$3,300 Main Event Day 2 | 2024 Merit Poker Western Series

$3,300 Main Event

Day 2 Started

01-23-2024 10:09 UTC+2

Day 2 Seat Draw

Ryan Lashmar

Table	Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	1	Sorin Marin	Romania	136,500	55
1	2	Aziz Efe	Turkey	204,500	82
1	3	Joseph Sabe	Lebanon	53,500	21
1	4	Roman Hrabec	Czech Republic	209,500	84
1	5	Tugce Hursoz	Cyprus	222,500	89
1	6	Vladimir Troyanovskiy	Russia	69,000	28
1	7	Frederico Senno	Lebanon	222,000	89

2	1	Jad Joseph Warde	Lebanon	240,000	96
2	2	Aykutalp Yilmaz	Turkey	125,500	50
2	3	Igor Pihela	Estonia	147,500	59
2	4	Vazha Kometiani	Georgia	74,500	30
2	5	Hadi Khadra	Lebanon	100,000	40
2	6	Fabio Peluso	Italy	657,000	263
2	7	Stephane Gabarre	France	113,500	45

3	1	Naji Tanuri	Lebanon	262,000	105
3	2	Huseyin Akgul	Turkey	240,000	96
3	3	Kaan Baser	Turkey	82,500	33
3	4	Paata Khmaladze	Georgia	38,500	15
3	5	Anatoly Nikitin	Russia	209,000	84
3	6	Dean Hutchison	United Kingdom	380,000	152
3	7	Andrey Litvinov	Russia	96,000	38

4	1	Lukasz Grossmann	Poland	309,500	124
4	2	Milos Skrbic	Serbia	275,500	110
4	3	Andrea Dato	Italy	314,500	126
4	4	Nichan Khorchidian	Lebanon	322,000	129
4	5	Sari Haddad	Lebanon	139,500	56
4	6	Ceyhan Tezcan	Turkey	77,000	31
4	7	Andreas Tomazou	Cyprus	180,500	72

5	1	Kemal Aslan	Turkey	249,500	100
5	2	Evagoras Evagorou	Cyprus	185,500	74
5	3	Ali Zebarjad	Iran	271,500	109
5	4	John Doe B	Turkey	534,500	214
5	5	Xixiang Luo	China	32,500	13
5	6	Nazar Buhaiov	Ukraine	366,500	147
5	7	Ali Yildiz	Turkey	118,500	47

6	1	Caner Nar	Turkey	242,500	97
6	2	Dragoljub Martinovic	Serbia	179,500	72
6	3	Maroun Sily	Lebanon	137,500	55
6	4	Maher Achour	Tunisia	506,500	203
6	5	Giorgiy Skhuluhiya	Georgia	77,000	31
6	6	Benjamin Hamnett	United States	427,000	171
6	7	Vedat Yilmaz	Turkey	362,000	145

7	1	Javid Salayev	Azerbaijan	122,000	49
7	2	Monika Zukowicz	Poland	261,500	105
7	3	Helmut Phung	Germany	288,000	115
7	4	Stanislav Tishkevich	Israel	159,000	64
7	5	Jianwei Lin	China	619,000	248
7	6	Samy Barka	France	783,000	313
7	7	Vladimir Malyarchuk	Russia	329,500	132

8	1	Maxim Lykov	Russia	145,000	58
8	2	Dragos Trofimov	Moldova	190,000	76
8	3	Peng Yang	China	139,000	56
8	4	Carmel Haloon	Israel	2,015,000	806
8	5	Siarhei Chudapal	Belarus	405,500	162
8	6	Feng Qu	China	316,000	126
8	7	Youssef El Khazen	Lebanon	229,000	92

9	1	Jean Mikhael	Lebanon	217,500	87
9	2	Mohamad El-Sayed	Lebanon	49,000	20
9	3	Roman Gadzhiev	Russia	276,500	111
9	4	John Doebs	Turkey	269,000	108
9	5	Eduard Tasoev	Russia	48,000	19
9	6	Seref Anar	Turkey	222,000	89
9	7	Paul Amsellem	France	115,000	46

