Home / Poker News August 2009 / EPT Kyiv – Day 2: Max Lykov takes lead
EPT Kyiv – Day 2: Max Lykov takes lead
Posted by: James Carter. - Mon, 2009-08-24 11:15
Day 2 of the EPT’s Kyiv stop saw players jostle for position to make the money bubble and in the process, as some managed to build their stacks, others fell victims to the attrition. Max Lykov didn’t have any such problems. He built up a 400,000 chip stack on this day to take the overnight chip lead, knocking players out left and right and having a good time.
203 players bellied up to the tables of the EPT’s Kyiv event, all survivors of the two first day flights. Day 2 was scheduled to last 5 levels, 75 minutes each.
The chip lead was in the hands of Viktor Ivanov who finished Day 1B with a 153,825 stack. Mihaylo Demidenko, the chip leader at the end of the Day 1A flight was second, followed by Jason Kudron in 3rd and Bernard Boutbol in 4th.
Both Demidenko and Ivanov decided to play it safe early on and as a result of that attitude they managed to conserve their large stack statuses for a while. They were eventually overtaken, but both of them managed to finish the day on better than average stacks.
Bernard Boutbol on the other hand didn’t sit on the sidelines. The Frenchman got to work and he was rather successful, being able to hover around the chip leaders all day long.
Jason Kudron’s was an entirely different story. The American couldn’t really get anything going and his large stack was soon history. Having reached the short-stack status, he was forced to shove it all-in against Katja Thater, whom he managed to cripple by doubling up after a lucky draw. Thater got the remainder of her chips in on the following hand on a 7d, 8d and stared down a couple of Qs that Luca Falaschi shoved in her way. The flop appeared to go Thater’s way though as it gave her two sevens for a set, but a Q fell on the turn and Thater’s tournament was over.
Jason Kudron managed to hold on a little longer but he eventually burned through Thater’s chips as well and he too was eliminated in the afternoon.
Alex Kravchenko and Vitaly Lunkin soon joined these guys on the rail, followed in turn by Ivan Demidov, Faraz Jaka and Nicolas Levi.
Shaun Deeb had a pretty nasty run of bad luck when he was moved to Jonas Kronwitter’s right. The American and the German harassed each other all through the day, and the showdown eventually came when Deeb got it all in on a pair of 3s against Kronwitter’s pocket Qs. The board brought no help and Deeb was eliminated.
Kronwitter on the other hand, had an excellent run, Deeb’s stack only one of the many additions he made to his own during Day 2. He eventually ended up near the top with the large stacks.
Russia’s Vitaly Tolokonnikov had also had an excellent day and he eventually pushed Kronwitter to 3rd place overall, as both of them were overtaken by Max Lykov.
