Chakib M'hiri Leads More Than 300 Survivors Into Day 2 of the Main Event
The poker room at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino will be packed today when Day 2 of the Merit Poker Western Series $3,300 Main Event begins at noon local time.
The first four starting flights saw 607 total entries, already far surpassing the $1,500,000 guaranteed prize pool. A large field of 303 players are still in contention at the start of Day 2, led by Tunisia's Chakib M'hiri.
M'hiri enjoyed a fruitful Day 1, at times surpassing the 700,000-chip milestone before finishing with 627,000. Right behind him is Aleksandar Jakovljevic with 607,000. There are still plenty of notables with large stacks remaining in the field, including Timur Margolin (429,000), Nuri Hadioglu (418,000), Gabi Livshitz (338,500), and Maxime Chilaud (314,500).
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chakib M'hiri | Tunisia | 627,000 | 251 |
| 2 | Aleksandar Jakovljevic | Romania | 607,000 | 243 |
| 3 | Anatoliy Shteyn | Russia | 515,000 | 206 |
| 4 | Salavat Shafigullin | Russia | 511,000 | 204 |
| 5 | Mohamed El-Sayed | Lebanon | 496,000 | 198 |
| 6 | Osman Atmaca | Turkey | 495,000 | 198 |
| 7 | Koray Korkmaz | Turkey | 475,000 | 190 |
| 8 | Eduard Bagrov | Armenia | 467,000 | 187 |
| 9 | Matan Krakow | Israel | 464,000 | 186 |
| 10 | Sergei Sokharev | Russia | 459,000 | 184 |
Day 2 will kick off in Level 10, with blinds of 1,000-2,500 and a 2,500 big blind ante. Late registration is open for the first four levels of the day, so the field should grow considerably by the time the prize pool is confirmed. Players are allowed unlimited reentries for the duration of the registration period.
PokerNews will be following all the action as the massive field gets whittled down towards the money bubble here on Day 2 in North Cyprus.