2023 Merit Poker Western Series

$3,300 Main Event
Day: 2
Event Info

2023 Merit Poker Western Series

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
a10
Prize
$372,800
Event Info
Buy-in
$3,300
Prize Pool
$2,089,320
Entries
757
Level Info
Level
38
Blinds
500,000 / 1,000,000
Ante
1,000,000
Players Info - Day 2
Entries
307
Players Left
114

Lebanon Well Represented on Top of Counts After Day 2 of Main Event

Level 19 : Blinds 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante
Makram Bou Habib
Makram Bou Habib

Day 2 of the Merit Poker Western Series Main Event was one that was full of chip-slinging action. It began with 307 players and several more would take advantage of late registration for the first few levels of the day to officially make 757 entries and create a prize pool of $2,089,320.

At the end of 10 levels of play, 114 players would remain.

Ara Melkisetian (2,365,000) dramatically took the chip lead in one of the last few hands of the night when he found the right time for aces against kings to take for a pot of over 2 million and surge him to the top of the counts.

It was Lebanese domination at the top of the counts as Walid Bou Habib (2,100,000) who held a more steady top stack in the final few levels, and Makram Bou Habib (1,635,000) were two of the largest stacks in addition to the chip leader.

Benjamin Hammann (1,775,000) of France bagged one of the largest stacks after he had a strong chip up in the final level and Aleksandr Chernikov (1,635,000) were two of the other larger stacks.

Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts

RankPlayerCountryChip CountBig Blinds
1Ara MelkisetianLebanon2,365,000158
2Walid Bou HabibLebanon2,100,000140
3Benjamin HammannFrance1,775,000118
4Makram Bou HabibLebanon1,635,000109
5Aleksandr ChernikovRussia1,605,000107
6Maciej KomorowskiPoland1,460,00097
7Orthodoxos OrthodoxouCyprus1,310,00087
8Ceyhan TezcanTurkey1,230,00082
9Vitaly PankovRussia1,205,00080
10Eduard BarsegianRussia1,200,00080

Kyrgyz player Kubanychbek Abakirov surged early in the day as he held as much as almost 400 big blinds at one point in the first few levels of Day 2 before he would plateau and eventually drop down a bit before finishing with 865,000.

Start of day chip leader Chakib M’Hiri had an up-and-down day that started well but had a rocky patch where he would drop down as low as 200,000 before building back up to 825,000 to end the night.

Israeli players Gabi Livshitz (600,000), Uri Reichenstein (600,000) and Timur Margolin (495,000) were all able to advance and are among the survivors to Day 3.

Day 3 will get underway at 12 p.m. local time. It will be a vital day of action as the money bubble will hit with 89 players remaining as the stakes get more serious. Players will return in Level 20 with blinds at 10,000/15,000/15,000.

Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team for wire to wire coverage of Tuesday's Day 3.

Tags: Aleksandr ChernikovAra MelkisetianBenjamin HammannChakib M’HiriGabi LivshitzKubanychbek AbakirovMakram Bou HabibTimur MargolinUri ReichensteinWalid Bou Habib