learnt that there's a new boss in town.

7.10pm: Fitzgerald not bokked
Alex Fitzgerald shoved in from the button, save for a single 100 chip protecting his cards. Alexey Maslov asked got a count, thought a bit and moved in himself to capture that last black chip of Fitzgerald who showed [kc][8c]. Maslov was ahead with [6h][ad], just not for long. The board ran out [3c][2c][8h][8s][6s]. Fitzgerald pounded fists with the newly arrived Andrew Malott, his stack now up to nearly 100,000.

7.05pm: News snippets
Jeffrey Sarwer is now dangerously low after falling from the dizzy heights of chip leader not so long ago. After losing a big pot he then was kind enough to double up our PokerStars blog featured seat player, Igor Dubinisky. Sarwer will be out the door soon if he doesn't improve from his current position around 30,000.

Other news is that Andrew Feldman is out. We didn't catch the action but we know he had pocket eights against an opponent's ace-king. It all went in pre flop and Feldman's opponent caught an ace on the flop to end it for the young Brit.

6.50pm: Deeb downed
Shaun Deeb opened the pot with a raise as we all know he likes to do before facing a re-raise from Jonas Kronwitter. Deeb called creating a 30,000 pot as we go to the [6d][2c][js] flop. Deeb checked to face a 17,000 bet that he raised all in for a total of 97,000. Kronwitter tanked for two to three minutes before making the call with [qh][qs] and it was a good call as Deeb could only show [3h][3d[. The turn came [td] and river [qs] to eliminate the dangerous Deeb. Kronwitter meanwhile is moving back in the right direction with 320,000.

6.40pm: Nasty River
The action folded around to Maz Lykov who put in a raise only to face a re-raise from Nicolas Levi. His response was to move all in but Levi was going nowhere and had a hand to risk his tournament life with as he called all in. Lykov tabled [5h][5d] and he was racing the Frenchman's [ad][kd]. The board ran [2c][as][qc][tc][5s] to cruelly offer Levi hope on the flop only for it to be crushed with a two outer on the river. Lykov sitting pretty on 277,000 after that.

6.20pm: Galic walking a tightrope
After soaring to the summit earlier in the day, Dragan Galic is now fighting for life. Just now he faced a 6,000 raise from German PokerStars qualifier Michael Meyburg, which was called by Viktor Ivanov. Galic saw this as his chance to move in for his last 47,000, seeking the magical double up.

Both his opponents, despite sitting behind big stacks of more than 230,000, chose to take the hint and fold, with Ivanov showing A-Q in the process.

"You have 9-9," asked Meyburg. "I would only have tens and above," claimed Galic, who lives to fight another day.

Michael Meyburg

If you give action, you get action. It's an adage that's been bandied around poker rooms since the internet generation of deranged and nose-bleed players ripped up the poker rulebook and brought their near-suicidal aggression into the live arena the game was invented. And one of the most renowned action players in the game today is Shaun Deeb, online tournament sensation, PokerStars passport owner and here in Kyiv courtesy of an FPP satellite win.

Greg Dyer and Shaun Deeb

Yesterday Deeb was on a table among his online brethren, including Andrew Mallot, and earlier today he has the pleasure of another online friend to sit beside, Greg Dyer. Dyer has since departed and Deeb's table has broken, shuttling him across to table 11, where I'm not sure if he knows many of his opponents. But if you give action, you get action. It's an adage that's bee- ... yeah, you get the picture ... and Deeb's new table may not be the most vocal, but he's putting his chips to work and finding others doing the same.

On the first hand I watched on a recent sweep of the room, Deeb was involved with the German player Joram Voelklein. The flop showed [8d][ac][kd] and Deeb had a bet of 12,000 in front of him. Voelklein raised to 25,000 and Deeb shoved all in for another 40,000 on top. Err, fold.

Then Lika Gerasimova also caught the raising bug. She may be among the most diminutive players at any poker table, but she is a fierce player, more than capable of mixing it with the very best, as proved by her final table at the high rollers' event at the PCA. Gerasimova raised 4,200 pre-flop, which attracted the calls of both Voelklein and Dmitriy Kim in the big blind. Kim and Gerasimova checked, which prompted Voelklein to have a 4,200 stab at it. Kim re-raised to 12,000 and that was good enough for another extremely aggressive player.

