2017 PokerStars Festival Bucharest

An action-packed Day 2 drew to a close with just 58 players remaining from the 325 that started the PokerStars Festival Bucharest Main Event. Action was fast and furious on a day where both the prizepool was announced and the money bubble burst.

Leading the way is Nandor Solyom (1,466,000) but only just! A late pot won by Daniel Nietrzebka (1,436,000) propelled him to within inches of the chiplead, but fell just short. Those two players are the only two over one million in chips, then there is a large gap down to Yuriy Kudrynskyy (805,000), Pugzlys Linas (777,000), Ioannis Taramas (733,000) and Traian Bostan (718,000).
After play had finished Solymon said that he had run very well.

“I made a lot of chips during the bubble. I had good position on the big stacks,” he said, “That was my advantage.”

However, Solymon (pictured below facing a difficult decision during the money bubble earlier in the day) hadn’t set his sights just yet on a deep run.

“It is far [away]!” he said, “It’s not 20 players; it’s pretty far. If you have 700,000 or 1.4m then that’s about the same.”

A total of 111 players were set to receive a minimum payment of €1,770, but the likes of Andreas Klatt and Ori Miller were eliminated short of the money, and the bubble was reached shortly before the last break of the day.

It was a rollercoaster hand between Paul Ciaca and Petre Ionescu which burst the bubble half a dozen hands into hand for hand play. Ciaca had shoved from the button to isolate the players in the blinds, but Ionescu had woken up with Ace-King and called. Ciaca showed Seven-Eight of diamonds and was well behind.

However, there was a Seven on the flop which pushed Ionescu closer to the exit. A King on the turn breathed new life into his chances, but they were crushed as an Eight on the river gave Ciaca two pair and burst the money bubble.

Players to bust in the money include Andreas Vlachos, who eliminated Chris Moneymaker on Day 1c, and Avishai Shitrit. Shitrit had won Eureka Bucharest last year, and was de facto defending champion, but he was eliminated shortly inside the money and failed to make Day 3.

All but one of the Day 1 chipleaders made it through to Day 3. Stefan Fabian was the overall chipleader, and stuck around at the top of the counts for a long while before finally bagging 385,000. Tamas Kabatnic had a similar day, but faded towards the end and bagged 231,000. Unfortunately for Okan Gursan, the Day 1c chipleader finished in 62nd place for €2,230.

The 58 players who remain will return tomorrow at 1 p.m. local time with the plan to play down to a final table. Join us here on PokerNews to keep up-to-date with all the action from here in Bucharest.

Tournament staff have announced that there will be three more hands before players bag up for the night.

Stay tuned for a full recap from the day's events.

Marius Asanache:
Sahin Bulent:
[Removed:321] Safavi:

In a three-way all in Asanache showed first before Bulent stopped to try and get Safavi to show first. When it became clear that Asanach wasn't going to, Bulent quickly showed nines. Safavi triumphantly showed tens and the three players went to a flop.

There was a ten in the window of a flop, and although one player called for an eight, the turn was the and the river the meaning Safavi eliminated both Bulent and Asanache with around 30 minutes left in the level.

"It wasn't a big 900,000 chip pot," said Daniel Nietrzebka, as he caught us staring at his newly acquired chips "Just 200 here, 250 there."

However, Nietrzebka still has a small way to go to catch current chipleader Nandor Solyom who appears to be the first player over 1m chips.

Recent eliminations from the field include Andreas Vlachos, who eliminated Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker from the PokerStars Festival Bucharest Main Event. Also eliminated is Eureka Bucharest defending champion Avishai Shitrit. Both players received €1,950 for their efforts.

Nandor Solyom raised to 12,000 from the button and Ben Michel Barkay three-bet all in for 141,000 from the big blind. Solyom called.

Solyom:
Barkay:

Barkay was ahead and was all in for his tournament life. The board ran out and Barkay doubled up.