With two players seeing a board of 6♠10♣J♠6♥Q♠, Uladzimir Zhyharau checked from the big blind and Dmitrii Kuzin bet 23,500 from the button. Zhyharau thought for roughly 30 seconds before making the call.
Kuzin immediately mucked his hand without showing and Zhyharau took the pot without having to show the winning hand.
Play has reached a conclusion for the first of four starting flights in the Merit Poker Carmen Series $3,300 Main Event here at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino. The first flight attracted 185 total entrants with 83 players advancing to Day 2 at the end of the night.
Dmitrii Kuzin bagged the biggest stack of the evening, finishing with 647,500 chips worth 259 big blinds going into Day 2. Kuzin is most closely followed by Fausto Tantillo (602,000) and Jovan Kenjic (547,500). Tantillo took a commanding chip lead midway through the day only to be overtaken by Kuzin in the last two levels of the night.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Dmitrii Kuzin
Russian Federation
647,500
259
2
Fausto Tantillo
Italy
602,000
241
3
Jovan Kenjic
Serbia
547,500
219
4
George Tomescu
Romania
514,000
206
5
Uladzimir Zhyharau
Belarus
507,500
203
6
Florian Guimond
France
448,500
179
7
Kacper Pyzara
Poland
444,000
178
8
Simone Andrian
Italy
436,500
175
9
Daniel Kyosev
Bulgaria
417,000
167
10
Maximilian Silz
Germany
405,500
162
Kuzin has already made a few deep runs in Merit Poker tournaments here in Cyprus, including a fourth-place finish in the Merit Poker Retro Series $2,200 Warm Up in 2022 for a career-best score of $59,300. The Russian player will undoubtedly be looking to top that score with a another deep run in this event.
Fausto Tantillo
Some more notables to end the day with chips in a bag include Simone Andrian (436,500), Milos Skrbic (404,000), Vladimir Bozinovic (388,000), Andrea Dato (276,000), Felipe Ketzer (164,500) and Victor Yugay (125,000). Others who entered Day 1a but were not fortunate enough to advance include Fabio Peluso, Bart Lybaert, Anton Markov and Dawid Smolka.
Both Ketzer and Andrian had big scores at the Merit Poker Western Series this past January. Ketzer took third place in the $3,300 Main Event of that festival for $155,000 while Andrian won the $2,200 Warm Up for $165,000. Both players will be a force to be reckoned with going into Day 2 as they look to replicate the success they had from the last Merit Poker Series.
Felipe Ketzer
Stay tuned for more coverage as PokerNews brings you all the action from the remainder of the festival along the shores of the Mediterranean in North Cyprus.
