$3,300 Main Event Day 1b | 2024 Merit Poker Carmen Series

03-22-2024 16:57 UTC+3

Become a Bigger Part of the Action With MyStack by PokerNews

Ryan Lashmar

Level 4 : Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

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MyStack is a free poker tool and PokerNews activates MyStack for every event it is live reporting from, regardless of that tournament's buy-in. Once you have created a free PokerNews account, you can use MyStack to update your chip counts in real time; hopefully, your stack will continue increasing throughout the event!

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03-22-2024 17:11 UTC+3

Miral Soars with Rockets

Ryan Lashmar

Level 4 : Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

Can Miral opened to 2,200 from the hijack only for Mustafa Biz to three-bet to 6,500 from the cutoff. Aleksandar Tot called from the button before Eddy Khoury put in a four-bet to 30,500 from the small blind. Miral and Tot called while Biz got out of the way.

The flop came 3♣3♦4♦ and Khoury moved all in for 31,000. Miral called with a covering stack while Tot opted to fold.

Eddy Khoury: 5♦5♠ All in
Can Miral: A♣A♥

Miral was in excellent shape with the bigger overpair and remained ahead on the J♠ turn and 7♥ river to scoop a colossal pot while Khoury made his exit from the tournament area.

Player	Chips	Progress
Can Miral	290,000 290,000	290,000
Mustafa Biz	268,000 268,000	268,000
Aleksandar Tot	177,000 -24,000	-24,000
Eddy Khoury	Busted

Tags: Aleksandar Tot Can Miral Eddy Khoury Mustafa Biz

03-22-2024 17:21 UTC+3

Break

Ryan Lashmar

Level 4 : Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

Players are now on their second 15-minute break of the day. The field has grown to 149 total entrants of which 112 players remain.

Level: 5

Blinds: 600/1,200

Ante: 1,200

03-22-2024 17:41 UTC+3

Assorted Chip Counts After Second Break

Ryan Lashmar

Level 5 : Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Yassin Mahmoud	497,000 497,000	497,000
Antoine Hasbani	415,000 415,000	415,000
Hadi Khordbin	312,500 216,500	216,500
Mustafa Biz	309,000 41,000	41,000
Can Miral	295,000 5,000	5,000
Sergey Baranski	275,000 63,000	63,000
Anatoly Nikitin	230,000 161,800	161,800
Giorgiy Skhulukhiya	214,000 80,000	80,000
Mario Scalia	211,300 -46,700	-46,700
Dawid Smolka	58,000 58,000	58,000
Aylar Lie	36,500 -63,500	-63,500

03-22-2024 18:02 UTC+3

Two Streets of Value for Mahmoud

Ryan Lashmar

Level 5 : Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

A player opened to 2,400 from under the gun and was called by Yassin Mahmoud on the button.

Both players checked the 6♠5♠4♠ flop leading to the 2♥ turn. The under the gun player check-called a 5,000 bet from Mahmoud.

Mahmoud bet again for 5,000 when checked to on the 9♠ river and was once again called by his opponent. Mahmoud tabled 10♠7♠ for a ten-high flush and his opponent promptly mucked.

Player	Chips	Progress
Yassin Mahmoud	548,000 51,000	51,000

Tags: Yassin Mahmoud

03-22-2024 18:20 UTC+3

Papapetrou Cracks Set to Double

Ryan Lashmar

Level 5 : Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

With two players seeing a board of 10♣5♥6♦2♠ and roughly 30,000 already in the middle, Yiannakis Papapetrou bet 13,000 from the big blind and was called by Lyudmil Ivanov in middle position.

On the J♣ river Papapetrou bet 25,500, leaving just under 5,000 behind. Ivanov moved all in with a covering stack and Papapetrou made the call.

Ivanov tabled 5♠5♣ for a set of fives but Papapetrou turned over 4♣3♦ for a six-high straight to score a full double up at Ivanov's expense.

Player	Chips	Progress
Yiannakis Papapetrou	109,000 109,000	109,000
Lyudmil Ivanov	89,000 -105,500	-105,500

Tags: Lyudmil Ivanov Yiannakis Papapetrou

Level: 6

Blinds: 700/1,500

Ante: 1,500

03-22-2024 18:40 UTC+3

PokerNews Podcast: Dwan Drama, Women in Poker, Boston Rob & Brantzen on Reality TV

Ryan Lashmar

Level 6 : Blinds 700/1,500, 1,500 ante

In the 821st episode of the PokerNews Podcast, Chad Holloway, Mike Holtz & Kyna England come to you from Level 9 Studios in Las Vegas to discuss the latest poker news, stories, and gossip. That includes the recent drama surrounding Tom "durrrr" Dwan, who recently talked to PokerNews in a 45-minute in-depth conversation about debt allegations recently leveled against him by Peter Jetten and Haralabos Voulgaris.

You can read everything Dwan had to say in our feature article here but suffice it to say he didn't give clear answers. Some say he spouted a word salad to most of the questions, and our crew took a look at some clips and offered their thoughts. We also asked Dwan point blank if he's ever been kidnapped by the Triads, an urban legend of sorts in the poker world.

Mike and Kyna then talked about their respective tournament successes since the last show, which led to a larger talk about women in poker and how the industry sometimes struggles to market to such a large segment of the population. From there, it was on to a discussion about the recent uptick of poker-related names venturing into the reality TV space including Boston Rob Mariano, Brantzen Poker, and Athena Jett.

Finally, the crew touched on Kevin Martin's 24/7 stream while attempting to win $5,000 playing online and close it out by offering their thoughts on the often-critical Allen Kessler.

Listen to the New PokerNews Podcast Here!

Did you know the PokerNews Podcast is no longer just audio? That's right, we've added a video show as well that you can view on the PokerNews YouTube Channel.

03-22-2024 18:58 UTC+3

Peluso Fights Back from the Brink

Ryan Lashmar

Level 6 : Blinds 700/1,500, 1,500 ante

Yiannakis Papapetrou opened to 3,000 from middle position and Fabio Peluso moved all in for 23,200 from the hijack. Boris Tabiyev called from the button with a covering stack and Papapetrou got out of the way.

Fabio Peluso: J♦J♣ All in
Boris Tabiyev: A♥K♦

Tabiyev was drawing dead by the turn on the J♠3♥5♥3♦7♠ runout. Peluso's full house was good at showdown and he scored a full double up.

Just a couple hands later, in another preflop confrontation, Peluso found himself all in and at risk for 53,100 and was up against Miad Shakiba who covered.

Fabio Peluso: A♦K♣ All in
Miad Shakiba: A♣Q♣

Peluso was in great shape with the bigger ace and remained ahead on the 5♥4♥7♥2♥10♦ runout to score a second full double, effectively quadrupling his stack from what it was at just a few hands prior.