It all changed at the top in a thrilling end to Day 1B of the National here at Casino Sochi. Yaniv Peretz busted Giorgiy Skhulukhiya in the final hand of the night with king-ten of diamonds versus ace-queen of hearts to earn a spot at the top of the counts, alongside Andrey Chernokoz. Chernokoz was leading in chips until he lost a hand with pocket-jacks against Vladislav Naumov's pocket-kings just a few hands from the end. Both players will return for Day 2 on Saturday with 311,500 chips in play.
The second of three flights in the RUB 77,000 EPT Sochi National attracted 84 players in total. Day 1B had 30-minute levels, unlike the other two starting days, which have 40 minutes on the clock. Over almost 18 levels, the field was whittled down to the top 15%, meaning 13 survived to Day 2. They are all guaranteed a min cash for doing so.
Joining them on Saturday are Marat Achilov (309,500), who finished less than a whisker behind Chernokoz and Peretz and there were some notables who also made it through. Aleksandr Denisov (287,000) finished in fourth, making his stack late in the day. He won some chips from Dmitry Yurasov shortly before the whistle blew. Yurasov had been one of the top stacks for most of the day but finished on 175,500. With so much experience under his belt, it would be foolish not to consider him a contender all the same.
There were also several big names that failed to bag chips. Reigning National Champion Matous Houzvicek, Reigning Main Event Champion Arsenii Karmatckii, Vitaliy Avanesyan, Anton Yakuba, Ezequiel Waigel, Mikhail Kovalyuk, Anastasiya Denisova And Viktor Shegay were just some of the familiar faces who fell before the last. It isn't all over for any of them unless they wish, as there are still unlimited re-entries available in Day 1C, which will begin at 12pm tomorrow.
The 13 players will return at 12 p.m. on Saturday for Day 2 of the EPT National, where blinds levels will increase to 60 minutes.
PokerNews will be joining them all the way, providing live updates throughout the rest of the tournament and for the duration of the festival.
flop connected for the bigger stack and with no redraw on the 
turn and river, Skhulukhiya had to say goodbye in 14th place. He missed out on a mincash, for today at least. There is still the chance for him to get back in the tournament, when Day 1C begins at 12pm tomorrow.
turn and with no back-door jacks on the 
turn and 
river, Naumov stays in the game and couldn't hide his delight in doing so.
flop and Zhadanov couldn't recover on the 
turn or the 
river. He finished in 26th place.
. Both players committed their chips and Denisov was at risk with the shorter stack of 43,100 chips.
turn and rivers held for him, putting him over the six-figure mark and is one of the biggest stacks at the moment.
