2013 PPC Aruba World Championship Day 1b: Merda Tops; 16 More Advance
Day 1b of the 2013 PPC Aruba World Championship Main Event concluded on Sunday night after the second and final starting flight played through its first 12 levels. At the end of Sunday's play, it was Igor Merda who bagged up the chip lead with 195,600 in his stack.
The overall field grew to 85 entries thanks to another 42 entries on Day 1b, and plenty of players fired multiple bullets, including defending champion Joe Serock and notable Andy Seth. Both managed to find themselves in the event for a fourth time, and that means they will have to finish very deep in order to profit.
Merda had himself a very successful day that included busting Seth twice within a relatively short period of time. The first time Merda busted Seth, it was his A♦10♦ that had Seth's A♠9♠ dominated. The board ran out J♥10♣5♣6♣4♦ to give Merda the win. Looking up Merda's records, he has $7,582 in live tournament earnings spread across five cashes.
Other notables from Day 1b that built up nice stacks were Hayden Fortini, Steve Karp, and David Tuthill. Karp picked up a nice pot when he busted last year's runner-up, Jesse Chinni. After Chinni opened with a raise and Joe Ebanks called, Karp three-bet. Chinni four-bet shoved, Ebanks folded, and Karp made the call. It was his AxKx versus Chinni's QxQx, and the flop produced a king to give Karp all he needs to win the hand. Chinni was eliminated for the third time on this hand, but could still reenter one more time before play begins on Day 2.
Last year's champion Serock fought hard until the end of the day, but could never really gain any traction to get something going. He ended up bagging 21,400, though, and his title defense is still alive.
Although Merda bagged the most chips on Day 1b, he and everyone else still trail Day 1a chip leader Stephen Sindler who bagged up 211,600.
The 16 players remaining from Day 1b will combine with the 12 competitors that advanced to Day 2 from Day 1a and any other late registrants or reentries to begin play at 3 p.m. local time on Monday. The registration period will remain open until the start of play tomorrow, so the field could see an increase.
Top 10 Chip Counts for Day 2
| Rank | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen Sindler | 211,600 |
| 2 | Igor Merda | 195,600 |
| 3 | Sterling Savill | 178,600 |
| 4 | Hayden Fortini | 124,100 |
| 5 | RJ Sullivan | 123,700 |
| 6 | David Tuthill | 122,000 |
| 7 | Eddie Kofler | 107,500 |
| 8 | Ryan Franklin | 102,200 |
| 9 | Terry Plagenz | 89,700 |
| 10 | Jimmy Peters | 83,500 |
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