Giorgiy Skhulukhiya opened to 160,000 from middle position and Leonid Sidelkovskiy three-bet to 420,000. Ivan Govorov four-bet to 700,000, forcing a fold from Skhulukhiya and sending Sidelkovskiy. into the tank.
After a couple minutes Sidelkovskiy moved all in for roughly 2,000,000 and Govorov snap-folded.
Action folded to Sultan Meirbekov in the cutoff who moved all in off a short stack for 640,000. The small blind flat called and then action was on Ivan Govorov in the big blind. He sat in the tank for a few moments and then moved all in having both players covered.
The small blind threw his hand away and the two players were heads up to a full board.
Sultan Meirbekov: J♠10♥
Ivan Govorov: A♦K♣
The K♥K♠Q♠ had Meirbekov drawing dead to running spades or a nine. The 2♠ turn brought some help and then the 9♠ river gave him the straight and the flush to scoop a much needed pot for the double.
Bernard Boutboul moved all in from early position for 1,075,000 and Leonid Sidelkovskiy made the call from the big blind with a covering stack to put Boutboul at risk.
Bernard Boutboul: A♥Q♠
Leonid Sidelkovskiy: A♠J♠
The board ran out 10♣K♠3♦9♠K♦. Boutboul held with the bigger ace to secure a full double up towards the end of the evening.
Day 3 of the 2023 Merit Poker Gangster Series $2,200 Warm Up has come to a close here at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino. China's Yunsheng Sun bagged the overall chip lead, finishing the night with 5,970,000 worth 60 big blinds going into tomorrow's Day 4. Sun is most closely followed by Bakhos Joumaa (5,050,000), who enjoyed the chip lead for most of the day today, and Ankit Ahuja (4,400,000).
Sun has been on a hot streak this year and recently took third place in a €2,200 High Roller event at EPT Barcelona for a career-best score of €385,240 ($415,846). Sun currently has $1,717,348 in career tournament earnings under his belt and will be looking to add a substantial amount to that number with his deep run in this event.
Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Yunsheng Sun
China
5,970,000
60
2
Bakhos Joumaa
Lebanon
5,050,000
51
3
Ankit Ahuja
India
4,400,000
44
4
Hadi Khadra
Lebanon
3,395,000
34
5
Ivan Govorov
Russia
3,005,000
30
6
Giorgiy Skhulukhiya
Georgia
2,875,000
29
7
Tugce Hursoz
Turkey
2,640,000
26
8
Martynas Vitkauskas
Lithuania
2,500,000
25
9
Bernard Boutboul
France
2,300,000
23
10
Feyzullah Karaarslan
Turkey
2,050,000
21
Day 3 began with 79 players and that number was whittled down to just 16 over the course of ten 60-minute levels. Andrei Daniliuk began the day with the chip lead but Leonid Sidelkovskiy caught up to him quickly after making a thin value bet and getting paid off in the first level of the day.
Rachid Yaacoubi become the unfortunate soul to bust on the stone bubble today after being on the wrong side of a brutal set over set collision against Giorgiy Skhulukhiya.
Bakhos Joumaa
It was around this time that Bakhos Joumaa began accumulating a massive stack and he would continue to extend his chip lead over the rest of the field throughout the first half of the day. Sun would be the first player to catch up and eventually overtake Joumaa for the lead, gaining significant momentum after doubling up through Ahuja in a nasty cooler that saw Ahuja lose more than two thirds of his stack. Ahuja would make a quick comeback, knocking out two players back to back during the final three tables to reclaim most of the chips he had lost.
Ankit Ahuja
Other notable players to make it to the final day include Day 1b chip leader Dmitry Yurasov (1,850,000) and Day 2 chip leader Andrei Daniliuk (1,935,000). Players who busted just shy of the money include Halil Tasyurek and Day 1c chip leader Arun Sood while players who managed to cash but failed to advance to Day 4 include Anton Markov (45th - $3,840), Guoliang Wei (41st - $4,500) and Benjamin Hamnett (28th - $5,170),
Day 4 begins tomorrow, November 26 at 1:00 p.m. local time at Level 27 with blinds at 50,000/100,000 and a 100,000 big blind ante. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you all the updates for tomorrow's Day 4 where a winner will be crowned and claim the top prize of $167,500.
