At her table, Alisa Sibgatova was very nervous as she was all in for almost 200,000 chips against Maxime Chilaud.
Alisa Sibgatova: J♠J♥
Maxime Chilaud: A♣Q♥
Sibgatova was clearly relieved when she hit trips on 3♣J♣10♣6♦5♦. She doubled up to 420,000 chips. A few hands later, Sonny Franco found himself at risk against Chilaud. He doubled too, but stayed short with less than 10 big blinds.
After an open to 18,000 by a player in an early position, Adrien Sanz in the middle position moved all-in for 119,000 chips. All the other players folded to the initial raiser, who called.
Adrien Sanz: A♦K♣
Opponent: Q♣Q♠
Sanz hit an ace directly on the flop 7♥4♦A♣. The turn 2♥ and the river 8♣ didn't change anything, and Sanz secured a double-up.
"Koko", under the gun, decided to limp, as did Gilles Simon seated on his left. With very little or almost nothing added to the pot, the players in the blinds completed to see the flop 10♦7♣Q♦.
On this first street, all three players in action checked to Simon, who bet 8,000. The blinds folded at this point, but not Koko, who chose to call. And on the turn 7♦, both players checked.
"Do you have the ace?" Koko asked when the A♥ landed on the river. And before receiving an answer, Koko bet 54,000 chips. "I don't think you have the ace," remarked Simon before eventually making the call. However, he could only muck his cards as Koko revealed K♦4♦ for a flush.
After the completion of Level 16, Day 2 of the Merit Poker Retro Series $2,200 Warm Up at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino came to an end. A total of 809 entries were registered in this tournament, generating a $1,488,560 prize pool which is far above the guarantee of $1,000,000.
Among these 809 entrants, 156 players put chips in their bags on Day 2 and qualified for Day 3. And it's Erdal Gulseven who finished the day as chip leader. Ahead of a big stack all day long, he ended Day 2 with 1,408,000 chips. "Am I the chip leader?", asked Michael Allen when he was writing down "1,232,000 chips" on his bag. Unfortunately for him, he isn't the one in the lead. But still, he'll come back on Day 3 with more than 150 blinds.
Top 10 Of Day 2
Rank
Name
Country
Chip Count
Blinds
1
Erdal Gulseven
Turkey
1,408,000
176
2
Giorgiy Skhulukhiya
Georgia
1,291,000
161
3
Hadi Khadra
Lebanon
1,247,000
156
4
Michael Allen
United Kingdom
1,232,000
154
5
Fahredin Mustafov
Bulgaria
1,200,000
150
6
Murat Cakir
Turkey
1,183,000
148
7
Fedor Dedelov
Russia
1,164,000
146
8
Fausto Tantillo
Italy
1,130,000
141
9
Kasparas Klezys
Lithuania
1,125,000
141
10
Roman Gadzhiev
Russia
1,097,000
137
The chip leader at the beginning of the day, Roman Gadzhiev still has a big stack of 1,097,000 chips. This is the same for EPT and WPT champion Andrey Pateychuk (1,072 ,000). After he reentered on Day 2, the 2023 Merit Poker Carmen Series champion Maxime Chilaud also secured a stack above average (773,000). Players like Danut Chisu (540,000) or Volodymyr Drokin (534,000) will come back on Day 3 with slightly fewer chips.
On the contrary, last year's Merit Poker Retro Series $2,200 Warm Up runner-up Mehdi Chaoui fought with a small stack during the last levels. But he qualified with 119,000 chips, and can still try to reach the final table for the second consecutive time.
Players remaining will come back on Thursday, August 10th, at noon for Day 3. Their first goal will be to be in the money, as 98 players will get paid. Once the bubble bursts, it’s on to the final table.
PokerNews will be following all the action as players chase the title and top prize.