Hassan Nashar bet 50,000 from the big blind on a flop of 9♣7♥7♠ and Selahaddin Bedir called in early position.
The turn was the K♥ and Nashar moved all in. "I'll make you a deal. If I bust you, I'll buy you back in," Nashar told Bedir, who then quickly called for his last 120,000.
Nashar turned over A♥K♠ for two pair and Bedir had just ace-high with A♠5♣. The river was the 7♣ and Nashar took the pot, but not without being on the hook for Bedir's next buy-in.
Abdallah Eddine finished his opening flight of the first event of the Merit Poker Dolce Vita Series, the $1,100 IPO Master, in second place. Today on Day 1c of the $2,200 La Notte Degli Assi, he did one better.
Eddine vaulted to the top of the chip counts with a massive stack of 1,157,500 that placed him firmly in the chip lead over the rest of the field heading into tomorrow’s Day 2. Eddine sat to the direct left of Vasilii Shvarev during the later stages and constantly got the better of his fellow big stack, including one hand where he called Shvarev down with a pair of eights.
Day 1c Top 10 Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Abdallah Eddine
Lebanon
1,137,500
455
2
George Rabahie
Lebanon
725,000
290
3
Mircea Flutur
Romania
671,500
269
4
Evgenii Tambovtsev
Russia
627,000
251
5
Hassan Nashar
Senegal
515,500
206
6
Recep Aydemir
Turkey
460,000
184
7
Vasileios Panagiotidis
Greece
410,000
164
8
Ahmed Slimen
Turkey
397,000
159
9
Carmel Haloon
Israel
396,500
159
10
Anthony Khouzami
Lebanon
390,500
156
Only 99 players out of a starting field of 224 survived the day. Other players who built up a big stack included George Rabahie (725,000) and Mircea Flutur (671,500). Hassan Nashar busted Selahaddin Bedir on one of the last hands after promising to pay for Bedir’s next entry as he ended up with 515,000, while Recep Aydemir made quads to crack Traian Stanciu's queens on his way to 460,000.
Mircea Flutur
Cheng Zhao (354,000), Azamat Tulepbergenov (273,500), Fausto Tantillo (268,000), Antoine Hasbani (248,000), Hady El Asmar (225,000), Merit Poker Western Series runner-up Nichan Khorchidian (219,500), and Maksim Skripkin (203,000) also bagged up for Day 2.
The large field that gathered inside the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino today pushed the overall number of entries to 830 through three starting flights. There is still a turbo Day 1d flight to be played later tonight, while late registration remains open through Level 14 on Day 2.
Everyone left combines into one for Day 2 at noon local time tomorrow, with the possibility that new arrivals and late entries boost the field past 1,000 by the time the prize pool is announced.
Stay tuned as PokerNews returns tomorrow for all the action as the massive field finds out what they are playing for.
