Back and Forth We Go
Continuing their back and forth battle, Arkadiy Tsinis and Michael Blanovsky exchanged pots on five consecutive hands heading into the break.
In the first hand, Blanovsky opened to 160,000 from the button and Tsinis made the call. When the flop fell , Tsinis checked and then folded to Blanovsky's 200,000 bet.
Next, Tsinis raised to 125,000 holding the button and Blanovsky came along for the ride. The dealer spread a flop of across the felt and Blanovsky tapped the table. Tsinis responded with a bet of 160,000 and Blanovsky mucked.
On the following deal, Blanovsky opened for 165,000 and took the pot down without a contest.
Tsinis evened the score with his own button raise on the next hand, and his 120,000 was enough to force Blanovsky to release his cards.
In the last hand before the break, Blanovsky limped in and Tsinis called, bringing a flop of to the table. Blanovsky fired a bet of 75,000 into the pot and Tsinis came along. The turn card came and both players opted to check. On the river, the arrived and Blanovsky checked to Tsinis, who bet 225,000 and earned the win.
The play has been tentative so far in this heads-up duel, but Tsinis has taken the majority of the small pots to slowly increase his chip lead.