10.45pm: Break time
Players are now on a 15 minute break, you'll find level 19 updates in a new post shortly.
10.40pm: Tomas Ksenevicius eliminated in 13th place (€ 3,500.00)
And we're down to the final dozen.
Sam Macdonald opened to 12,000 from the cut-off, Tomas Ksenevicius then moved all-inf for 67,500 on the button and Joni Nenonen smooth called from the small blind. After thinking it over, Macdonald released his hand.
Ksenevicius: [3c][3s]
Nenonen: [Ah][Kd]
The [Kh][5c][Qs] flop gave Nenonen the lead and he stayed there as the board was filled out by the [5s] and [6s]. With that pot Nenonen has, I think, taking the chip lead as he's up to 640,000.
10.30pm: Poles apart
Dariusz Paszkiewicz has extended his chip lead after winning a pot against Normunds Rumba.
The latter opened to 12,000 from under-the-gun and Paszkiewicz called from the big blind. On the [2h][6d][7c] flop Rumba led for 22,000 and Paszkiewicz flat called. The [2c] hit the turn, check, bet of 30,000 from Rumba, check-raise to 60,000 from Paszkiewicz, call from Rumba.
The [3d] completed the board and Paszkiewicz fired out a bet of 104,000, Rumba rubbed his head, tanked for a bit and then folded. After that hand Paszkiewicz is up to 625,000 whilst Rumba slips to around 300,000.
10.10pm: Leader of the board?
Before this event started Algirdas Saveikis was eighth on the Eureka Poker Tour leader board, courtesy of his second place finish at Eureka2 Bulgaria. He's still in here with just 13 left and the Lithuanian has the potential to overtake Michal Misterek at the top of the charts.
And another Lithuanian is hoping to extend yet another deep run on the Eureka Tour. Andrejus Jakovlevas finished ninth in Bulgaria, bubbling the official final table.
10pm: Thirteen - unlucky for some
Who'd be a blogger? You go away and write one post and when you come back three players have busted out. No details on the demise of Nikolay Karman (16th) or Sarunas Matulevicius (15th) but I can tell you how Ghattas Kortas went out.
He was all-in pre-flop with [A][10] up against the [A][6] of Dariusz Paszkiewicz, so the Swede was a decent favourite to survive. However a flop and turn of [2][4][5][3] gave Paszkiewucz a six-high straight, he's now up to 580,000 and is the chip leader.
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 3,000-6,000 ante 500
9.45pm: Down to two tables
With the elimination of overnight chip leader Guntis Aleskins in 18th place and Bjorn Lindback in 17th place we're down to the final two tables here in Riga.
Currently leading the way are Zvonmir Zoric (540,000), Dariusz Paszkiewicz (510,000), Sam Macdonald (490,000) and Normunds Rumba (400,000).
9.35pm: Macdonald getting the farm
Sam Macdonald is up to 490,000 after winning a bit pot against Sarunas Matulevicius.
I only saw the river action but with a complete board of [10d][10h][9h][Jd][8s] on the felt, Macdonald (button) bet 48,500 into a pot of around 150,000. After thinking it over for less than 30 seconds Matulevicius (small blind) made the call, but mucked when Macdonald showed [Kc][Qs] for a straight.
After the hand Macdonald told me that Matulevicius had bet the flop, Macdoanld called. And then Matulevicius had check-called turn and river.
9.25pm: Chip counts
For full chip counts of the 18 remaining players click right here.
9.15pm: Ermo's run ended, more for Zoric
Ermo Kosk has just busted in 20th place and his demise was at the hands of Zvonimir Zoric, the chip leader has now extended his advantage.
Kosk held [Ks][Js], Zoric [8d][7d], the chips flying in on a [2c][Jd][Kd] flop. A [2d] on the turn completed Zoric's flush and the [10h] river did not fill Kosk up. After that hand Zoric is up to 540,000.
Also out are: Athanasion Laliotis (21st) and Agnius Ismailovas (19th).
9pm: Agnius Ismailovas doubles through Ghattas Kortas
From the button Agnius Ismailovas moved all-in for 38,500 and Ghattas Kortas made the call from the big blind.
Ismailovas: [4s][4c]
Kortas: [Ad][7c]
The [10d][Js][10s] flop wasn't a bad one for Kortas, but he missed the knockout on the [2h] turn and [Qd] river.
8.55pm: Big stacks
Here's the current top five:
Zvonimir Zoric, 404,500
Marko Martinkovič, 390,000
Sam Macdonald, 315,000
Tomas Ksenevicius, 296,000
Martins Shulte, 254,000
8.45pm: In the money finishers
Here's the list of who's finished in the money so far today.
22nd. Ingrida Klassen, Lithuania, € 2,290.00
23rd. Kaspars Renga, Latvia, € 2,290.00
24th. Aleksandrs Nagreckis, Lithuania, € 2,290.00
25th. Ilja Kolomeec Russian Federation, € 2,020.00
26th. Gerasimos Deres, Sweden, PokerStars Qualifier, € 2,020.00
27th. Cassio Cominezi, Brazil, PokerStars Qualifier, € 2,020.00
28th. Matias Metsanen, Finland, € 1,750.00
29th. Paul Jenkinson, United Kingdom, € 1,750.00
30th. Rytis Krunas, Lithuania, € 1,750.00
31st. Rain Elmik. Estonia, € 1,750.00
32nd. Mel Palm, Estonia, € 1,750.00
8.45pm: Back from the break
The 21 remaining players are back in their seats, during the break the tournament staff did chip counts, I'm waiting on them but will upload them to the blog as soon as possible.
