$2,200 Warm Up Day 1a | 2023 Merit Poker Gangster Series

Player	Chips	Progress
Mustafa Sancak	592,500 78,500	78,500

Inas Eldeghedy	491,000 53,000	53,000
Christos Christou	433,000 433,000	433,000
Halil Tasyurek	418,500 23,500	23,500
Abdelmajid Chiboub	377,500 29,500	29,500
Hadi Khordbin	365,500 265,500	265,500
Semih Aras	365,000 265,000	265,000
Shuang Luo	361,000 361,000	361,000
Gorkem Gedikoglu	352,000 352,000	352,000
Karim Abdelhamid	347,000 117,000	117,000
Louis Diab	343,000 247,000	247,000
Anton Markov	335,000 241,000	241,000
Ankit Ahuja	324,000 63,000	63,000
Alisa Sibgatova	319,500 46,500	46,500
Tugce Hursoz	312,000 15,000	15,000
Nuno Correia	301,500 301,500	301,500
Motokatsu Uhara	279,500 27,000	27,000
Sergey Bortsov	279,000 7,000	7,000
Iraklis Manikaros	269,000 146,500	146,500
Onur Ozgur	268,500 268,500	268,500
Bulent Mermer	263,500 263,500	263,500
Murad Cakir	263,000 71,500	71,500
Mohamed Yehya	217,000
Oleg Netaliev	210,000 110,000	110,000
Martynas Vitkauskas	192,000 192,000	192,000

Player

Chips

Progress

Mustafa Sancak

592,500

78,500

Inas Eldeghedy

491,000

53,000

Christos Christou

433,000

Halil Tasyurek

418,500

23,500

Abdelmajid Chiboub

377,500

29,500

Hadi Khordbin

365,500

265,500

Semih Aras

365,000

265,000

Shuang Luo

361,000

Gorkem Gedikoglu

352,000

Karim Abdelhamid

347,000

117,000

Louis Diab

343,000

247,000

Anton Markov

335,000

241,000

Ankit Ahuja

324,000

63,000

Alisa Sibgatova

319,500

46,500

Tugce Hursoz

312,000

15,000

Nuno Correia

301,500

Motokatsu Uhara

279,500

27,000

Sergey Bortsov

279,000

7,000

Iraklis Manikaros

269,000

146,500

Onur Ozgur

268,500

Bulent Mermer

263,500

Murad Cakir

263,000

71,500

Mohamed Yehya

217,000

Oleg Netaliev

210,000

110,000

Martynas Vitkauskas

192,000

Action has come to a close on Day 1a of the 2023 Merit Poker Gangster Series $2,200 Warm Up at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino. Mustafa Sancak finished the night at the top of the counts, bagging an impressive 592,500 chips worth just over 197 big blinds going into Day 2.

Day 1a attracted a total of 107 entrants, with 45 players making it to Day 2. Sancak emerged as one of the chip leaders midway through the day and was able to consistently leverage his stack to apply pressure to his opponents and take down many pots without having to go to showdown.

Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Mustafa Sancak	Turkey	592,500	198
2	Inas Eldeghedy	Egypt	491,000	164
3	Christos Christou	Cyprus	433,000	144
4	Halil Tasyurek	Turkey	418,500	140
5	Abdelmajid Chiboub	France	377,500	126
6	Hadi Khordbin	Iran	365,500	122
7	Semih Aras	Cyprus	365,000	122
8	Shuang Luo	China	361,000	120
9	Gorkem Gedikoglu	Turkey	352,000	117
10	Karim Abdelhamid	Canada	347,000	116

Sancak is closely followed by Egyptian film director Inas Eldeghedy (491,000), Christos Christou (433,000) and Halil Tasyurek (418,500). Tasyurek is currently enjoying a stellar year in poker, having recently finished fourth at the 2023 European Poker Tour Cyprus Main Event for a career-best score of $358,075.

Tasyurek surged up the counts midway through the day after flopping a flush to crack Azamat Tulepbergenov's pocket kings. Tasyurek never looked back from that point and continued to make good reads on his opponents throughout the day, including one notable hand where he correctly called with king-high on the river after his opponent's low pocket pair had been counterfeited.

Other notables to survive the eight 60-minute levels include Shuang Luo (361,000), Ankit Ahuja (324,000), Victor Yugay (147,000) as well as Merit Poker regulars Selahaddin Bedir (190,000), Koray Korkmaz (168,000) and Aleksandr Pak (135,000). Yugay also made the final table of the 2023 EPT Cyprus Main Event, finishing in eighth place for $125,350.

Others who entered Day 1a but weren't fortunate enough to find a bag include Guoliang Wei, Frederico Senno and Parahat Nurmuhammedov, the latter of which enjoyed the chip lead during the early levels of the day.

Three starting flights remain for this event. Day 1b takes place at noon local time tomorrow, November 23rd, while Day 1c takes place at 9:30 p.m. local time the same day. There will be a turbo Day 1d flight on November 24 before the survivors from each starting flight combine later that day. Late registration and unlimited re-entries will remain available until Level 12, which will be midway through Day 2 on November 24.

Stay tuned for more coverage as PokerNews brings you all the action from the remainder of the festival along the shores of the Mediterranean in North Cyprus.

Tags: Abdelmajid Chiboub Aleksandr Pak Ankit Ahuja Azamat Tulepbergenov Christos Christou Frederico Senno Gorkem Gedikoglu Guoliang Wei Hadi Khordbin Halil Tasyurek Inas Eldeghedy Karim Abdelhamid Koray Korkmaz Mustafa Sancak Parahat Nurmuhammedov Semih Aras Shuang Luo Victor Yugay