10	1	Andreas Mavrikioy	Cyprus	102,500	41
10	2	Victor Fryda	France	233,500	93
10	3	Vedat Mutlu	Turkey	232,500	93
10	4	Georges Hanna	Lebanon	81,500	33
10	5	Davoud Pira	Iran	34,500	14
10	6	Milos Petakovic	Serbia	78,000	31
10	7	Graydon Kowal	Canada	81,500	33

11	1	Tomasz Szczerbinski	Poland	117,000	47
11	2	Fausto Tantillo	Italy	129,500	52
11	3	Peng Peng	China	269,500	108
11	4	Traian Stanciu	Romania	131,000	52
11	5	Arif Yildirim	Turkey	127,500	51
11	6	Guoliang Wei	China	146,500	59
11	7	Michel Habib	Lebanon	753,000	301

12	1	Gurcan Gungoren	Turkey	265,000	106
12	2	Damir Zhugralin	Kazakhstan	309,000	124
12	3	Ara Melkisetian	Lebanon	129,500	52
12	4	Serge Matta	Lebanon	37,500	15
12	5	Can Miral	Turkey	274,500	110
12	6	Viliyan Petleshkov	Bulgaria	380,000	152
12	7	Carlos Aoun	Lebanon	120,500	48

13	1	Maxim Brovko	Russia	101,500	41
13	2	Amir Mazahery	Iran	315,500	126
13	3	Michael Brown	Ireland	421,000	168
13	4	Dmitry Gromov	Russia	193,500	77
13	5	Khalil Tawil	Lebanon	200,000	80
13	6	Vitalii Pankov	Russia	316,500	127
13	7	Sercan Celikcan	Turkey	105,000	42

14	1	John Doe S	N/A	538,500	215
14	2	Naji Azar	Lebanon	255,000	102
14	3	Bartlomiej Swieboda	Poland	342,500	137
14	4	Artem Sadovskii	Russia	99,500	40
14	5	Felipe Ketzer	Brazil	197,000	79
14	6	Ali El-Siblani	Lebanon	372,000	149
14	7	Amir Touma	Lebanon	213,500	85

15	1	Razvan Sabau	Romania	483,000	193
15	2	Dawid Smolka	Poland	116,000	46
15	3	Eduard Norel	Romania	330,500	132
15	4	Baris Caliskan	Turkey	240,000	96
15	5	Tahsin Cankurtaranli	Turkey	170,000	68
15	6	Nicolas Vayssieres	France	174,000	70
15	7	Volodymyr Drokin	Ukraine	187,000	75

16	1	Daniel Henriques	Portugal	633,000	253
16	2	Ildar Tashliyev	Turkmenistan	353,500	141
16	3	Amine Karami	Lebanon	392,500	157
16	4	Mihai Tusnea	Romania	317,000	127
16	5	Antoine Vranken	Netherlands	97,500	39
16	6	Aleksandar Tot	Montenegro	325,500	130
16	7	Cristinel Dumitru	Romania	194,000	78

17	1	Maxim Son	Kazakhstan	106,500	43
17	2	Chady Ojelli	Lebanon	179,000	72
17	3	Carl Murr	Lebanon	222,500	89
17	4	Andrey Pateychuk	Russia	188,500	75
17	5	Fady Kamar	Lebanon	278,000	111
17	6	Rashad Iskandarov	Azerbaijan	124,000	50
17	7	Baris Topuz	Turkey	45,500	18

18	1	Yasen Dichev	Bulgaria	115,500	46
18	2	Aleksandr Kirichenko	Russia	171,000	68
18	3	Nan Zhu	China	374,000	150
18	4	Ilia Korliakov	Russia	421,000	168
18	5	Yuefan Gu	China	213,000	85
18	6	Hakan Kuscu	Turkey	79,500	32
18	7	Andrei Daniliuk	Russia	82,000	33

19	1	Tony Aziz	Lebanon	150,000	60
19	2	Ihar Soika	Belarus	78,500	31
19	3	Dmitry Yurasov	Russia	736,000	294
19	4	Antoine Labaky	Lebanon	241,000	96
19	5	Safi Haidar	Lebanon	244,000	98
19	6	Hadi Khordbin	Iran	220,500	88
19	7	Moritz Dietrich	Germany	275,000	110