Lika Gerasimova

Gerasimova got her chips back on the next-but-one hand, firing out on the turn with a bet of 5,200 on a paired board. That was good enough. But it was almost six hands since Deeb had got involved, and that had to change soon. Sure enough he got to a flop with Voelklein again, saw [ac][2s][8s] and Deeb bet 4,600. Volklein called. The turn was [qd] and this time Deeb's 10,600 was good enough.

It's worth noting that also sitting on this table, to Deeb's left, is the tournament chip leader Jonas Kronwitter, also from Germany. Kronwitter was the man who crippled Allan Baekke with aces against queens, all in pre-flop, in a pot worth close to 300,000.

Deeb is in what's traditionally regarded as the worst position to attack that stack, but has shown scant regard for the rulebook so far.

If you give action, you get action, etc., etc., and so forth.

* * * * *

WELL TIMED VIDEO BLOG OF THE HOUR

Shaun Deeb shares his tips for WCOOP play:

Watch EPT Kyiv S6: 'Deeb's Top Tips on the WCOOP on PokerStars.tv

* * * *

CLICK HERE FOR CHIP COUNTS

Watching Jeff Sarwer play, you realise he's a man who likes to put on a show. Resembling ever so slightly (when he grins) the Hooded Claw/Sylveter Sneakly, who caused Penelope Pitstop all that trouble, Sarwer likes to talk. There's no trash, no goading, just happy chit-chat as he enjoys a good spell and enjoys talking about it ("Hyu-Hyu-Hyu-Huh-Huh-Huh")

When I passed by, Sarwer had just shown pocket jacks to win another hand. It had taken nothing more than a raise at a queen-high flop which Ivar Vendelin in seat nine decided wasn't worth the risk. "I'll give you some respect, you've earned it," said Vendelin.

"A pair of sevens?" asked Sarwer cordially.

"Eights..."

"Pocket eights?" asked Sarwer, now nodding sympathetically. "Could have been costly."

Sarwer raised again on the next hand. "Jacks again?" asks Vendelin.

"This time it's sixes," says Sarwer turning them over after finding no takers, "I keep running into monsters!"

"It's the dealer," says Vendelin.

"I blame the dealer too!"

But the dealer didn't deliver all of the 228,000 Sarwer currently has, the result of a spell of domination by the Canadian that saw him bolster his stack largely uncontested. It's not his first good run in an EPT. Sarwer cashed in Prague last season and has cashes in events in Estonia, Finland and Spain.

Next up to take him on: Sergey Antonenko.

"How much is that sir?" asks Sarwer, checking the amount and then peeling off the call from his own stack.

Sarwer checked the [2c][kh][qc] flop before Antonenko made it 4,500 to play. After confirming the amount Sarwer called before checking the [5h] turn. Antonenko does the same for a [5s] on the river. Sarwer now makes it 6,500, spreading the bet with a sideways motions, like he was revealing chips which a few seconds ago he'd made disappear inside a top hat. Antonenko then made it 20,000.

"Wow," said the Canadian smiling and then rubbing his chin. "I'm going to think this one out a little bit," he says, tapping some yellow chips together and staring into the soul of Antonenko. But as every back page mystic has demonstrated before, looking into souls is tricky business...

"Call!"

Antonenko showed pocket aces. Oh well...

"Nice hand," said Sarwer ("BLAAASST!!!"). Antonenko said nothing.

Sarwer still among the leaders but down to 185,000.

Live updates from day 2, level 11 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 200-800-1,600.

Great play from Gerosimiva
Chip monster Jonas Kronwitter raised to 5,000 from the cut off only to be three-bet to 13,7000 from Liya Gerosimova on the button. After some consideration he made the call to see the [ks][9d][7h] flop. Both players checked it through to the [8h] turn where Kronwitter check-called a 12,000 bet from Gerosimova. The river [kd] saw Kronwitter retake the initiative with a 25,800 bet that Gerosimova called. Kronwitter tabled [jh][js] but was beaten by the Russian's [ah][kc]. Kronwitter threw his cards into the muck and walked off on break. Gerosimova smiled and stacked up her stack, now standing at 180,000. Kronwitter's still monstrous on 254,000.

