On the first hand back from break, Halef Celik moved all in for 100,000 from early position and Georgios Vakis called in the big blind.
Halef Celik: 2♥2♠
Georgios Vakis: K♠J♣
Halef Celik needed his deuces to hold on to survive in the tournament as the flop came 5♥A♠3♣. The 2♦ turn gave him a set and left Vakis drawing only to a chop, but Celik improved to a full house on the A♣ river to secure the double up.
Action folded to Valentin Anghel in the small blind who moved all in. Stanislav Tishkevich called in the big blind for his last 145,000.
Stanislav Tishkevich: Q♥10♣
Valentin Anghel: 6♥5♥
The flop came K♦8♥9♥ as Tishkevich hit the nut straight, while Anghel picked up a flush draw. The board ran out Q♣Q♦ and Tishkevich stopped to snap a picture of the board before collecting his double up.
At the same time at another table, Nariman Yaghmai moved all in for 150,000 in the small blind and Georgios Vakis took another shot at taking out a player by calling on the button.
Nariman Yaghmai: K♥K♦
Georgios Vakis: A♥J♠
Vakis spiked an ace on the A♦2♠8♦ flop as Yaghmai spun away from the table in frustration. He couldn't catch any miracles on the 5♣ turn or Q♣ river and 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.
Action folded to Andrei Bocharnikov in early positon who moved all in for about 160,000. It then made it to Florian Guimond in the small blind who checked his cards and only took a moment before moving all in. The big blind folded and they were off to a full board.
Andrei Bocharnikov: A♠K♥
Florian Guimond: 3♠3♣
The full board ran out 4♠9♣J♣7♠3♥ and Bocharnikov hit the rail. Guimond dragged the pot and was involved in the very next hand.
Diego Rodriguez was all in for 285,000 from the cutoff and up against big stack Marcin Dziubdziela in the hijack.
Diego Rodriguez: A♣J♦
Marcin Dziubdziela: A♥A♠
Rodriguez stood up from his seat to await his fate as the board came 9♦7♣3♣6♣, giving him a flush draw heading to the river.
"It's never easy, guys," tablemate Silviu Baltateanu said. The river, though, was the 6♠ and Rodriguez missed his draw and headed off to collect his payout.
Karolis Sereika three-bet to 80,000 in the cutoff, leaving himself just one chip behind, as Nemanja Lukovic then put him all in from the hijack.
Sereika admitted he was waiting for the next pay jump as he paused for a moment before eventually tossing in his last chip.
Karolis Sereika: A♥8♣
Nemanja Lukovic: Q♦Q♥
The 6♦K♦3♣4♣3♥ board didn't help Sereika and Lukovic sent him to the rail with his queens. The dealer admonished Sereika about openly discussing tanking for a pay jump, and Sereika only shrugged before heading to the exit.
Georgios Vakis was just involved in an another all-in confrontation, and this time his victim was Ran Azor.
Vakis and Azor were heads-up on a flop of 4♥3♣3♥ blind versus blind when Azor moved all in for 125,000. Vakis called to put him at risk.
Ran Azor: 5♣2♥
Georgios Vakis: 5♦4♠
Vakis had two pair, while Azor was chasing a straight draw and needed to hit to stay alive. The 8♥ turn was no help, and neither was the J♦ river as Vakis eliminated his second opponent in short succession.
Delrouz Babak shoved all in for 220,000 on the button and Valeriy Pak called in the cutoff.
Delrouz Babak: K♦10♣
Valeriy Pak: J♥10♥
The K♥Q♠6♥ flop gave Babak top pair, but Pak picked up straight and flush draws. He missed the 4♠ turn, while the river came the Q♣ and Babak dodged all of Pak's outs to secure a double up.
