2014 partypoker World Poker Tour Merit North Cyprus Classic

The penultimate day of the 2014 partypoker World Poker Tour Merit North Cyprus Classic Main Event started out with 30 players remaining. The goal was to play down to a final table of six, so it promised to be a long day.

In one of the first hands of the day, start-of-day chip leader Antonio Buonanno lost a huge pot to Oliver Price. Price had check-raised with the nut straight on the flop, and Buonanno simply shoved all in for a whole lot more with his over pair of kings. Price took over the chip lead just like that.

Buonanno won some back by eliminating the first player of the day, as he sent Dmitry Bayramov home with eights against king-jack.

Sofia Lövgren fell a couple spots down. She was short for a long time and eventually called all in with . Dmitry Gromov had and eliminated the last female player of the tournament.

The bust outs followed each other up rather quickly, and before we knew it the tournament was down to its last two tables.

Some big bluffs failed for Price, Chouity, and Christian Christner, but those proved not lethal yet for the gentleman. Price was the one to go in 11th place. His bust out was a roller coaster as he got it in with queens against the of Chouity. Price flopped top set, but Chouity hit his gutshot on the turn to send the Brit packing.

With 10 players left, the tournament was down to one table. Now that play was again full ring, action slowed down a lot. For hours it was a 10-handed game, the shorties kept doubling, and the big stacks avoided each other.

In the end, it was Christner who departed in 10th place, good for $22,500. He never really recovered from that big bluf that failed and got it in with from the small blind. Chouity called with suited out of the big blind and won the hand.

Buonanno, the European Poker Tour Grand Final winner, departed some time later. He had flopped quad aces to stay alive a little bit before, but couldn't dodge a jacks-versus-kings hand. Ori Miller was the one setting a trap for the Italian, and Buonanno walked right in. His ninth-place finish netted him $30,000.

Short stack Dimitrios Ballas departed in eighth ($40,500). He shoved with and got called by Chouity, who was committed with his . Chouity made a straight and sent the last Greek home.

Alexander Nudin was the last to bust. He got it in with aces against Alexander Lakhov's . Despite flopping top set, Nudin couldn't evade the flopped flush for Lahkov and was eliminated.

The six finalists will return to the Merit Poker Room at 1 p.m. local time to play 36 more minutes in level 26 (20,000/40,000 with a 5,000 ante). The WPT will have 60-minute levels instead of 90 on the final day, and when play gets down to heads up, the levels will be sliced to 30-minutes long.

There will be a live stream on a delay, but PokerNews will be supplying all the updates in real time. See you tomorrow!

Alexander Lakhov opened for 80,000 under the gun, and action folded to his right hand neighbor Alexander Nudin in the big blind. Nudin shoved all in for almost 400,000, Lakhov made the call.

Alexander Nudin:
Alexander Lakhov:

It wasn't going to be pretty for Nudin. The flop gave him topset, but he was trailing: . Nudin needed the board to pair, but wouldn't get so lucky. The on the turn and on the river were blanks for Nudin, and he exited in seventh.

Dmitry Gromov opened to 80,000 from the hijack, and Aleksander Lakhov in the small blind three-bet to 245,000. Gromov made the call after some thinking.

Lakhov continued for 215,000 on , and Gromov made the call.

Both players checked the on the turn, and the hit the river. Lakhov bet 250,000, and Gromov instantly folded.

"Pick one" said Lakhov to Lewis, but even before the Brit could make a decision, Lakhov had already shown both: .

Nicolas Chouity opened to 60,000 from the cutoff, and was quickly reminded the stakes had gone up, and the minimum raise was now 80,000. He added some chips, and the raise stood.

The button folded, but Dimitrios Ballas in the small blind didn't have too hard a decision and shoved all in. The big blind folded, Chouity was priced in and called.

Nicolas Chouity:
Dimitrios Ballas:

The on the flop gave Chouity four extra outs for the suck out. The on the turn was a blank, but the on the river sure wasn't.

"Good luck" said Dimitrios Ballas, Chouity just stacked to 3.6 million exactly.

15-minute break for the players.

Ori Miller had seen something wrong with the deck, and asked for a new set of cards to play with. In the meantime, he was busy discussing Daniel Colman and Olivier Busquet their t-shirts they wore at a Super High Roller final table a couple of weeks ago. But it was time to pay attention, as Alexander Nudin opened under the gun to 60,000.

Ori Miller made the call in middle position, and Antonio Buonanno three-bet to 200,000 from the hijack. Action folded to Nudin, who thought about it for a bit, but folded in the end.

Miller just sat there, no more discussion with Chouity. He then announced all in all of the sudden, for well over a million. Buonanno just about snap called.

Ori Miller:
Antonio Buonanno:

The flop was devastating for Buonanno, and the on the turn and on the river didn't help.

"You asked for this deck?" laughed Lakhov, "I want this deck now"

Buonanno had Miller just slightly covered, leaving himself with 40,000. He waited one more hand, but was all in the next one for 30,000. Right behind him Igor Devkin isolated to 70,000, and no one else was interested.

Igor Devkin:
Antonio Buonanno:

The on the flop gave Buonanno some hope, but the on the turn and on the river were blanks.

Alexander Lakhov opened under the gun to 60,000, and action folded rather quickly to Dmitry Gromov in the small blind. Gromov three-bet to 200,000, and Lakhov flatted in position.

Both players checked the flop, and so did they on the -turn.

The river came the and Gromov checked again. Lakhov bet 310,000 with just 380,000 behind, and Gromov went into the tank. Eventually he called, but he had to muck after Lakhov showed him the for the nuts.