Guarantee Smashed on Big Day 1 of $5,300 High Roller
Day 1 of the Merit Poker Western Series $5,300 High Roller has been completed with an expedient 6 hours of play through eight levels. The day attracted 95 entries which is enough to already blow past and nearly double the $250,000 guarantee. At the end of play about 69 players were left standing to move on to Day 2.
One of the largest stacks to emerge at the conclusion of play was Andrew Hulme of the United Kingdom who finished the night with 359,000. Very much on his heels was Mikhail Zamiatin who bagged up just slightly less with 354,000. He collected a large pot in one of the final hands of the night when his pocket queens bested pocket jacks on a hand that played out with all undercards and got it all in on the turn.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Position | Player | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrew Hulme | 359,500 | 240 |
| 2 | Jenya Gavrilovich | 355,000 | 237 |
| 3 | Mikhail Zamiatin | 354,000 | 236 |
| 4 | Roman Kolotiuk | 339,500 | 226 |
| 5 | Andreas Tomazou | 332,500 | 222 |
| 6 | Vladislav Ivanov | 330,000 | 220 |
| 7 | Mohamad El-Sayed | 330,000 | 220 |
| 8 | Aleksandr Pak | 318,500 | 212 |
| 9 | Recep Aydemir | 314,000 | 209 |
| 10 | Gokhan Ozbek | 290,000 | 193 |
With not a ton of play yet to really separate the stacks there were several players who bagged in the same range of just north of 3x starting stack. Some of them would include; Roman Kolotiuk (332,000), Vladislav Ivanov (330,000), Mohamad El-Sayed (330,000), and Recep Aydemir (314,000).
Registration is still open for four more levels into Day 2, so the prizepool is sure to only grow further as the real meat of the action will start to happen tomorrow after play gets started at 8 p.m. at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino.
PokerNews will continue coverage of this event for Day 2, where full chip counts and seat draw will be available before the start of play.
. There was a pot of about 18,000 and Dawid Smolka jammed all in from middle position for almost the same size of the pot. 
while Dashti was needing to hit with the 
. The river came the 
to keep Smolka ahead and give him the double.
and Oleg Netaliev called in the big blind.
. Netaliev led for 7,000 and Aslan called.
for two pair. Aslan checked his cards multiple times and took about 20 seconds before he mucked his cards.
. Kubanychbek Abakirov called in the big blind.
. Browne 7,400 into a pot of 15,300. Abakirov then made a massive raise to 85,000 which had Browne covered.
and walked away as he was busted.
. Gokhan Ozbek made a bet and was called by Ghanim Dashti.
. Ozbek fired out 5,100. Dashti played with his stack before tossing in a large raise to 38,300. Ozbek sighed and rolled his eyes but called quickly.
for the full boat which cracked the 
