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Five players saw a flop of 3♠7♣J♦ where Fredrico Senno bet 30,000 in early position. Fouad Toujani called in middle position, Maroun Jazzar called in the cutoff, and the rest of the table folded.
Action checked to Jazzar on the Q♣ turn and Jazzar bet 50,000. Only Toujani called. The river was the 9♥ and Jazzar bet another 100,000.
Toujani took several minutes before tossing in the chips to call. Jazzar tapped the felt and turned over 7♠6♠ for a bluff, while Toujani showed 10♠9♠ for a pair of nines as he took the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
850,000
250,000
|
250,000 |
|
500,000
351,000
|
351,000 |
|
420,000
280,000
|
280,000 |
Tournament officials announced that players will see three more hands before bagging up for the night.
Tamas Barbarics opened from the hijack before Joseph Choufani three-bet to 33,000 in the small blind.
Barbarics answered by four-betting to 85,000 and Choufani asked for a count of his remaining stack. After taking some time, Choufani moved all in and Barbarics called for his tournament life.
Tamas Barbarics: A♦K♥ 
Joseph Choufani: A♠A♣
Barbarics was in bad shape, with Choufani's aces holding through the K♠8♠6♣5♣Q♣ runout to score the knockout.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,325,000
933,000
|
933,000 |
|
Busted |
Day 2 has ended with approximately 217 players remaining.
Stay tuned for chip counts and a recap of the day's action.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,697,000
297,000
|
297,000 |
|
||
|
1,538,000
168,000
|
168,000 |
|
1,500,000
850,000
|
850,000 |
|
||
|
|
1,435,000
1,435,000
|
1,435,000 |
|
1,329,000
9,000
|
9,000 |
|
1,327,000
227,000
|
227,000 |
|
|
1,321,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
|
1,250,000
460,000
|
460,000 |
|
1,250,000 | |
|
1,246,000
1,121,000
|
1,121,000 |
|
1,232,000
362,000
|
362,000 |
|
1,220,000
280,000
|
280,000 |
|
|
1,209,000
429,000
|
429,000 |
|
1,190,000
843,000
|
843,000 |
|
1,170,000
700,000
|
700,000 |
|
|
1,163,000
862,000
|
862,000 |
|
1,135,000
335,000
|
335,000 |
|
1,127,000
163,000
|
163,000 |
|
1,093,000
147,000
|
147,000 |
|
1,069,000
349,000
|
349,000 |
|
||
|
|
1,025,000
175,000
|
175,000 |
|
1,024,000
633,500
|
633,500 |
|
1,016,000
512,000
|
512,000 |
|
|
1,014,000
781,000
|
781,000 |
|
1,005,000
295,000
|
295,000 |
What was a packed house inside the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino on Day 2 of the Merit Poker Dolce Vita Series $2,200 La Notte Degli Assi became just 210 hopefuls still in the running to capture the trophy by the end of the day.
Ermanno Pacini began the day inside the top 10 on the leaderboard and kept up that momentum, ending the night with 1,697,000 and the chip lead heading into Day 3. Guillermo Gordo made a set of jacks to earn a bustout earlier in the day as he ended up right behind Pacini with 1,538,000.
Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ermanno Pacini | Italy | 1,697,000 | 212 |
| 2 | Guillermo Gordo | Spain | 1,538,000 | 192 |
| 3 | Tuval Garbi | Israel | 1,500,000 | 188 |
| 4 | Asaf Groofi | Israel | 1,435,000 | 179 |
| 5 | Iraklis Manikaros | Greece | 1,329,000 | 166 |
| 6 | Gregory Luttke | France | 1,327,000 | 166 |
| 7 | Joseph Choufani | Lebanon | 1,321,000 | 165 |
| 8 | Francois Najjar | France | 1,250,000 | 156 |
| 9 | Adrian State | Romania | 1,250,000 | 156 |
| 10 | Alexander Savchenko | Russia | 1,246,000 | 156 |
Iraklis Manikaros won one of the biggest pots of Day 2, hitting a full house holding two aces against George Rabahie. That pot pushed him above 1,000,000 and he bagged up 1,329,000. Adrian State and Maher Achour were seated right beside each other in the later stages of the day and were involved in one big pot where State seven-bet shoved for 533,000; both ended up as big stacks, State with 1,250,000 and Achour with 1,220,000.
Other top stacks include Merit Poker Western Series champion Mohamed Mokrani (1,107,000), Fausto Tantillo (1,069,000), start-of-day chip leader Abdallah Eddine (938,000), Raffaele Castro (858,000), and Edgard Raffoul (840,000). Omar Lakhdari (730,000), $1,100 IPO Master runner-up Candido Cappiello (696,000), and Selahaddin Bedir (568,000) also made it through the day, while Simone Andrian (434,000) and Kalidou Sow (173,000) will return tomorrow on short stacks with work to do if they want to make the money.
Players who had their run end on Day 2 include $1,100 IPO Master champion Danesh Zargaran, Danut Chisu, Cheng Zhao, Fabio Peluso, and Natan Chauskin.
More than 200 new arrivals on Day 2 pushed the field up to 1,133 total entries. The official prize pool has yet to be announced but blew past the $1,500,000 guarantee. The first order of business tomorrow will be to make the money before players can set themselves up for a run at the final table. The action on Day 3 picks up on Level 18 with blinds of 4,000-8,000 and an 8,000 big blind ante.
PokerNews will be back at noon local time tomorrow to provide all the live updates as the field pushes past the money bubble.
$2,200 La Notte Degli Assi
Day 2 Completed