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 2,500-5,000 ante 500
7.45pm: Dinner break
The remaining players are now on a one hour dinner break. During this pause in play, I'll endeavor to get the current chip counts and catch you up on the in the money finishers thus far.
7.40pm: Klassen crashes out
On the final hand before the dinner break Ingrida Klassen was eliminated. She moved all-in for 65,000 from under-the-gun with pocket fives and Sam Macdonald made the call from mid-position with [Ah][10h].
The [Qc][Kh][3d] kept her in the lead, but the [10c] turn gave it to Macdonald and he stayed there on the [Qs] river.
21 players are left in the main event.
7.30pm: Big stacks
The current chip leader appears to be Zvonimir Zoric (425,000) he's been chased by Marko Martinkovič (360,000), Normunds Rumba (300,000) and Valtteri Merikallio (280,000).
7.15pm: Cassio's timing is off
Cassio Cominezi flew all the way from Brazil to play this event, he made the money, but he's just been eliminated.
He'd been short stacked all day (I don't think he had more than 40,000 at any point) and moved all-in for his last 30,000 with [Ac][Qs] only for Normunds Rumba to wake up with pocket kings. The cowboys meant that this hand was Cassio's last dance.
27 players remain.
7pm: Emotional rollercoaster
Ghattas Kortas almost got his second penalty of the day, this time for being too happy!
He was all-in for around 45,000 with [Jd][Jh] and was up against Agnius Ismailovas who held [As][5c]. The [Ac][8d][3c] flop was therefore not to his liking. But, the [Jc] was and everyone in the card room and possibly casino was about to find that out. "Yes," he screamed at the top of his voice. "No flush dealer, no flush dealer," he repeated realising that Ismailovas had a re-draw.
I think everyone else was now secretly rooting for a club to appear just to see what reaction that would bring from Kortas, but the dealer produced the [8h] to keep Kortas in front. It was at this point that the whole card room realised that Kortas's turn antics were merely the starter and we'd yet to 'enjoy the main course. "Woooh," he said, making the sound equivalent of the emoticon 'really quite happy'.
At this point tournament director Toby Stone said: "Sir please quieten down," to which Kortas said: "I'm happy, how can I not be happy with three jacks," and continued to bluster. "Sir this is your final warning," said Stone. It seemed that Kortas was going to get a penalty for excessive celebration but he pulled his hoodie over his mouth and just about managed to rein it in.
Meanwhile, Mel Palm is the first in the money finisher, 31 players remain.
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 2,000-4,000 ante 400
6.45pm: Double bubble
Well the bubble didn't last long at all, in fact there wasn't one as two players busted out on the same hand at different tables to make the whole thing a big anti-climax.
Ilja Chernogorod three-bet all-in for 55,000 with [A][6], original raiser Joni Nenonen called with [A][Q] and held. Meanwhile on another table Igor Pihela four-bet all-in with [K][J] for his last 75,000 and was looked up by [A][K] which held.
Everyone else is in the money.
6.35pm: On the bubble
We're down to 33 here in Riga. Bubble time.
6.20pm: Chip leaders
Here's the chip leaders with 34 left: Marko Martinkovič (350,000), Zvonimir Zoric (325,000), Agnius Ismailovas (260,000), Valtteri Merikallio (275,000) and Sam Macdonald (260,000).
6.05pm: Penalty
It's heating up here in Riga, Ghattas Kortas has just been given a one round penalty for foul and abusive language towards another player.
The penalty came about as a denouement to a hand between Kortas and Martins Shulte. Kortas had led the river and Shulte made the call. Kortas said words to the effect of, "you win," to Shulte and pushed his cards over the line (but they did not touch the muck). Shulte then wanted to know if he had to show his hand to win the pot (he did not).
Upon realising this Kortas pulled his cards back as he wanted to see Shulte's hand, at this point tournament director Toby Stone was called to the table as Shulte wanted to know if he know had to table his hand or not. There was a lot of shouting (much of it from Kortas) and Stone ruled that as Kortas's cards had not touched the muck and as the hand had reached showdown that both hands should be tabled. When they were Shulte had the winning hand.
At this point Kortas used language far too blue to repeat on the PokerStars blog and for that action was given a one round penalty by Stone.
Meanwhile there's still a tournament going on and 35 players remain.
5.55pm: 35 left
We're down to 35 players here in Riga although two players are seemingly doing their best to make that number 34.
Every time I stop by table one, Agnius Ismailovas and Zvonimir Zoric seem to be involved in a pot against each other. This time I caught it live from the flop and Zoric (big blind) bet 14,600 on a [Ad][Js][3c] flop, call from Ismailovas (button). The [Qc] hit the turn and Zoric check-folded to a bet of 16,000 from Ismailovas. "Show the bluff," said Zoric and Ismailovas showed the [Jc], "it was good," said Zoric in reply.
5.40pm: Sam the man
I just saw Sam Macdonald get one through three players.
The under-the-gun player made it 6,000 to go, under-the-gun+1 flat called as did Martins Shulte from the cut-off. After getting a visual count of the under-the-gun players stack, Macdonald made it 19,900 total on the button. All three opponents quickly mucked their cards and Macdonald took the pot. He's up to around 215,000.
5.32pm: Four more to go
With the elimination of 45 players in the opening four levels, just 36 remain. That means that just four more players have to be eliminated for the players to be in the money in Riga. As the players head back to their seats it's Croatian Marko Martinkovič who leads the way with a stack of 300,000.
PokerStars Blog reporting team in Lativa: Nick Wright. Photos by Rene Velli.