Chilaud, Fedoseev, and Aydemir Chase the Mysterious "John Doe" on the Final Day of the $2,200 Warm Up
Today is the final day of the Merit Poker Western Series $2,200 Warm Up, and everyone is looking up at the “mystery man.”
The man known only as “John Doe” has a commanding lead over the remaining 19 players with 9,800,000. France’s Maxime Chilaud is in second place at 6,755,000, a comfortable stack in its own right but still more than 3,000,000 behind the chip leader. Chilaud is no stranger to success here at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino. He won a high roller event here in November for $184,000 and will look to repeat that performance today.
Vladislav Fedoseev rounds out the top three at 4,550,000. The fun-loving and talkative Recep Aydemir is in fifth place with 3,245,000. British pros Ryan Mandara and Paul Browne have been near the top of the leaderboard since the start of the tournament and are both still in the hunt for the title; Mandara is in 10th place with 2,010,000, while Browne has his work cut out for him on a stack of 850,000, less than ten big blinds.
Day 4 chip counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Doe | n/a | 9,800,000 | 98 |
| 2 | Maxime Chilaud | France | 6,755,000 | 68 |
| 3 | Vladislav Fedoseev | Russia | 4,550,000 | 46 |
| 4 | Helmut Phung | Germany | 3,900,000 | 39 |
| 5 | Recep Aydemir | Turkey | 3,245,000 | 32 |
| 6 | Eli Saad | Lebanon | 2,660,000 | 27 |
| 7 | Andress Merheb | Lebanon | 2,600,000 | 26 |
| 8 | Valentin Tsoy | Uzbekistan | 2,570,000 | 26 |
| 9 | Halil Baybars | Turkey | 2,130,000 | 21 |
| 10 | Ryan Mandara | United Kingdom | 2,010,000 | 20 |
| 11 | Michele Guerrini | Italy | 1,910,000 | 19 |
| 12 | David Hu | Netherlands | 1,905,000 | 19 |
| 13 | Yury Bochkarev | Russia | 1,675,000 | 17 |
| 14 | Evgenii Katymaev | Russia | 1,495,000 | 15 |
| 15 | Huseyin Akgul | Turkey | 1,290,000 | 13 |
| 16 | Michael Allen | United Kingdom | 1,150,000 | 12 |
| 17 | Paul Browne | United Kingdom | 850,000 | 9 |
| 18 | Nikolay Fal | Russia | 835,000 | 8 |
| 19 | Arie Kliper | Israel | 815,000 | 8 |
The 19 survivors are all that is left from a starting field of 523 total entries. Everyone who has made it this far is guaranteed at least $8,115, but they'll all be chasing the top prize of $181,200 and the title of champion.
Day 4 begins at 1 p.m. local time will pick up on Level 27, with blinds at 50,000-100,000 and a 100,000 big blind ante. Once the final table is reached, it will be streamed live on a 30-minute delay on Merit Poker’s Facebook page and YouTube until a new champion is crowned.
PokerNews will be following all the action until there is only one player still standing after the ultimate gunfight in North Cyprus.
and was in a coin flip against Hu's 
. The 
flop gave Hu top pair, and he held on through the 
turn and 
river to send Fal to the rail in 19th place.
, while Bochkarev showed 
and Fedoreev won the pot with his ace-high to send Bochkarev to the rail.
river to hit the rail in 17th place.
flop.
.
and Doe continued for 400,000. Baybars called, then called another bet of 600,000 on the 
turn.
, while Baybars turned over 
and Allen looked around at the other table before throwing in his last chips. Guerrini quickly called with 
but was behind Allen's 
for trips. Fedoseev was forced to show 
