$2,200 Warm Up Day 3 | 2023 Merit Poker Gangster Series

$2,200 Warm Up

Day 3 Completed

11-26-2023 01:15 UTC+2

Yunsheng Sun Runs his Stack Up to Chip Lead in Penultimate Day of $2,200 Warm Up

Ryan Lashmar

Level 26 : Blinds 40,000/80,000, 80,000 ante

Day 3 of the 2023 Merit Poker Gangster Series $2,200 Warm Up has come to a close here at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino. China's Yunsheng Sun bagged the overall chip lead, finishing the night with 5,970,000 worth 60 big blinds going into tomorrow's Day 4. Sun is most closely followed by Bakhos Joumaa (5,050,000), who enjoyed the chip lead for most of the day today, and Ankit Ahuja (4,400,000).

Sun has been on a hot streak this year and recently took third place in a €2,200 High Roller event at EPT Barcelona for a career-best score of €385,240 ($415,846). Sun currently has $1,717,348 in career tournament earnings under his belt and will be looking to add a substantial amount to that number with his deep run in this event.

Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Yunsheng Sun	China	5,970,000	60
2	Bakhos Joumaa	Lebanon	5,050,000	51
3	Ankit Ahuja	India	4,400,000	44
4	Hadi Khadra	Lebanon	3,395,000	34
5	Ivan Govorov	Russia	3,005,000	30
6	Giorgiy Skhulukhiya	Georgia	2,875,000	29
7	Tugce Hursoz	Turkey	2,640,000	26
8	Martynas Vitkauskas	Lithuania	2,500,000	25
9	Bernard Boutboul	France	2,300,000	23
10	Feyzullah Karaarslan	Turkey	2,050,000	21

Day 3 began with 79 players and that number was whittled down to just 16 over the course of ten 60-minute levels. Andrei Daniliuk began the day with the chip lead but Leonid Sidelkovskiy caught up to him quickly after making a thin value bet and getting paid off in the first level of the day.

Rachid Yaacoubi become the unfortunate soul to bust on the stone bubble today after being on the wrong side of a brutal set over set collision against Giorgiy Skhulukhiya.

It was around this time that Bakhos Joumaa began accumulating a massive stack and he would continue to extend his chip lead over the rest of the field throughout the first half of the day. Sun would be the first player to catch up and eventually overtake Joumaa for the lead, gaining significant momentum after doubling up through Ahuja in a nasty cooler that saw Ahuja lose more than two thirds of his stack. Ahuja would make a quick comeback, knocking out two players back to back during the final three tables to reclaim most of the chips he had lost.

Other notable players to make it to the final day include Day 1b chip leader Dmitry Yurasov (1,850,000) and Day 2 chip leader Andrei Daniliuk (1,935,000). Players who busted just shy of the money include Halil Tasyurek and Day 1c chip leader Arun Sood while players who managed to cash but failed to advance to Day 4 include Anton Markov (45th - $3,840), Guoliang Wei (41st - $4,500) and Benjamin Hamnett (28th - $5,170),

Day 4 begins tomorrow, November 26 at 1:00 p.m. local time at Level 27 with blinds at 50,000/100,000 and a 100,000 big blind ante. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you all the updates for tomorrow's Day 4 where a winner will be crowned and claim the top prize of $167,500.

Tags: Andrei Daniliuk Ankit Ahuja Anton Markov Arun Sood Bakhos Joumaa Benjamin Hamnett Bernard Boutboul Dmitry Yurasov Feyzullah Karaarslan Giorgiy Skhulukhiya Guoliang Wei Hadi Khadra Halil Tasyurek Ivan Govorov Leonid Sidelkovskiy Martynas Vitkauskas Rachid Yaacoubi Tugce Hursoz Yunsheng Sun

11-26-2023 01:13 UTC+2

Day 4 Seat Draw

Ryan Lashmar

Level 26 : Blinds 40,000/80,000, 80,000 ante

Table	Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	1	Feyzullah Karaarslan	Turkey	2,050,000	21
1	2	Ivan Govorov	Russian Federation	3,005,000	30
1	3	Leonid Sidelkovskiy	Russian Federation	1,745,000	17
1	4	Sultan Meirbekov	Kazakhstan	1,865,000	19
1	5	Martynas Vitkauskas	Lithuania	2,500,000	25
1	6	Bernard Boutboul	France	2,300,000	23
1	7	Hadi Khadra	Lebanon	3,395,000	34
1	8	Yunsheng Sun	China	5,970,000	60