3.40: British withdraw some troops
British players Mark Dalimore and Stuart Rutter have been eliminated from the tournament. The latter's ace-rag couldn't beat the mighty queen-four of an opponent apparently.

3.30pm: Kravchenko butso
The last remaining member of Team PokerStars Pro has fallen. We started the day with three but Katja Thater then Ivan Demidov and now Alex Kravchenko are no more. Kravchenko had been nursing a short stack for a long while and when he shoved for his last 16,400 with [ac][jh] from under-the-gun he found a caller on the button with [ah][kh]. The board ran out [9c][5s][6h][9s][qs] and the quiet Russian walked from the tournament area.
Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko

5.05pm: Feature Seat change shocker
The hottest seat in the house, the PokerStars Blog Feature Seat, has changed hands for the first time today. Eduard Poltaves, who had been sitting on the coveted throne since noon, has busted, falling victim to the Estonian Priit Turner, who is cutting a dash with a national headband and scarf.

The Feature Seat, which is table two, seat seven (I'm sure you get the 2-7 relevance without us having to hammer it home), would not remain empty for long, as Igor Dubinsky, from Ukraine, came over from a broken table to be the new custodian.

4.55pm: Malott's luck is in
PokerStars qualifier Andrew Malott raised from mid position and was called by a player on the button before the flop came down [ad][js][6s]. Malott checked to face a bet that he raised up. A quick all-in resulted in an equally quick call by Malott with [qs][ts] for straight and flush draws. It was obvious he needed to hit though versus his opponent's [ac][jh] for top two-pair. The turn [2h] was harmless but the [7s] river made the flush for the American and eliminated his opponent.

"Yes, that interview wasn't bad luck after all. Come on. Unlucky sir, nice playing with you" was the verbal flurry heard from Malott's mouth after winning.

A happy boy, now sitting on 195,000 and tucking into a sandwich.

It's an enduring mystery among the writers of PokerStars blog: How does Alexander Kravchenko do it? We've followed the Russian Team PokerStars Pro across the whole continent and to the United States for more than two years now, and I don't think any one of us has ever seen him play a hand.

But he must. He simply must. Kravchenko's tournament record is as good as any player in this part of the world. After winning his first WSOP bracelet in 2007, he followed up with a final table and a fourth place in the Main Event, the sixth and largest of that series. He then final tabled the HORSE event at the World Series Europe, picked up four cashes on the EPT, before returning to Vegas for another six World Series cashes this year, and one final table. It's a sensational record for someone who never seems to play a pot.

Alex Kravchenko

Actually, that's not necessarily true. I think what I'm really trying to say is that I've never seen Kravchenko play a big pot, and I've also never seen him lose one. Which, I suppose, answers my own question: Kravchenko is simply a terrific reader of the game, who knows how to stay out of trouble and apply the heat at the precise time when his opponents are most vulnerable. That, probably, is how Alexander Kravchenko does it.

That and the stare, of course. Yesterday, the Sunset+Vine television crew, who provide the edited highlights of the EPT on countless channels across the world, arranged a "staring contest" between Kravchenko and his Team PokerStars Pro colleague, Luca Pagano. Pagano can stare, don't get me wrong, but I don't think there's anyone in the world who can really hope to match Kravchenko glare-for-glare. Pagano ended up yielding when he found that he'd have to blink. "Blinking is for wimps," Kravchenko didn't say, but probably should, as the Italian scraped the fur from his retinas.

Pagano is long defeated in this tournament, but Kravchenko remains staring into the future. He's sitting behind his trademark mirrored aviator shades at the moment, and behind about 45,000 chips. That's a little less than average, but if there's something Kravchenko knows all about, it's the long haul. He's just getting started.

