Morgenstern Grabs Day 1c Chip Lead; Gilboa, Hakim, Chouity, Filatov, Urbanovich, and Jouhkimainen Through Too
The third starting flight of the $5,300 Main Event here at the Merit Poker Classic has come to an end with 96 players out of 202 entries in total making it through to Day 2 tomorrow, Thursday, May 2. Claiming the Day 1c chip lead is Germany’s Anton Morgenstern with 604,600.
Morgenstern earned most of those chips when he called his opponent’s bluff and kept on building to finish at the top of the chip counts at the end of the day. Other notable players who bagged an above average stack include Dmitry Gromov (487,500), Aleksandr Merzhvinskiy (438,400), Saar Wilf (369,000), Uri Gilboa (350,400), Milad Oghabian (307,000), Jeff Hakim (292,000), Nicolas Chouity (287,500), Anton Wigg (212,000), and Paul Newey with 210,100.
The partypoker pros who played today have all made it through with Anatoly Filatov leading the group, bagging 353,000 in the end after having to reenter earlier in the day. Dzmitry Urbanovich tagged 205,200 which is still above average. Joni Jouhkimainen will take 134,000 with him to Day 2 which is still good for more than 50 big blinds.
Day 1d is set to start at 9:30 PM local time which will feature eight levels too but they will only last 30 minutes each. Day 1e starts before Day 2, at 10 AM which will have eight 20-minute levels. The seat draw for Day 2 is to follow and will be posted as soon as the PokerNews live reporting team receives them from the organization. Day 2 will start at 1:30 PM on Thursday, May 9 so make sure to return then for all the action from the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino.
2019 Merit Poker Classic $5,300 Main Event Schedule
| Day | Date | Starting Time | Late Reg | Entries | Survivors | Further Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1a | Monday May 6th | 12:00 | Thursday May 9, ~19:00 | 93 | 43 | Play 8 Levels of 60 minutes |
| 1b | Tuesday May 7th | 12:00 | Thursday May 9, ~19:00 | 161 | 80 | Play 8 Levels of 60 minutes |
| 1c | Wednesday May 8th | 12:00 | Thursday May 9, ~19:00 | 202 | 96 | Play 8 Levels of 60 minutes |
| 1d | Wednesday May 8th | 21:30 | Thursday May 9, ~19:00 | - | - | Play 8 Levels of 30 minutes |
| 1e | Thursday May 9th | 10:00 | Thursday May 9, ~19:00 | - | - | Play 8 Levels of 20 minutes |
| 2 | Thursday May 9th | 13:30 | Thursday May 9, ~19:00 | - | - | Play 6 Levels of 75 minutes |
| 3 | Friday May 10th | 12:00 | Closed | - | - | TBD |
| 4 | Saturday May 11th | 12:00 | Closed | - | - | TBD |
| 5 | Sunday May 12th | 12:00 | Closed | - | - | Play down to a winner |