2	1	Ankit Ahuja	India	4,400,000	44
2	2	Giorgiy Skhulukhiya	Georgia	2,875,000	29
2	3	Andrei Daniliuk	Russian Federation	1,935,000	19
2	4	Dmitry Yurasov	Russian Federation	1,850,000	19
2	5	Harout Ghazarian	Canada	1,810,000	18
2	6	Bakhos Joumaa	Lebanon	5,050,000	51
2	7	Tugce Hursoz	Turkey	2,640,000	26
2	8	Damir Gabdullin	Russian Federation	1,725,000	17

11-26-2023 00:58 UTC+2

End of Night Chip Counts (full)

Jeremy Geist

Level 26 : 40,000/80,000, 80,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Yunsheng Sun	5,970,000 -1,630,000	-1,630,000

Bakhos Joumaa	5,050,000 -355,000	-355,000
Ankit Ahuja	4,400,000 1,800,000	1,800,000
Hadi Khadra	3,395,000 655,000	655,000
Ivan Govorov	3,005,000 -495,000	-495,000
Giorgiy Skhulukhiya	2,875,000 725,000	725,000
Tugce Hursoz	2,640,000 490,000	490,000
Martynas Vitkauskas	2,500,000 -775,000	-775,000
Bernard Boutboul	2,300,000 15,000	15,000
Feyzullah Karaarslan	2,050,000 -250,000	-250,000
Andrei Daniliuk	1,935,000 -465,000	-465,000

Sultan Meirbekov	1,865,000 115,000	115,000
Dmitry Yurasov	1,850,000 -295,000	-295,000

Harout Ghazarian	1,810,000 1,110,000	1,110,000
Leonid Sidelkovskiy	1,745,000 -1,215,000	-1,215,000
Damir Gabdullin	1,725,000 425,000	425,000

11-26-2023 00:52 UTC+2

The Curtain Falls on Day 3 of the $2,200 Warm Up

Ryan Lashmar

Level 26 : 40,000/80,000, 80,000 ante

Players have bagged their chips and the action has reached a conclusion on Day 3 of the $2,200 Warm Up.

Stay tuned for a full recap of the day's action including update chip counts going into Day 4 that will follow shortly.

11-26-2023 00:43 UTC+2

Final Two Hands

Ryan Lashmar

Level 26 : 40,000/80,000, 80,000 ante

The tournament staff have announced there will be two more hands played before Day 3 concludes.

11-26-2023 00:42 UTC+2

Boutboul Doubles Through Sidelkovskiy

Ryan Lashmar

Level 26 : 40,000/80,000, 80,000 ante

Bernard Boutboul moved all in from early position for 1,075,000 and Leonid Sidelkovskiy made the call from the big blind with a covering stack to put Boutboul at risk.

Bernard Boutboul: A♥Q♠
Leonid Sidelkovskiy: A♠J♠

The board ran out 10♣K♠3♦9♠K♦. Boutboul held with the bigger ace to secure a full double up towards the end of the evening.

Player	Chips	Progress
Bernard Boutboul	2,270,000 -15,000	-15,000
Leonid Sidelkovskiy	1,985,000 -880,000	-880,000

Tags: Bernard Boutboul Leonid Sidelkovskiy

11-26-2023 00:16 UTC+2

Meirbekov Gets a Much Needed Double After a Crazy River

Jeremy Geist

Level 26 : 40,000/80,000, 80,000 ante

Action folded to Sultan Meirbekov in the cutoff who moved all in off a short stack for 640,000. The small blind flat called and then action was on Ivan Govorov in the big blind. He sat in the tank for a few moments and then moved all in having both players covered.

The small blind threw his hand away and the two players were heads up to a full board.

Sultan Meirbekov: J♠10♥
Ivan Govorov: A♦K♣

The K♥K♠Q♠ had Meirbekov drawing dead to running spades or a nine. The 2♠ turn brought some help and then the 9♠ river gave him the straight and the flush to scoop a much needed pot for the double.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ivan Govorov	3,500,000 30,000	30,000
Sultan Meirbekov	1,750,000 -220,000	-220,000

Tags: Sultan Meirbekov Ivan Govorov

11-26-2023 00:06 UTC+2

Sidelkovskiy Five-Bet Shoves

Ryan Lashmar

Level 26 : 40,000/80,000, 80,000 ante

Giorgiy Skhulukhiya opened to 160,000 from middle position and Leonid Sidelkovskiy three-bet to 420,000. Ivan Govorov four-bet to 700,000, forcing a fold from Skhulukhiya and sending Sidelkovskiy. into the tank.

After a couple minutes Sidelkovskiy moved all in for roughly 2,000,000 and Govorov snap-folded.