For a player with the best part of 200,000 in chips, and into the last 60 here in Rozvadov, Bülent Demirtas looks a lot less happy that you would expect. It is largely to do with the player to his right, Bart Lybaert, who is our tournament chip leader at the moment, and not allowing Demirtas into any pot without paying a high premium.
Although it is far better to have an aggro big stack on your right than your left, Demirtas is finding out that anywhere close by can be a bit of a pain. Lybaert is entering most pots, and almost inevitably with a raise, meaning Demirtas can't get to any flop for cheap.
"Every time it's folded to your small blind, you raise," Demirtas said to Lybaert recently, just as that pattern had been followed for the umpteenth time. Lybaert had made it 5,400 (during the 1,200-2,400 level), but Demirtas peeked at his cards and decided to call this time.
The two of them saw a flop of [3c][qh][7c] and Lybaert continued his aggression, betting 6,000. Demirtas called. The [4h] turned and Lybaert slowed down. He checked, allowing Demirtas to be 10,000. But Lybaert called that, taking them to a [7d] river. Lybaert checked again, Demirtas bet 22,500 and was perhaps surprised to see Lybaert call.
Demirtas tables [10d][3d] for a pair of threes and Lybaert showed [7d][8s] for trip sevens. That's how Lybaert is running today.
Lybaert, from Belgium, now has about 490,000 chips and is soaring away at the top of the counts. Players are about to go on their dinner break for an hour. When they come back, we will be playing towards the bubble. About 54 players remain.
*****
Tournament update: Marius Pospiech has just had his black aces cracked and has hit the rail. Simeon Todorov made a four-flush with his ace-queen, and that was the end of Pospiech's entertaining tournament. Srdan Mihajlovic, of Serbia, is free to watch his country's big football match against Croatia tonight because he is one of the recent casualties. As is Stanislav Grochál, who can tune into his native Slovakia against Lithuania.