$3,300 Main Event
Day 1b Started
2023 Merit Poker Western Series
$3,300 Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1b
2023 Merit Poker Western Series
Buy-in
$3,300
Prize Pool
$2,089,320
Entries
757
Level
38
Blinds
500,000 / 1,000,000
Ante
1,000,000
Entries
200
Players Left
92
Second Day of Merit Poker Western Series Main Event Gets Underway at 12 p.m.
It is time for Day 1b of the Merit Poker Western Series $3,300 Main Event to get underway at 12 high noon local time here in the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel & Casino on the shimmering shores of North Cyprus. The wild west themed event continues to gallop along in the early stages of the journey.
Today is the second of four starting flights for the $3,300 Main Event, with Day 1b on Saturday, January 21 and Day 1c on Sunday, January 22, and a turbo Day 1d in the evening on Sunday for last-minute entries.
Day 1a drew 215 entries and at the end of the day 106 remained. The high water mark has been set by Salavat Shafigullin who bagged up over five starting stacks with 511,000.
Players get a 100,000 starting stack for their $3,300 entry and reentry is unlimited and available for quite a while as players can jump in all the way until Level 13 which will be on Day 2. All levels are 60 minutes long (except for the Day 1d turbo). Day 1 will include nine levels with a 10-minute break every two levels and no scheduled dinner break as players should be bagged up by ~ 9:40 for a fairly swift day of play.
PokerNews will be on site to report all of the Day 1b developments
Level: 1
Blinds: 200/500
Ante: 500
Shuffle Up and Deal
Level 1
: Blinds 200/500, 500 ante
The cards are in the air on D1y 1b with 40 players at their seats at the start of play.
Players at the Start
Level 1
: Blinds 200/500, 500 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
100,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
|
100,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
|
100,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
|
100,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
|
100,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
|
100,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
Matafonov Raises River
Level 1
: Blinds 200/500, 500 ante
Action was joined on the river with the board reading 
. From the small blind, Mikhail Katykhin bet 3,500. He was raised to 15,000 by Denis Matafonov.
Katykhin went into a fairly long tank before ultimately tossing his cards into the muck.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
109,000
109,000
|
109,000 |
|
|
88,000
88,000
|
88,000 |
Day 1a Top Stacks
Level 1
: Blinds 200/500, 500 ante
Here is a look at the top ten chip counts at the end of Day 1a action and what the Day 1b players will be aiming for today.
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Salavat Shafigullin | Russia | 511,000 |
| 2 | Mohamed El-Sayed | Lebanon | 496,000 |
| 3 | Osman Atmaca | Turley | 495,000 |
| 4 | Koray Korkmaz | Turkey | 475,000 |
| 5 | Eduard Bagrov | Armenia | 467,000 |
| 6 | Sergei Sokharev | Russia | 459,000 |
| 7 | Timur Margolin | Israel | 429,000 |
| 8 | Mikahil Zamyatin | Russia | 425,000 |
| 9 | Mehmet Ali Erceylan | Turkey | 421,000 |
| 10 | Abraham Passet | United Kingdom | 418,000 |
Firsau Takes One
Level 1
: Blinds 200/500, 500 ante
On a board of 
. Anatoly Korochenskiy bet 1,700 from early position and was raised to 4,000 by Vasili Firsau on the button, Korochenskiy called.
The river was the 
. Both players checked.
Korochenskiy tabled the 
which was beaten by the 
of Firsau.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
113,000
113,000
|
113,000 |
|
||
|
95,000
95,000
|
95,000 |
Dadabaev Wins Three-Way Pot
Level 1
: Blinds 200/500, 500 ante
Three players saw a flop of 
. Paul Browne bet 1,400 from the cutoff. Tom Cohen called on the button and Shakir Dadabaev called in the small blind.
The turn was the 
. Browne bet 2,100 and got two calls again to bring the 
river.
It checked around. Browned tabled the 
but Dadabaev had that beat with the 
.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
110,000
110,000
|
110,000 |
|
|
98,000
-2,000
|
-2,000 |
|
|
91,000
-9,000
|
-9,000 |
Ni Forces Folds All Around
Level 1
: Blinds 200/500, 500 ante
Four players committed 4,100 to the middle on a flop of 
. The turn was the 
. Lavrentiy Ni bet 14,500 from early position. His first two opponents folded swiftly.
Esper Sadek took a bit more time from the button before he also decided to fold and send Ni the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
138,000
38,000
|
38,000 |
|
93,000
93,000
|
93,000 |