Over 100 Remain on Day 3 of Merit Poker Western Series Main Event
Day 3 of the Merit Poker Western Series Main Event gets underway today at 12 noon local time with 114 players coming back. The early drama of the day will be the money bubble which will hit early on as 89 of the remaining players will make the money.
Leading the way into Day 3 is Ara Melkisetian of Lebanon who has a comfortable stack of over 150 big blinds. He has close to $500,000 in career earnings on the felt and will be looking to use his large stack to make a deep run here today.
His countryman Walid Bou Habib enters the second in chips as he is the only other player north of 2 million, creating a decent amount of separation between the top two and the rest of the big stacks.
In third more than 300,000 in chips behind second is Benjamin Hammann of France with 1,775,000. Makram Bou Habib (1,635,000) and Aleksandr Chernikov (1,605,000) round out the top five counts as they are the only five players who start the day with more than 100 big blinds.
Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ara Melkisetian | Lebanon | 2,365,000 | 158 |
| 2 | Walid Bou Habib | Lebanon | 2,100,000 | 140 |
| 3 | Benjamin Hammann | France | 1,775,000 | 118 |
| 4 | Makram Bou Habib | Lebanon | 1,635,000 | 109 |
| 5 | Aleksandr Chernikov | Russia | 1,605,000 | 107 |
| 6 | Maciej Komorowski | Poland | 1,460,000 | 97 |
| 7 | Orthodoxos Orthodoxou | Cyprus | 1,310,000 | 87 |
| 8 | Ceyhan Tezcan | Turkey | 1,230,000 | 82 |
| 9 | Vitaly Pankov | Russia | 1,205,000 | 80 |
| 10 | Eduard Barsegian | Russia | 1,200,000 | 80 |
There are several notable names amongst the returning players today, including, Cyprus local Orthodoxos Orthodoxou, who enters with a large stack of 1,310,000. Turkish player Ceyhan Tezcan is eight in chips witjh 1,230,000. Luc Bindel of France with 1,020,000, American Anthony Potis with 915,000 and the always loquatious Ghanim Dashti who has 720,000 to start the day.
Play will start at noon local time. There will be breaks every two levels and it will be up to the discretion of the tournament director as to when exactly play will end for the night.
PokerNews will be on hand for the entire day of action with chip counts and hand updates.
. From under the gun, Kubanychbek Abakirov bet 55,000. El Khoury Gabriel was on his left in early position and raised it up to 125,000.
and the river the 
to send away the one time chip leader of the tournament.
. Timur Margolin bet 35,000 from the button, Baurzhan Akimov folded the big blind and El Khoury Gabriel called in the hijack.
. Gabriel checked it. Margolin jammed all in and Khoury quickly said "Call!".
was crushed by the 
turned boat of Gabriel. Margolin threw his head back as the ordinarily stoic player was stunned and got up to leave as the meaningless river came the 
and El Khoury continued his early red hot start to the day.
and Panka bet another 140,000. Aydemir looked back at his cards before tossing in the chips to call as the 
fell on the river.
and Dashti survived on the bubble, while Lech was left with just over 100,000.
board and Rakhimov showed 
for a pair of jacks. Efimov had 
on the river also gave Chisu two pair but it wasn't enough to avoid him hitting the rail.
turn.
to end the day for Bou Habib and give Chernikov a huge chip lead.
and Chilaud moved all in. Panka snap-called for his last 950,000 as Chilaud showed 