$2,200 Warm Up Day 1bc | 2024 Merit Poker Gatsby Gala Series

Player	Chips	Progress
Uladzimir Zhyharau	492,500 492,500	492,500

Stefanos Kyprianou	378,000 378,000	378,000
Marco Leonzio	318,000 318,000	318,000
Azamat Tulepbergenov	219,500 219,500	219,500
Hadi Khordbin	198,000 198,000	198,000
Daniel Bauerschmidt	192,000 192,000	192,000
Amjad Nader	189,000 189,000	189,000
Maxim Son	178,500 178,500	178,500
Mehmet Demirkol	169,500 169,500	169,500
Ziad Menhem	158,000 158,000	158,000
Erdem Akmert	155,000 155,000	155,000
Fadhil Farag	153,500 153,500	153,500
Orkun Yanmaz	138,500 138,500	138,500
Antonio Alfaia	135,000 135,000	135,000
Ghassan Khalil	129,500 129,500	129,500
Jakub Michalak	103,000 103,000	103,000
Joseph Mouwad	93,000 93,000	93,000
Kjersti Grini	92,000 92,000	92,000
Ali Al-Kubasi	88,000 88,000	88,000
Mustafa Biz	88,000 88,000	88,000
Dawid Smolka	80,500 80,500	80,500
Ryan Mandara	76,000 76,000	76,000
Elena Iakovleva	69,500 69,500	69,500
Ahmet Akyun	59,500 59,500	59,500
Rustu Gorgunel	46,000 46,000	46,000

Player

Chips

Progress

Uladzimir Zhyharau

492,500

378,000

318,000

219,500

198,000

Daniel Bauerschmidt

192,000

189,000

178,500

169,500

158,000

155,000

153,500

Orkun Yanmaz

138,500

135,000

129,500

103,000

93,000

92,000

88,000

88,000

80,500

76,000

69,500

59,500

Rustu Gorgunel

46,000

Day 1b of the 2024 Merit Poker Gatsby Gala Series has reached a conclusion here at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino. The second of four starting flights attracted 199 entrants and after the dust had settled just 77 players managed to find a bag and advance to Day 2.

Navid Samavati leads the way after bagging 628,000 chips, a stack worth 209 big blinds going into Day 2. Samavati is most closely followed by Traian Stanciu who bagged 608,000 while Dauren Zhaparov rounds out the top three with 597,500.

Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Navid Samavati	Iran	628,000	209
2	Traian Stanciu	Romania	608,000	203
3	Dauren Zhaparov	Kazakhstan	597,500	199
4	Dmitry Gromov	Russian Federation	538,000	179
5	Banksy	United Kingdom	537,000	179
6	Caner Gunes	Turkey	531,500	177
7	Mikhail Zavoloka	Russian Federation	503,500	168
8	Boris Smuskevicius	Lithuania	482,500	161
9	Amir Sonsino	Israel	470,000	157
10	Oleg Ustinovich	Russian Federation	435,000	145

The day began with 37 entrants and the tournament's slow structure, featuring 60-minute levels and a starting stack worth over 150 big blinds, ensured that players had plenty of room to maneuver in the first few levels of the day. Abdullah Alajmi wasted no time ramping up the aggression, putting an opponent to the test with a massive river shove worth twice what was in the pot in the first level of play. Alajmi had a roller coaster session from there, at one point finding himself among the chip leaders and ultimately finishing with 387,000.

Dmitry Gromov, who has had a number of deep runs and final tables in Merit Poker events, found himself near the top of the counts midway through the day after picking off a huge bluff from Sergey Baranski. Facing an all in river shove from Baranski on a king-high where flushes and straights were possible, Gromov correctly called off with top pair against Baranski's ace-high bluff for a pot worth over 200 big blinds. Gromov was able to ride that momentum until the end of the night, where he bagged a top ten stack with 538,000.

Others to advance from today's starting flight include Fabio Peluso (306,500), Nikolay Fal (267,500), Timur Margolin (235,000), Aylar Lie (178,000), and Felipe Ketzer (137,000). Notables to play day 1b but fall short of making the end of the night include Giorgiy Skhulukhiya, Dean Hutchison and Halil Tasyurek.

Two starting flights remain for this event. Day 1c is already underway, while a turbo Day 1d is scheduled at 10:00 a.m. local time tomorrow, November 21st. The final flight begins just a couple hours before the fields combine for Day 2 at 12:30 p.m. local time the same day. Unlimited reentries and late registration will remain open until the end of Level 12, midway through Day 2.

Stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you all the action for this event until a winner is crowned on the fourth and final day, taking place November 23.

Tags: Abdullah Alajmi Amir Sonsino Aylar Lie Boris Smuskevicius Caner Gunes Dauren Zhaparov Dean Hutchison Dmitry Gromov Fabio Peluso Felipe Ketzer Giorgiy Skhulukhiya Halil Tasyurek Mikhail Zavoloka Navid Samavati Nikolay Fal Oleg Ustinovich Sergey Baranski Timur Margolin Traian Stanciu