ISN'T IT OBVIOUS? OF THE LEVEL

Francesco Ciriani was looking at a flop of [10s][2s][8d] and an all in bet of 30,000 from Sebastian Panny. He was also looking at the tournament official Alen Babic who was counting down a one-minute clock on him. Babic explained the rules -- that he had one minute to make a decision or his hand was dead -- and Ciriani took 50 of those seconds before getting a 10-second warning, sliding his headphones off his ears, and repeating: "I fold, fold, fold, fold" with a shrug, shoving his cards forward. "Did you have a set," another player asked Panny. "Yes," was the simple reply.

HEADGEAR OF THE LEVEL

Priit Turner's "Bjorn in Estonia" headband.

WHICH TABLE HAS ALL THE CHIPS? OF THE LEVEL
The one with Dragan Galic (250,000), Viktor Ivanov (140,000) and Kirill Boydachenko (140,000).

Live updates from day 2, level 10 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 100-600-1,200.

2.35: Ziv straight out of the door
Oleksandr Ziv, who has been up and down in this event more than a window cleaner on his ladder, has finally busted. And it was unlucky for the Ukrainian. He had pocket tens, was called by sevens, and was distraught when the board ran [4h][ac][8c][5s][6h] for a runner-runner straight.

2.30: Biggest pot of the tournament so far
A monster of a pot just occurred between Jonas Kronwitter and Allan Baekke. Kronwitter raised, Baekke three-bet, Kronwitter four-bet, Baekke then moved all in and Kronwitter snap called with [as][ac]. A deflated looking Baekke tabled [qc][qs] before the board came [5c][js][kc][3h][9c].

After a count down it turned out Baekke had his opponent covered by just 3,000 in what was a 300,000 pot making it the biggest pot so far. New chip leader people is Jonas Kronwitter.

4.10: Rockets damage chip tower
Nikolay Evdakov's stack has had severe chuck bitten out of the side of it. He raised from late position and was called by a player in the small blind before the flop came down [4h][3s][3c]. The small blind led out before Evdakov raised. His response was to move all in, a bet that Evdakov called with [9s][9c]. He'd ran into [ad][ah] though that held through the [td] turn and [2d] river. The loss puts his stack at 44,000 now.

4.05pm: Galic takes huge hit
Dragan Galic, who was fighting for the chip lead 30 minutes ago with nearly 250,000, has lost a huge chunk and is now down to 135,000. It seems the damage was done over several nasty hand, rather than one big confrontation. Regardless, the Croatian who now lives in Germany, is not happy.

"I can't believe I lost half my stack in half an hour," he lamented, shaking his head.

4pm: The man in the PokerStars Blog Feature Seat is...
...Eduard Poltaves, a Russian PokerStars qualifier. He has the honor of sitting at table two, seat seven today, although he's not very comfortable. He started his day's work with around 24,000, but is now stuck on 12,400 and looking for double ups.

3.50: The sun in shining in Miami
It was folded around to the player in the cut off who made a standard raise before "Miami" John Cernuto added another 8,600 to play. After a long and fidgety tank the cut off player moved all in and Cernuto called with [ts][tc]. Off to the races they go as his opponent tabled [as][kc]. Both players tapped the table in a signal of good luck to each other before the board came [4c][jd][8d][9s][8h]. The pot headed Cernuto's way putting him up to 138,000 while his opponent headed for the exit.

3.35: Ziv doubles, Grischuk stumbles
Oleksandr Ziv just survived an all in, getting lucky when his [ad][6c] outran his opponent's [ah][js]. All of Ziv's 17,200 chips went in pre-flop, and he was more happier than he appeared outwardly when the board ran [4d][4h][8d][6s][5c]. He's now up to 35,000.

Meanwhile the Russian Alexander Grischuk, who started the day with a healthy 94,000 has just suffered another setback, when on a 7-5-5-7 board he ran his K-K into A-7. Grischuk is now down to 60,000.

3.20pm: Nut no pair good!
Alex Fitzgerald raised to 3,700 from early position and found a caller in the shape of the big blind player. Both players checked through the [as][ts][8d] flop before Fitzgerald bet 3,300 on the [td] turn when checked to him. The call came so we saw the [td] river which both players checked. Fitzgerald opened [kh][qs] and was surprised to see his opponent fold. That pot helped Fitzgerald back to six figures with 102,000.

