Chakib M'hiri Leads More Than 300 Survivors Into Day 2 of the Main Event
The poker room at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino will be packed today when Day 2 of the Merit Poker Western Series $3,300 Main Event begins at noon local time.
The first four starting flights saw 607 total entries, already far surpassing the $1,500,000 guaranteed prize pool. A large field of 303 players are still in contention at the start of Day 2, led by Tunisia's Chakib M'hiri.
M'hiri enjoyed a fruitful Day 1, at times surpassing the 700,000-chip milestone before finishing with 627,000. Right behind him is Aleksandar Jakovljevic with 607,000. There are still plenty of notables with large stacks remaining in the field, including Timur Margolin (429,000), Nuri Hadioglu (418,000), Gabi Livshitz (338,500), and Maxime Chilaud (314,500).
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chakib M'hiri | Tunisia | 627,000 | 251 |
| 2 | Aleksandar Jakovljevic | Romania | 607,000 | 243 |
| 3 | Anatoliy Shteyn | Russia | 515,000 | 206 |
| 4 | Salavat Shafigullin | Russia | 511,000 | 204 |
| 5 | Mohamed El-Sayed | Lebanon | 496,000 | 198 |
| 6 | Osman Atmaca | Turkey | 495,000 | 198 |
| 7 | Koray Korkmaz | Turkey | 475,000 | 190 |
| 8 | Eduard Bagrov | Armenia | 467,000 | 187 |
| 9 | Matan Krakow | Israel | 464,000 | 186 |
| 10 | Sergei Sokharev | Russia | 459,000 | 184 |
Day 2 will kick off in Level 10, with blinds of 1,000-2,500 and a 2,500 big blind ante. Late registration is open for the first four levels of the day, so the field should grow considerably by the time the prize pool is confirmed. Players are allowed unlimited reentries for the duration of the registration period.
PokerNews will be following all the action as the massive field gets whittled down towards the money bubble here on Day 2 in North Cyprus.
when Goulder bet 13,000 on the button. Rakhimov called in early position as the 
fell on the turn.
river, when Rakhimov led out for 16,500. Goulder came back with a raise to 86,500, and Rakhimov called after some deliberation.
for the nut flush to win the pot.
. From the big blind, Kubanychbek Abakirov bet 18,000 and his opponent, who entered the day as one of the lrgest stacks but wished to remain anonymous, called from the small blind.
. The small blind checked. Bakirov thought for a while before betting 80,500. Hid opponent quickly raised all in and Abakirov snap-called.
for a flopped set but it was beaten by the 
wheel of Abakirov to knock the anon player down to about 300,000 from his early high perch and send the huge pot to the Kyrgyz player.
and Hebert got his last 163,000 in the middle with 
and was drawing only to a straight flush against Hebert's flopped full house.
and Hebert earned the double up.
for a bluff while Zhugralin showed down the 
. From the small blind, Kubanychbek Abakirov came with a bet of 160,000.
and tossed his other card into the muck in anger, indicating that he had been out-kicked as he lost the pot to the swelling stack of Abakirov.
. The 
