Simone Andrian moved all in for 285,000 in the cutoff as action folded to Andreas Christoforou in the big blind who snap-called.
Simone Andrian: 8♠8♣
Andreas Christoforou: A♠9♣
Andrian was racing for his tournament life but saw the A♣ fall right away, followed by 6♦J♣K♥10♦. He and Christoforou shook hands before Andrian went off to collect his payout.
Georgios Vakis raised to 85,000 on the button before Ramon Kropmanns moved all in for 590,000 in the small blind. Vakis turned around to look at the tournament clock and see how many players were remaining before calling.
Ramon Kropmanns: A♠5♠
Georgios Vakis: 10♦10♥
Kropmanns stood up from his seat and put on his backpack when he saw Vakis' pocket pair. The flop, though, brought 9♣A♥4♣ and Kropmanns hit top pair to take the lead.
The board ran out J♠7♣ and Kropmanns doubled up, Vakis slamming his chips on the table in frustration as he paid him off.
Simon Wiciak was in an all-in confrontation against David Kaufmann to put the recent EPT Barcelona champion at risk.
Simon Wiciak: KxKx
David Kaufmann: AxQx
Wiciak was in good shape to double up before the flop landed A♦A♠Q♣ to give Kaufmann aces full and have Wiciak drawing to just running quads. The 5♦ turn had him drawing dead and the 8♠ river marked his elimination in unfortunate fashion.
Steve O'Dwyer was contending for the tournament chip lead earlier today, but his run just came to a sudden end at the hands of Mihaita Croitoru.
According to Croitoru, he raised to 40,000 in the cutoff and O'Dwyer defended his big blind. The flop came Jx10x6x with two diamonds and he continued for 40,000.
O'Dwyer then raised to 110,000, Croitoru reraised to 265,000, and O'Dwyer called. The turn was a 5x and Croitoru moved all in. O'Dwyer called with KxJx, but Croitorou had two kings and O'Dwyer couldn't catch up on the river to hit the rail.
Jelle Moene opened the cutoff to 30,000 and got called on the button by Florian Guimond and in the big blind by Aurélien Russo.
The 5♦2♥7♣ flop landed and action checked to Moene who continued for 20,000. Guimond called and action was back on Russo who took his time and eventually check-raised to 65,000. Moene got out of the way but after a few moments Guimond called.
The 10♦ turn hit the felt and after some thought Russo bet out for 45,000. Guimond called again on their way to a J♦ river.
Russo thought over his option for close to three-minutes before betting a single big blind to the tune of 15,000. Guimond went into the tank for a couple of minutes before putting in a raise to 90,000.
Action was back on Russo who didn't take long before three-betting the river all in for 305,000. Guimond was in the blender. He put his head in his hands and started talking through the hand. After over five minutes in the tank he slammed in a pile of chips for a call.
Russo shook his head and tabled 9♣7♥ for just second pair and Guimond tabled K♥J♥ for a rivered top pair. He earned the pure double after a great call on the river.
Russo's stack was crippled and he would hit the rail a few hands later.
EPT champions Simon Wiciak and Ian Hamilton are sitting next to each other. But for now, Hamilton has the biggest stack, with more than 1,000,000 chips.
And he has even more now, after Marcin Kreft moved all in from early position for 110,000. Hamilton called in the hijack. Then on the button, Vasyl Laba three-bet to 225,000, and Hamilton called.
On 7♥4♣7♦, both players checked, and discovered the 9♥ on the turn. Hamilton took a few seconds to think, and bet 150,000 to make Laba fold.
Marcin Kreft: A♣5♣
Ian Hamilton: J♦J♣
Kraft couldn't find any help with the river 3♦, and he was eliminated.
With its sizable field of 2,659 entries, the Eureka Main Event here in Cyprus has become the third-biggest Eureka Main event in history, trailing only 2022's two editions of Eureka Prague that drew 3,155 entries in March and 4,017 in December.
There are 74 countries represented by 1,146 unique players in the field, with the strongest representation coming from Russia, with 155 unique players for 13.5% of the unique player pool. Other countries with the greatest representation in the Eureka Main Event include Turkey (121 players - 10.6%), Cyprus (74 players - 6.5%), Lebanon (66 players - 5.8%) and Germany (60 players - 5.2%).
Further down the list is the United Kingdom with 49 players for 4.28% of the field, The Netherlands with 22 players for 1.92% of the field, and the United States with 14 players for 1.22% of the field.
Eureka Cyprus Nationalities (Courtesy of PokerStars)
Some of the other countries represented this year include Moldova (5 players - 0.44%), South Korea (4 players - 0.35%), Iraq (2 players - 0.17%) and Ghana (1 player - 0.09%).
A full breakdown of the nationalities represented in the Eureka Main Event is available in the table below.
Umit Sadi was all in for 67,000 from early position, Teodor Evstratiev called for his last 16,000 in the cutoff, and Gaelle Baumann had both players at risk from the big blind.
Federico Macori raised to 30,000 in early position as action folded to big blind Mihaita Croitoru, who pushed all in for 85,000. Macori asked for a count before calling.
Mihaita Croitoru: A♣9♣
Federico Macori: A♠10♦
Croitoru was dominated as both players hit their ace on the 2♠8♣A♥ flop. The turn, though, brought the 9♦ and Croitoru took the lead with two pair.
The river Q♠ was safe for Croitoru and he doubled up.
At the same table, Steve O'Dwyer is sitting behind a massive stack of more than 1,500,000.
