Perica Bukara raised from the hijack seat to 14,000. Sam Trickett called on the button and Ori Miller called from the small blind. The three players saw a flop of and Miller checked. Bukara bet 25,000, Trickett folded and Miller called.
The turn brought the and Miller checked. Bukara bet 55,000 and Miller called.
The river completed the board with the and Miller checked. Bukara fired 40,000 and Miller made the call, but he didn't look happy about doing so.
Bukara tabled the for a flush and Miller flashed the before mucking. He's back down to 300,000 while Bukara is now over one million.
From the cutoff seat, Jon Turner raised to 11,500. David Benyamine three-bet him to 36,000 from the button and won the pot.
Two hands later, Perica Bukara and Andrew Feldman saw a flop of in a blind-versus-blind confrontation. Bukara checked and Feldman fired 13,500 to win the pot.
Ori Miller opened to 13,500 from the cutoff seat before Jon Turner three-bet to 32,500 from the button. Ziv Caspi was in the small blind and moved all in for 85,000. David Benyamine folded his big blind, Miller got out of the way and then Turner made the call after thinking things over for about a minute. He held the and was up against the for Caspi.
The board ran out and Caspi hit the rail as the second player to go on the day. Turner moved up to about 460,000 in chips.
John Dolan raised from middle position to 12,500 before Jon Turner reraised from the small blind to 32,500. Carter Phillips raised from the big blind, all in for 38,500. Dolan and Turner both called.
The flop came down and Turner checked. Dolan also checked. The turn brought the and both remaining active players checked again.
The river completed the board with the and Turner fired 35,000. Dolan folded and Turner turned up the . Phillips could not beat that with his and was sent to the rail first on Day 3.
On the opening hand, the $25,000 High Roller Freeze-Out witnessed one of the sickest beats ever. We caught up with the action on the flop with the board reading between Carter Phillips and Andrew Feldman.
Phillips had checked to Feldman and he bet of 17,500. Phillips then made it 42,500. Feldman came back over the top and made it 86,500. Phillips went into the tank, asked how much Feldman started the hand with and then slid out a very tall stack of red T10,000 chips. Feldman announced that he was all in and Phillips snap-called.
"Full house!" announced Phillips, turning over the . Feldman held the for trip kings.
The dealer quickly burned and turned... the ! Feldman had spiked the remaining king in the deck to make an unbeatable quads and seal the hand on his end. Phillips was up and out of his chair in an instant, but it looked as if he still had chips. The river completed the semantics of things with the .
"Sam, how sick is that?" said Feldman, looking at Sam Trickett.
After a final count, Phillips was left with chips. He still has about 46,000, but that's way down at the bottom, less than ten big blinds. Feldman on the other hand, is now sitting with over 700,000 on an epic first hand.
Due to how ridiculously deep this structure is how late it plans to go, the tournament staff has proposed to shorten the length of the levels once the players reach the money. The plan right now to to wait until the event is down to the final five players and they are in the money before taking an official vote. Right now it looks like the levels will be shortened to just 50 minutes instead of 75 minutes once the bubble is burst.
Welcome back to PokerNews for coverage of the second annual Full Tilt Poker Merit Cyprus Classic. Day 3 of the $25,000 High Roller Freeze-Out is set to begin at 4pm local time and our starting field of 36 is down to 9. An impressive field of well-known players and willing locals took to the felt with their eyes on the top prize of $392,850. Our chip leader is Perica Bukara with 951,700.
The final table boasts some of the best in the game. David Benyamine was the chip leader heading into Day 2 and is always a force to be reckoned with. November Niner John Dolan is proving his poker mettle, currently third in chips. WSOP bracelet winner and 2009 EPT Barcelona Champion Carter Phillips, Sam Trickett and Jon Turner remain as well.
The action is scheduled to commence in about 15 minutes, so be sure to follow the action right here on PokerNews.
Here are the chip counts of the remaining nine players.
Seat 1: Ziv Caspi - 103,500
Seat 2: David Benyamine - 400,300
Seat 3: John Dolan - 455,500
Seat 4: Perica Bukara - 951,700
Seat 5: Andrew Feldman - 356,000
Seat 6: Sam Trickett - 188,200
Seat 7: Ori Miller - 546,000
Seat 8: Jon Turner - 197,700
Seat 9: Carter Phillips - 401,600