Championship Warm Up ($600)

Khayal Abbasov of Azerbaijan raises it to 8,000 from utg+2 and manages to draw two callers.

The flop comes T♥ 8♣ A♠ as the caller from the bb checks. Abbasov CBets 10,000 and gets a call from Lithuania’s Simas Karaliunas in the cutoff. The bb caller folds. It is heads-up to the turn which brings out the T♣ as this time. Both remaining players check. The river is the 5♠ as the Azerbaijani—after choosing to skip the turn—fires a river vet of 32,000. Karaliunas opts to fold.

A modest pot of 9,900 sees this hand with a board of J♦ 6♦ J♣ 9♦ . A player from the bb checks as Azerbaijan’s Khayal Abbasov leads out for 7,200. He gets company as Maxim Kuznetsov from Russia makes the call. The player in the bb steps aside.

The river card is the 6♠ as Abbasov fires 22,000. Kuznetsov snap folds.