Flags

Racing handicappers often look for what's called a "key race" when studying the form, a race in which several of the front finishers go on to greater success. Well table four yesterday could be described as a "key table". It featured Shaun Deeb, Andrew Malott and Carter Phillips, three internet earth movers now making headway into the real world. Deeb cashed five times at the World Series this year while Malott reached his first final table, finishing fifth in a $1,500 event for $147,131. Phillips on the other hand broke onto the scene in Vena del Mar this year, going deep in the LAPT event.

Fast forward to Kyiv where Deeb excelled yesterday, Phillips did too for a time, as did Malott. While they went their own way today (Malott to table ten, Deeb to table 26, Phillips home, kind of ruining my analogy) the pattern remains the same - these guys like to own their table.

Malott particularly cuts an imposing jib. Unlike the happy-go-lucky figure Deeb appears as, Malott sports a thick black beard and, when you can see it behind wrap around mirrored shades, a long angular face. He dresses in sports clothes. Yesterday he was Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns, today he's Dennis Eckersley in a retro Indians shirt. You sense that if each table had to elect a leader, Malott would win based on a jovial nature, instinctive glad handing and an inbuilt need to talk his way through the day, even when its met with Russian silence.

Malott made it 3,500 from mid position which Pavel Anfinoguenov in seat four raised to 10,600 from the button. "How much you start the hand with?" asked Malott leaning forward. Anfinoguenov said nothing, possibly not understanding, but sat with a stack of yellows capable of putting off all but the warrior brave. "Okaaay" said Malott, in the same way you'd say it to a kid whose story you didn't believe, and called for a flop of [3h][qc][ah]. Then he checked. Anfinoguenov laid out 11,000 and Malott folded before the last of the bet hit the baize, showing his pocket jacks. "Nice hand" said Malott with a touch of swagger. "He had ace-king..." he tells the others, "He let me know too, pre-flop. I appreciate you telling me..."

Anfinoguenov said nothing, perhaps not even realising Malott was talking to him, and let his new chips do the talking instead. But it wasn't long before the American was in action again, the next hand in fact, making it 3,500 and getting a caller from the button player Konstantin Turchenko in seat five. They saw the flop: [9h][kc][10c] and Malott mades it 8,100 to Turchenko . the Russian announced "all-in", shoving his chips forward, causing Malott to shuffle in his chair briefly before asking "how much?"

But he'd already called before the dealer had finished counting, showing his [qd][kh] to Turchenko's [9c][8c]. There are outs everywhere, it's roulette but not for the Russian; [10d] on the turn, [6d] on the river. Malott allows himself a quiet celebration before shaking Turchenko's hand, then offering his fist for an east meets west manly pound between victor and vanquisher Turchenko looked back at the table for a second, and then headed for the door.

"Thanks dealer" says Malott before adding a sincere "well done." He takes his cap and sunglasses off and runs his hands through his hair a few times. Someone says it's a good call, another agrees but says you still have to win it. "Yeah" says Malott, "that's the hard part." Then he puts his cap back on, like a lineman returning to the huddle, and waits for the next hand. That's 150,000 in front of him now.

* * * * *

ELIMINATION OF THE LEVEL

Ivan Demidov is out. He filled in the details, saying that the elimination hand was fairly standard: he was short-stacked and shoved with threes in the big blind, running into pocket jacks. The hand that did the damage came earlier, when he called a cut-off's raise in the big blind with [kh][jh]. The flop came king high, with one heart, and he check-raised a single opponent, who had a stack of close to 20,000. The opponent had aces. "This hand I think I played bad," Demidov said. "The elimination was standard."

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STATISTIC OF THE LEVEL

There are 128 players remaining at the start of level 10.

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VIDEO BLOG OF THE LEVEL

Watch EPT Kyiv S6: Eren Sergil FPP Qualifier on PokerStars.tv

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NEIL STODDART PHOTO OF THE LEVEL

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CLICK HERE FOR CHIP COUNTS