Davidi Kitai Heads Final Eight at EPT Berlin
Bahadir Kilickeser grabbed the lead early on Day 4 and still held it with 10 left, but late knockouts by Davidi Kitai of Vladimir Geshkenbein (10th) and Jordi Riba Corrons (9th) gave Kitai the chip lead at night's end.
A relatively quick Day 4 has concluded at the European Poker Tour Berlin Main Event with WSOP bracelet-holder Davidi Kitai of Belgium leading the final eight players with nearly 5.7 million chips, better than a million ahead of second-place Bahadir Kilickeser of Germany and about two million in front of Canadian Andrew Chen in third.
Just 24 of the 745 who entered the EPT Berlin Main Event were left at the start of play on Thursday, with Marc Wright of the U.K. leading the way with a stack of 2.4 million, followed closely by Tomas Cibak with a little over 2.3 million.
Short stacks Ismael Bojang (24th), Andrey Zaichenko (23rd), and Jeff Hakin (22nd) were the first to fall, each earning €20,000. Meanwhile Bahadir Kilickeser rose up the counts and then overtook Wright in a big hand in which Kilickeser flopped a set of eights versus Wright's top pair of kings and two cards later had doubled through.
David Kahan (21st), Andreas Vlachos (20th), and Kevin MacPhee (19th) hit the rail shortly thereafter, all also earning €20,000. Taking home the same amount were Jasper Wetemans (18th) and Daniel Pidun (17th).
With two tables left Kilickeser remained on top with more than 3.3 million while André Morath, Vladimir Geshkenbein, and Cesar Garcia Dominguez, and Mario Puccini were his nearest challengers.
Meanwhile Dmitry Grinenko (16th) and Florian Dohnert (15th) both fell, earning €25,000 apiece, followed by Anton Wigg (14th) and Heinz Kamutzki (13th), both of whom took away €30,000 for their efforts.
Leader Kilickeser then knocked out Tomas Cibak in 12th and Andrew Chen eliminated Eric Vuissoz in 11th, those two each earning €38,000.
Davidi Kitai next eliminated Geshkenbein in 10th (€51,000) after his Ks-10s outdrew the latter's Ac-Qs when a ten fell among the community cards. Kilickeser still had the lead with nine left, but Kitai overtook him at the end of the night by eliminating Jordi Riba Corrons in 9th (€51,000), this time using pocket kings to best his foe's 5s-5s.
Here's how the counts look to start tomorrow's final table:
1st: Davidi Kitai (Belgium) -- 5,695,000
2nd: Bahadir Kilickeser (Germany) -- 4,640,000
3rd: Andrew Chen (Canada) -- 3,600,000
4th: Mario Puccini (Germany) -- 2.065,000
5th: André Morath (Germany) -- 1,940,000
6th: Marc Wright (United Kingdom) -- 1,540,000
7th: Cesar Garcia Dominguez (Spain) -- 1,485,000
8th: Pratyush Buddinga (United States) -- 1,280,000
First out on Saturday will earn €72,000, but all will be eyeing the €825,000 that awaits the player able to accumulate all of the chips and the EPT Berlin title.