20	1	Danut Chisu	France	275,000	110
20	2	Adrian State	Romania	150,000	60
20	3	Robert Heidorn	Germany	268,000	107
20	4	Cengiz Seker	Turkey	131,500	53
20	5	Maxime Chilaud	France	291,000	116
20	6	Yingrui Ge	China	271,000	108
20	7	Mohammadreza Karkan	Iran	147,500	59

21	1	Bogdan Munteanu	Romania	258,500	103
21	2	Ibrahim Ghasan	Lebanon	121,000	48
21	3	Bassel Moussa	Lebanon	216,000	86
21	4	Ghassan Khalil	Lebanon	144,000	58
21	5	Mehmet Demirkol	Turkey	53,500	21
21	6	Joseph Jazzar	Lebanon	158,500	63
21	7	Hassanin Hashim	Iraq	330,000	132

22	1	Rawand Chaychi	Iraq	141,500	57
22	2	Nicolas Chouity	Lebanon	107,500	43
22	3	Xiang Lian	China	496,000	198
22	4	Abdullah Akbarpoor	Iran	226,000	90
22	5	Zhao Cheng	China	136,500	55
22	6	Roger Abed	Lebanon	217,000	87
22	7	Ermanno Di Nicola	Italy	217,000	87

23	1	Baurzhan Akimov	Kazakhstan	181,500	73
23	2	Antoine Hasbani	Lebanon	206,500	83
23	3	Basem Abudavas	Jordan	600,000	240
23	4	Koray Korkmaz	Turkey	35,500	14
23	5	David Hu	Netherlands	116,000	46
23	6	Azamat Tulepbergenov	Kazakhstan	247,000	99
23	7	Nuri Hadioglu	Turkey	334,000	134

24	1	Tarmo Tammel	Estonia	83,500	33
24	2	Amir Sonsino	Israel	138,000	55
24	3	Junjie He	China	118,000	47
24	4	Ege Guven	Turkey	95,500	38
24	5	Recep Aydemir	Turkey	183,000	73
24	6	Marian-Cristian Cocea	Romania	227,500	91
24	7	Mustafa Ercan	Turkey	596,500	239

25	1	Nils Pudel	Austria	62,000	25
25	2	Christophe Panetti	Switzerland	190,000	76
25	3	Anatoly Korochenskiy	Russia	270,000	108
25	4	Joseph Mouawad	Lebanon	203,000	81
25	5	Aurelijus Sipavicius	Lithuania	131,000	52
25	6	Sergey Bortsov	Russia	99,500	40
25	7	Dauren Zhaparov	Kazakhstan	86,000	34

26	1	Eugenio Peralta	Italy	298,500	119
26	2	Wael Sarkis	Lebanon	533,500	213
26	3	Mikhail Semin	Russia	431,500	173
26	4	Shuang Luo	China	160,000	64
26	5	Jonathan Rosenwasser	Israel	82,000	33
26	6	Joseph Mouwad	Lebanon	203,000	81
26	7	Herodotos Partakkis	Cyprus	131,000	52

27	1	Ghassan Yared	Lebanon	99,500	40
27	2	Toni Kaukua	Finland	86,000	34
27	3	Mohamad El Siblani	Lebanon	265,500	106
27	4	Ramez Haddad	Lebanon	187,500	75
27	5	Giuliano Boellis	Italy	317,000	127
27	6	Artem Arakelian	Georgia	91,000	36
27	7	Umberto Ruggeri	Italy	138,500	55

28	1	Bakhos Joumaa	Lebanon	213,000	85
28	2	Ryan Plant	United Kingdom	315,000	126
28	3	Michel Eid	Lebanon	247,000	99
28	4	Candido Cappiello	Italy	476,500	191
28	5	Gang Zhao	China	315,000	126
28	6	Hala Karam	Lebanon	271,000	108
28	7	Hady El-Asmar	Lebanon	66,500	27

29	1	Nikolay Fal	Russia	402,500	161
29	2	Gianfranco Iaculli	Italy	342,500	137
29	3	Clement Bonnant	France	86,500	35
29	4	Marcin Dziubdziela	Poland	252,000	101
29	5	Okan Ozturk	Turkey	15,500	6
29	6	Cristian David	Romania	321,000	128
29	7	Marius Kudzmanas	Lithuania	274,500	110

