52 Players Return for Day 2 of the $5,300 High Roller at the Merit Poker Gangster Series, with Dmitry Gromov Leading the Field
Day 1 of the 2023 Merit Poker Gangster Series hosted by the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino attracted a total of 63 runners, with late registration still open until Level 12 on Day 2 of the event.
After eight levels of play, only 52 players remained in the tournament. Dmitry Gromov emerged as the chip leader with a stack of 255,500. Other players who bagged big stacks were Halil Tasyurek from Lebanon with 243,000 chips, Maksim Shornikau from Belarus with 249,000 chips, local Turkish Pro Koray Korkmaz with 251,000 chips, and Belarusian Ihar Soika with 235,000 chips.
Top Ten Chips Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dmitry Gromov | Russia | 255,500 | 170 |
| 2 | Koray Korkmaz | Turkey | 251,000 | 167 |
| 3 | Aleksandr Kirichenko | Russia | 250,000 | 167 |
| 4 | Maksim Shornikau | Belarus | 249,000 | 166 |
| 5 | Halil Serdar Tasyurek | Turkey | 243,000 | 162 |
| 6 | Ihar Soika | Belarus | 235,500 | 157 |
| 7 | Simas Karaliunas | Lithuania | 234,500 | 156 |
| 8 | Navid Samavati | Iran | 220,500 | 147 |
| 9 | Danut Florin Chisu | France | 219,000 | 146 |
| 10 | Jakub Maciej Michalak | Poland | 214,500 | 143 |
On the first day of the tournament, some other notable players who managed to get a bag included Ankit Ahuja, who finished third in the 2023 Merit Poker $2,200 Warm Up, with 121,500 chips, Erdal Gulseven with 193,500 chips, Nikolay Ponomarev with 126,000 chips, Damir Gabdullin with 90,000 chips, who also had a top 15 finish in the Warm Up, Romania's Danut Chisu with 219,000 chips, and Ireland's Toby Joyce with 160,000.
Day 2 of the High Roller tournament begins today at 8:00 p.m. The tournament will play down to a final table of eight, which will be live-streamed on the Merit Poker YouTube channel on Day 3.
The current prize pool is at $315,000 and late registration is still open until level 12. It is expected that some players will find their seats around that time. The players will begin the day at level 9 with blinds of 1,000/1,500/1,500. The current average stack is 138,000, which means that every player still has a chance to win and there are enough opportunities to make some creative moves.
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