Sergey Bobrik Leads as Day 2 Finishes Just Short of the Money
Sergey Bobrik may keep his chips in tiny piles spread out in front of him, but there is nothing small about the stack he built on Day 2.
The Russian native leads the final 161 players in the $5,300 Luxon Pay Mediterranean Poker Party Main Event, finishing 10 hour-long levels with 2,366,000. Bobrik won much of his stack when his kings held up against Hulya Seckin’s nut flush draw.
Right behind him is Christopher Frank, who was on the right side of a number of large pots near the end of the day. Frank’s pair of jacks was enough to win a massive pot against Thomas Pearn as he ended up bagging 1,710,000.
Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sergey Bobrik | Russia | 2,366,000 | 148 |
| 2 | Andrey Litvinov | Russia | 2,173,000 | 136 |
| 3 | Dawid Smolka | Poland | 2,050,000 | 128 |
| 4 | Ran Ilani | Israel | 1,920,000 | 120 |
| 5 | Christopher Frank | Germany | 1,710,000 | 107 |
| 6 | Justus Held | Austria | 1,610,000 | 101 |
| 7 | Viktor Kudinov | Russia | 1,540,000 | 96 |
| 8 | Juan Jose Membreno Orellana | Panama | 1,497,000 | 94 |
| 9 | Zolbayar Batbold | Mongolia | 1,472,000 | 92 |
| 10 | Siarhei Chudapal | Belarus | 1,380,000 | 86 |
Among the notables near the top of the leaderboard after Day 2 are Sofia Lovgren (1,250,000), the talkative Wael Sarkis (1,141,000), David Peters (913,000), and Daniel Rezaei (881,000). Phillip Nagy (595,000) and Pedro Garagnani (417,000) are in the middle of the pack, while Tony G (305,000), Paulina Loeliger (269,000), Bruno Fitoussi (261,000), and Paul Phua (161,000) are looking to run up their stacks when they return for Day 3 tomorrow.
The day began with 401 players returning from the three starting flights, plus an additional 74 from an extra turbo flight held late yesterday. With late registration open for an additional five levels at the start of the day, the field grew to 1,032, surpassing the guaranteed prize pool of $5,000,000.
Among the notables who saw their tournament cut short today were Phil Ivey, world champion Espen Jorstad, Johan Guilbert, and Freddy Deeb.
Day 3 begins tomorrow at noon local time inside the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel in North Cyprus. Action will pick up on Level 19, with blinds of 8,000-16,000 and a 16,000 big blind ante. The first order of business for the surviving 161 will be to burst the money bubble. With only the top 155 finishing in the money, six players will leave tomorrow with nothing.
PokerNews will be on hand for all the action from the bubble as the field gets into the money and races on toward the final table.