Koray Korkmaz Ends Day 3 With a Bang to Snag the Chip Lead in the Merit Poker Carmen Series $2,200 Warmup
Koray Korkmaz began Day 3 of the Merit Poker Carmen Series $2,200 Warmup needing a three-outer on the river to stay in the tournament. He ended it by winning a massive pot with another lucky river and taking the tournament chip lead into tomorrow's final day.
Korkmaz busted Kubanychbek Abakirov on the second-last hand of the night, rivering the nut flush to beat Abakirov's top pair as Korkmaz ended with 7,050,000. The Merit Poker regular, who has 34 cashes in events here at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino, needed a miracle just to get this far. He was all in and down to his last card in the first level of Day 3 but spiked a king to double up. Korkmaz continued his rise up the leaderboard by winning a 3,400,000-chip coin flip with queens against Viktor Ustimov’s ace-king.
Korkmaz leads the 21 remaining players out of a starting field of 611 that still have a chance at capturing the $206,800 top prize and prestigious Merit Poker trophy. Eduard Barsegian (5,080,000), Dmitry Gromov (4,900,000), and Julien Loire (4,610,000) are his closest challengers, while Nicolas Chouity, with nearly $4 million in live tournament earnings, is in sixth place with 3,800,000.
Ustimov (3,100,000), Ran Ilani (2,655,000), Recep Aydemir (1,795,000), and Arie Kliper (1,500,000) will also be back on the tournament’s final day as they play down to a champion tomorrow.
Day 3 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Koray Korkmaz | 7,050,000 | 71 |
| 2 | Eduard Barsegian | 5,080,000 | 51 |
| 3 | Dmitry Gromov | 4,900,000 | 49 |
| 4 | Julien Loire | 4,610,000 | 46 |
| 5 | Boris Angelov | 4,550,000 | 46 |
| 6 | Nicolas Chouity | 3,800,000 | 38 |
| 7 | Basel Khabbazeh | 3,440,000 | 34 |
| 8 | Damir Zhugralin | 3,400,000 | 34 |
| 9 | Viktor Ustimov | 3,100,000 | 31 |
| 10 | Mikhail Zamyatin | 3,005,000 | 30 |
| 11 | Michael Uguccioni | 2,865,000 | 29 |
| 12 | Cenk Nigbolu | 2,755,000 | 28 |
| 13 | Ran Ilani | 2,655,000 | 27 |
| 14 | Recep Aydemir | 1,795,000 | 18 |
| 15 | Petr Skripka | 1,570,000 | 16 |
| 16 | Arie Kliper | 1,500,000 | 15 |
| 17 | Gurcan Gungoren | 1,275,000 | 13 |
| 18 | Luc Bindel | 1,270,000 | 13 |
| 19 | Maksim Skripkin | 935,000 | 9 |
| 20 | Saman Nakhjavani | 920,000 | 9 |
| 21 | Jakub Michalak | 825,000 | 8 |
Day 3 began with 126 players remaining, and the first order of business was to reach the money. Only 71 players would walk away with something for three days of play, and Yulian Bogdanov, Toni Kaukua, Michele Guerrini, and defending champion Selahaddin Bedir all fell short of making the money.
Gabi Livshitz (70th), Philippe Souki (51st), and Uri Reichenstein (45th) all busted shortly after the bubble burst. Ali Moein, who built up a massive chip lead on Day 1 of the tournament, managed to ride that stack to a 54th-place finish. Rabih Saad, the start-of-day chip leader, lasted until Korkmaz busted him in 25th place after both players flopped sets, Saad with nines and Korkmaz holding aces.
The 21 survivors will return tomorrow at 1 p.m. local time. Blinds will pick up in Level 27, at 50,000-100,000 and a 100,000 big blind ante. The feature and final tables will be streamed on a delay on Merit Poker’s YouTube and Facebook channels.
Just 21 remain. By the end of tomorrow, there will be only one, and PokerNews will follow the action the entire way until a champion is crowned here in North Cyprus.