$2,200 Warm Up
Day 1a Completed
2024 Merit Poker Gatsby Gala Series
$2,200 Warm Up
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1a
2024 Merit Poker Gatsby Gala Series
Buy-in
$2,200
Prize Pool
$920,000
Entries
463
Level
35
Blinds
250,000 / 500,000
Ante
500,000
Entries
75
Players Left
30
Level 9
: Blinds 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante
The first of four starting flights has concluded here at the 2024 Merit Poker Gatsby Gala $2,200 Warm Up hosted at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino in North Cyprus. Day 1a attracted 75 entrants, with only 30 players finding a bag and advancing to Day 2 by the end of the night.
Candido Cappiello ended the night with the Day 1a chip lead, finishing with 694,500, a stack worth 232 big blinds going into Day 2. Cappiello is most closely folowed by Alisa Sibgatova (511,000) while Aleksandr Kirichenko (490,000) rounds out the top three. Cappiello was a massive chip leader midway through the day after eliminating Abdullah Alajmi, who was at the top of the counts for most of the early parts of the day. From that point on Cappiello never looked back, and was among the chip leaders for the rest of the night.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Candido Cappiello | Italy | 694,500 | 232 |
| 2 | Alisa Sibgatova | Russian Federation | 511,000 | 170 |
| 3 | Aleksandr Kirichenko | Russian Federation | 490,000 | 163 |
| 4 | Sinan Unlu | Turkey | 397,500 | 133 |
| 5 | Simone Pascucci | Italy | 390,500 | 130 |
| 6 | Rayan Aljawhari | Lebanon | 343,500 | 115 |
| 7 | Daniele Grasso | Italy | 317,000 | 106 |
| 8 | Dumitru Pora | Romania | 308,000 | 103 |
| 9 | Nemo Koering | France | 306,000 | 102 |
| 10 | Nichan Khorchidian | Lebanon | 303,000 | 101 |
Day 1a Action
Despite a very slow structure, featuring hour-long levels and a starting stack worth over 150 big blinds, the action got off to a quick start and several massive pots took place in the opening levels. In one such pot, Kirichenko got his chips in as a huge underdog with top pair versus Hadi Khordbin's middle set. A miraculous runout saw Kirichenko make a running Broadway straight to earn a critical double up and from that point on the two players went in opposite trajectories. Khordbin was left short and eliminated before the end of the night while Kirichenko kept climbing, ultimately bagging the third-largest stack.
Sibgatova faced some early adversity after losing her first bullet to Lachezar Petkov, who had rivered a flush to pull ahead of Sibgatova's two pair. Sibgatova wasted little time reentering and fared much better on her second bullet. On Level 7 she knocked out Erdal Gulseven with pocket kings en route to finishing the day with the second-largest stack.
More notables to make it through Day 1a with chips include Nichan Khorchidian (303,000), Jeremy Saderne (195,000) and Simone Andrian (143,500), Others who joined the Day 1a field but were unable to find a bag include Lachezar Petkov and Alessio Isaia.
Day 1b begins tomorrow at noon local time, featuring the same structure as Day 1a. As always, Stay tuned for more coverage as PokerNews brings you all the action from the remainder of the festival.
Level 9
: Blinds 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
694,500 | |
|
||
|
511,000 | |
|
490,000 | |
|
397,500 | |
|
390,500
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
343,500 | |
|
317,000 | |
|
||
|
308,000 | |
|
306,000 | |
|
303,000 | |
|
300,000 | |
|
293,000 | |
|
243,500
118,500
|
118,500 |
|
239,500 | |
|
237,500 | |
|
228,500
228,500
|
228,500 |
|
202,000
58,000
|
58,000 |
|
196,000
44,000
|
44,000 |
|
195,000
95,000
|
95,000 |
|
||
|
191,500
191,500
|
191,500 |
|
168,500
168,500
|
168,500 |
|
|
165,500
5,500
|
5,500 |
|
143,500 | |
|
||
|
134,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
|
130,500
130,500
|
130,500 |
Level 9
: Blinds 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante
Day 1a has concluded for the 2024 Merit Poker Gatsby Gala Series $2,200 Warm Up.
Stay tuned for chip count's and a recap of the night's action.
Level 9
: Blinds 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante
The tournament staff have announced that three more hands will be played before the end of Day 1a.
Level 9
: Blinds 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante
With two players seeing a board of K♠8♦2♣ and around 50,000 in the middle, Jeremy Saderne bet 12,500 from the small blind and Aleksandr Kirichenko called from the button.
Saderne continued wit ha bet of 32,000 on the 3♥ turn and this time Kirichenko opted to fold.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
480,000
95,000
|
95,000 |
|
|
290,000
290,000
|
290,000 |
|
|
||
Level 9
: Blinds 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante
A player from under the gun opened to 5,000 and received calls from Hadi Khordbin in middle position and Orkun Yanmaz in the big blind.
The flop came A♣9♦5♦ and action checked around to Khordbin who moved all in for 33,500. Yanmaz, who had Khordbin very slightly covered, made the call while the original raiser got out of the way.
Hadi Khordbin: K♦J♦ 
Orkun Yanmaz: 9♣5♥
Yanmaz was ahead with two pair until Khordbin's flush draw completed when the rest of the board ran out 7♣A♦. Khordbin secured a full double up while Yanmaz was left with just 4,000 and was eliminated shortly after.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
88,000
49,500
|
49,500 |
|
|
Busted |
Level 9
: Blinds 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante
In the 865th episode of the PokerNews Podcast, which is sponsored by the free-to-play WSOP App, Chad Holloway, Kyna England, and Mike Holtz are at Level 9 Studio to talk about Ethan "Rampage" Yau admittedly getting scammed again! Find out what happened and what Rampage says he's going to do about it.
They also wrap up the 2024 PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) including Jason Koon & Caitlin Comeskey becoming PokerStars US Ambassadors, Jeff Madsen making a deep run in the Main Event before suffering a bad beat, and Nick Marchington emerging victorious after a single cooler hand during heads-up play.
Other highlights include Sam Soverel winning the NAPT High Roller, Jared Bleznick defeating Patrik Antonius in High Stakes Duel 5 (a rematch is in store), Antonius turning right around and winning the Triton Poker Invitational for $5.1 million after besting Vladimir "Gambledore" Korzinin, and Bryn Kenney becoming the first player in history to cross $70 million in tournament earnings. Oh, and Kristen Foxen, Jeanne David & Starla Brodie are this year's Women in Poker Hall of Fame inductees.
Finally, the crew draws a contest winner for a seat into the $5M Freeroll at WPT World Championship, Kyna and Mike go heads-up in trivia to compete for a seat of their own, and fans of the PokerNews Podcast get yet another opportunity to win another seat! Find out how in the latest episode.
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Level 9
: Blinds 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
515,000
160,000
|
160,000 |
|
|
490,500
57,500
|
57,500 |
|
|
||
|
|
410,000
25,000
|
25,000 |
|
|
385,000
97,000
|
97,000 |
|
|
385,000
45,000
|
45,000 |
|
|
380,000
380,000
|
380,000 |
|
|
355,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
|
|
305,000
175,000
|
175,000 |
|
|
298,000
193,000
|
193,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
255,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
121,000
159,000
|
159,000 |
|
|
38,500
46,500
|
46,500 |
Level: 9
Blinds: 1,500/2,500
Ante: 2,500