30	1	Jovan Kenjic	Serbia	129,500	52
30	2	Parahat Nurmuhammedov	Turkmenistan	347,000	139
30	3	Vladimir Bozinovic	Serbia	268,000	107
30	4	Maksim Skripkin	Ukraine	181,000	72
30	5	Qiang Xu	China	223,500	89
30	6	Dzmitry Urbanovich	Belarus	146,500	59
30	7	Mohamed Mokrani	Algeria	132,500	53

31	1	Vincent Meli	France	247,000	99
31	2	Sakis Adrianopoulos	Greece	247,500	99
31	3	Thomas Eychenne	France	334,500	134
31	4	Yiannakis Papapetrou	Cyprus	172,000	69
31	5	Maroun Jazzar	Lebanon	457,000	183
31	6	Samuel Dray	France	88,500	35

32	1	Mateusz Wozniak	Poland	269,000	108
32	2	Huseyin Kaba	Turkey	234,000	94
32	3	Matthew Davenport	United Kingdom	338,000	135
32	4	Zorlu Er	Turkey	164,500	66
32	5	Halil Akbas	Turkey	94,000	38
32	6	Andrew Hedley	United Kingdom	402,000	161

01-23-2024 10:24 UTC+2

Yurasov in the Driver's Seat in Day 2 of 2024 Merit Poker Western Series $3,300 Main Event

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Ryan Lashmar

The first four starting flights of the 2024 Merit Poker Western Series $3,300 Main Event attracted a field of 511 entrants so far here at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino in North Cyprus. Of those 511 entrants, 223 players managed to find a bag and will be making their return for the second day.

Day 1a chip leader Samy Barka holds the overall chip lead going into Day 2 with 783,000 chips, worth 313 big blinds to start the day. Barka is most closely followed by Michel Habib (753,000) and Dmitry Yurasov (736,000). Yurasov bagging a top three stack is particularly noteworthy given that he took down the $3,300 Merit Poker Gangster Series Main Event this past October for $295,500.

2024 Merit Poker Western Series Top Ten Chip Counts

Place	Name	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Samy Barka	France	783,000	313
2	Michel Habib	Lebanon	753,000	301
3	Dmitry Yurasov	Russia	736,000	294
4	Fabio Peluso	Italy	657,000	263
5	Daniel Henriques	Portugal	633,000	253
6	Jianwei Lin	China	619,000	248
7	Basem Abudavas	Russia	600,000	240
8	Mustafa Ercan	Turkey	596,500	239
9	John Doe S	N/A	538,500	215
10	John Doe	N/A	534,500	214

Other notables to advance to Day 2 include Benjamin Hamnett (427,000), Andrew Hedley (402,000), 2023 WSOP Main Event finalist Dean Hutchison (380,000), Andrea Dato (314,500), Maxime Chilaud (291,000), Helmut Phung (288,000), Milos Skrbic (275,500), Marius Kudzmanas (274,500), Vladimir Bozinovic (268,000), Monika Zukowicz (261,500), Qiang Xu (223,500), Ermanno Di Nicola (217,000), Roman Hrabec (209,500), Felipe Ketzer (197,000), Dmitry Gromov (193,500), Andrey Pateychuk (188,500), Shuang Luo (160,000), Guoliang Wei (146,500) and Dzmitry Urbanovich (146,500).

The second day of the event is scheduled to start at 12:00 p.m. local time. The players who qualified on the first day will return to Level 10, with the blinds set at 1,000/2,500 and a 2,500 big blind ante. The game will go on for another nine levels and is expected to conclude around 10:00 p.m. local time, with each level lasting for 60 minutes.

As always, stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you all the exciting action for this event from the moment cards are in the air until a winner is crowned on Thursday, January 25.

Tags: Andrew Hedley Andrey Pateychuk Basem Abudavas Benjamin Hamnett Daniel Henriques Dean Hutchison Dmitry Gromov Dmitry Yurasov Dzmitry Urbanovich Ermanno Di Nicola Fabio Peluso Felipe Ketzer Guoliang Wei Helmut Phung Jianwei Lin Marius Kudzmanas Maxime Chilaud Michel Habib Milos Skrbic Monika Zukowicz Mustafa Ercan Qiang Xu Roman Hrabec Samy Barka Shuang Luo Vladimir Bozinovic

Level: 10

Blinds: 1,000/2,500

Ante: 2,500

01-23-2024 12:08 UTC+2

Shuffle Up and Deal

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David Salituro

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,500, 2,500 ante

The field has swelled to 524 total entries with Day 2 late arrivals as action is now underway.

