Ehsan Amiri Tops Merit Poker Main Event Day 1c
The field reached 769 entries after Day 1c and the ongoing turbo Day 1d added more players late in the day.
Day 1c of the $5,500 Merit Poker Main Event wrapped with Ehsan Amiri on top after he bagged 1,705,000 chips. The flight drew another 185 entries, and the still-running turbo Day 1d added 140 more after late registration closed, pushing the overall field to 769.
PokerNews reported that Day 1c began with 100,000-chip starting stacks and 30-minute levels, while Day 1d started later in the evening at 6 p.m. with 25-minute levels. By the time the first two starting flights were done, the event had already reached 444 entries and 66 players had booked Day 2 spots.
Amiri finished clear of the rest of the Day 1c field, but Farkas Benedek was close behind with 1,650,000. Alexey Borovkov ended with 1,365,000, followed by Fabian Gumz on 1,275,000, Bogdan Jontulovic on 1,175,000, and Fahredin Mustafov on 1,100,000.
The flight also produced a few big hands. Illia Hurin scored a knockout when Ekaterina Fedyaeva called off with a pair of jacks and Hurin’s nut straight on the turn held up.
Elie Farah had earlier hero-called Kirill Shcherbakov down over three streets with a pair of sevens, and that double-up pushed him near the top of the counts. His run ended just two places from the money, though, when his ace-queen ran into Borovkov’s pocket deuces.
After Farah went out, the tournament moved to the direct bubble and hand-for-hand play began. Hassan Nashar, who had already bubbled Day 1b, took another shot on Day 1c, only to see his first bullet end in one hand when his pocket nines were cracked by a weak ace in a three-way pot.
Nashar kept reentering, eventually built a stack, and then ran into Benedek, who picked off a huge river bluff with trips. Mehmet Kolgu then became the bubble boy after getting the last of his chips in against Borovkov.
On the tournament page, Kolgu was shown all in from early position with K♦5♦ against Borovkov’s 3♥3♦. The board ran K♥J♥6♥, then Q♥, which left Kolgu drawing dead to a chop before the 2♣ river.
The 28 Day 1c survivors locked up seats for Day 2, and all Day 2 players are guaranteed a share of the $3,000,000 prize pool. Felipe Ketzer advanced with 725,000, Pedro Ingles with 555,000, Neophytos Neophytou with 520,000, Timur Mukhamedaminov with 475,000, Nicolas Chouity with 450,000, Sergey Moiseev with 435,000, Eyal Eshkar with 350,000, Orhan Ates with 200,000, Katherina Aristotelos with 230,000, and Irina Zheleznyak with 570,000.
Aristotelos and Zheleznyak were the only female survivors from the flight. Day 2 gets underway at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, August 5, with play set to resume at Level 17 at blinds of 10,000/20,000 and a 20,000 big blind ante, while the schedule for the penultimate day will be determined as the day progresses.
