Five Players Join the Millionaire's Club on Day 2 of the Merit Poker Carmen Series Merit Poker Cup
Day 2 of the Merit Poker Carmen Series Merit Poker Cup was about positioning yourself for a run at the money, and four players did that better than anyone else.
Ivan Zabiiakin doubled up early in the day when he turned the nut flush on his way to bagging up 1,142,000 and the chip lead over the remaining 108 players. George Tomescu (1,113,000) and start-of-day chip leader Huseyin Akgul (1,128,000) joined him in the millionaire’s club by the end of the day.
Edgard Raffoul won one of the biggest pots of Day 2 when he flopped top set and picked off Damir Zhugralin's bluff in a more than 900,000-chip pot. He ended up with 1,070,000. But Antonio Aversa (919,000) had an even more incredible journey to the upper echelon of the leaderboard after being involved in two massive three-way all ins.
First, Aversa tripled up on the river by making the nut flush while Hassan Dahmani folded what would’ve been quad eights. Aversa then flopped top set of nines in another three-way all in against Dahmani’s set of fives and Aleksandr Razinkov’s aces. He held up to double off Razinkov and send Dahmani, who was up above 700,000 and contending for the chip lead just a level earlier, to the rail.
Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivan Zabiiakin | Russia | 1,142,000 | 143 |
| 2 | George Tomescu | Romania | 1,130,000 | 141 |
| 3 | Huseyin Akgul | Turkey | 1,128,000 | 141 |
| 4 | Alan Turabayev | Kazakhstan | 1,092,000 | 137 |
| 5 | Edgard Raffoul | Lebanon | 1,070,000 | 134 |
| 6 | Aleksandr Kirichenko | Russia | 950,000 | 119 |
| 7 | Antonio Aversa | Italy | 919,000 | 115 |
| 8 | O I | n/a | 893,000 | 112 |
| 9 | Damir Gabdullin | Russia | 795,000 | 99 |
| 10 | Jovan Kenjic | Serbia | 779,000 | 97 |
Other top stacks after Day 2 include Dmitry Gromov (666,000), Kacper Pyzara (660,000), Halil Tasyurek (655,000), Fausto Tantillo (555,000), Toni Kaukua (531,000), and High Roller champion Jakub Michalak (334,000). Florian Guimond (208,000), Simone Andrian (145,000), and Felipe Ketzer (124,000) find themselves on short stacks heading into Day 3.
Notables who had their run end today included Andrea Dato, Main Event third-place finisher Dinesh Alt, Fabio Peluso, Ozgur Secilmis, and Boris Kolev.
A total of 110 new arrivals on Day 2 built a field of 459 entries and a prize pool of $844,560. The first order of business on Day 3 will be to burst the money bubble, with the top 55 players guaranteeing themselves a payday. The eventual champion will take home $167,100 and the title of Merit Poker champion.
Stay tuned as PokerNews returns tomorrow at noon local time to provide all the live updates leading up to the bubble and beyond.