01-23-2024 12:15 UTC+2

Doe Continues His Rise

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David Salituro

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,500, 2,500 ante

The anonymous John Doe S, who ended yesterday's Day 1c flight as chip leader, wasted little time adding to his massive stack on the first hand of today by taking out Artem Sadovskii.

Heads-up on a flop of 7♥6♣A♥, Sadovskii bet 6,000 from early position before Doe raised to around 40,000 in the big blind. Sadovskii called and the Q♥ fell on the turn.

Doe then moved all in and Sadovskii called for around 30,000 more with A♠J♣. Doe, though, had 7♣6♠ for two pair and held on the 2♣ river to secure the early knockout.

Player	Chips	Progress
John Doe S	680,000 141,500	141,500

Artem Sadovskii	Busted

Tags: Artem Sadovskii John Doe S

01-23-2024 12:19 UTC+2

Hot Start for Yurasov

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Ryan Lashmar

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,500, 2,500 ante

Dmitry Yurasov opened to 6,000 from under the gun and received calls from Safi Haidar in the hijack and Ihar Soika in the big blind.

The flop came K♠7♣2♠. Soika checked, Yurasov fired a 6,000 cointinuation bet, Haidar called and Soika folded.

Yurasov bet again for 17,000 on the 3♣ turn and was once again called by Haidar.

On the Q♠ river Yurasov bet 40,000. Haidar thought for about one minute before sticking in a call. Haidar had flopped top pair with K♣J♠ but Yurasov showed down Q♣Q♥ for a set on the river to take down a nice early pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Dmitry Yurasov	819,000 83,000	83,000

Safi Haidar	170,000 -74,000	-74,000
Ihar Soika	66,000 -12,500	-12,500

Tags: Dmitry Yurasov Ihar Soika Safi Haidar

01-23-2024 12:23 UTC+2

Nikitin Snaps Off Tannoury

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David Salituro

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,500, 2,500 ante

Naji Tannoury raised to 5,500 in middle position before Anatoly Nikitin three-bet to 20,000 in the small blind. Tannoury called and they went heads-up to a flop of 7♣9♣2♠.

Nikitin continued for 15,000 and Tannoury called. The turn was the 10♣ and Nikitin checked over to Tannoury, who moved all in.

Nikitin snap-called for 187,500 and turned over 9♠9♥ for a set. Tannoury showed Q♣10♠ for a pair of tens and was left paying off most of his stack following the 3♥ river.

Player	Chips	Progress
Anatoly Nikitin	450,000 241,000	241,000
Naji Tannoury	35,000 -227,000	-227,000

Tags: Anatoly Nikitin Naji Tannoury

01-23-2024 12:29 UTC+2

Peluso Catches Pihela Making a Move

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David Salituro

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,500, 2,500 ante

With around 90,000 in the pot on a board of 5♠J♣8♦3♣, Igor Pihela moved all in for 56,000 from the hijack. Fabio Peluso tanked for a minute in the big blind before calling to put Pihela at risk.

Pihela showed A♠9♠ for ace-high, while Peluso had 10♠10♥. The 4♣ river failed to improve Pihela and he was sent to the rail.

Player	Chips	Progress
Fabio Peluso	700,000 43,000	43,000

Igor Pihela	Busted

Tags: Fabio Peluso Igor Pihela

01-23-2024 12:30 UTC+2

Rosenwasser Flops the Goods

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Ryan Lashmar

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,500, 2,500 ante

With two players seeing a board of 6♣9♣4♣ and about 15,000 in the middle, Jonathan Rosenwasser checked from the small blind and called a 7,500 bet from Shuang Luo in the cutoff.

Both players checked the 8♦ turn leading to the 10♥ river. Rosenwasser bet 18,000 and Luo quickly called.

Luo revealed 7♠6♠ for a small pair but Rosenwasser showed down K♣7♣ for a flopped flush to take the pot.