Two massive pots, both against the same player who came to gamble, were enough to catapult Seyedali Hosseinirami to the chip lead on Day 1a of the $1,100 IPO Master.
Hosseinirami twice spiked a set in three-way all ins that also involved Hassan Nashar, the last a massive pot where Hosseinirami’s set of jacks sent Nashar and Alisa Sibgatova to the rail. That pot moved Hosseinirami up to 921,500 and atop the leaderboard as 71 players advanced out of a starting field of 169 on the opening day of the Merit Poker Dolce Vita Series festival.
Abdallah Eddine doubled up with a flopped full house, then made the nut straight to win a big pot off Federico Fulciniti. He finished with 857,500 and is looking up only at Hosseinirami in the chip counts. Other top stacks include Youssef Habib (510,000), Sergey Bortsov (486,000), 2023 Merit Poker Western Series runner-up Aleksandr Chernikov (417,000), and high roller Selahaddin Bedir (366,000).
Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seyedali Hosseinirami | Iran | 921,500 | 369 |
| 2 | Abdallah Eddine | Lebanon | 857,000 | 343 |
| 3 | Youssef Habib | Lebanon | 510,000 | 204 |
| 4 | Sergey Bortsov | Israel | 486,500 | 195 |
| 5 | Mariia Dviniatina | Russia | 447,000 | 179 |
| 6 | Siavash Ziarat | Iran | 444,500 | 178 |
| 7 | Svetoslav Nikolov | Bulgaria | 426,000 | 170 |
| 8 | Hichem Ladhari | Tunisia | 423,500 | 169 |
| 9 | Aleksandr Chernikov | Russia | 417,000 | 167 |
| 10 | Houman Sahafi | Iran | 381,500 | 153 |
Miroslav Rizov (360,000), Maher Achour (296,500), Fausto Tantillo (260,000), Candido Cappiello (194,500), Maxim Lykov (179,500), Giorgiy Skhulukhiya (133,000), and Simone Andrian (118,000) also survived the opening flight. Those who weren’t as lucky included Merit Poker Carmen Series champion Elie Farah, Dmitry Gromov, Fabio Peluso, and Romain Retiere. They’ll have to try again on a later flight if they hope to make a run for the title.
Day 1b begins tomorrow at noon local time. There is also a Day 1c at 8:30 p.m. with 20-minute levels, and a turbo Day 1d flight at 10 a.m. on July 26 with 15-minute levels. All surviving players return for Day 2 at 12:30 p.m. on July 26. Late registration remains open through Level 14 on Day 2.
PokerNews will be back tomorrow providing all the action from the second opening flight here along the idyllic shores of the Mediterranean in North Cyprus.
