A player in the hijack opened to 5,000 and Alessio Isaia three-bet to 15,000 from the button. Dawid Smolka four-bet to 40,000 from the big blind, the original raiser got out of the way, and Isaia five-bet shoved for a bit over 200,000. Smolka snap-called with a covering stack to put him at risk.
Alessio Isaia: Q♠J♣
Dawid Smolka: K♣K♦
Smolka's pocket kings held up on the Q♣8♦4♥2♣3♠ runout and he secured nearly a full double up while Isaia was sent to the rail.
Day 1b of the 2024 Merit Poker Gatsby Gala Series $3,300 Main Event has concluded here at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino. The second of four starting flights attracted 148 entrants, bringing the field size to 297 so far. By the end of the night, 70 players managed to find a bag and will advance to Day 2.
Leading the way is Russia's Kirill Shcherbakov who finished with 645,500. Shcherbakov is most closely followed by Mukhtor Nasiradinov who bagged 617,000 and Dmitry Yurasov who ended with 531,000.
Top Ten Chip Stacks
Place
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Kirill Shcherbakov
Russian Federation
645,500
258
2
Mukhtor Nasiradinov
Russian Federation
617,000
247
3
Dmitry Yurasov
Russian Federation
531,000
212
4
Andrey Pateychuk
Russian Federation
460,000
184
5
Dawid Smolka
Poland
448,000
179
6
Sandra Cotescu
Romania
439,000
176
7
Henrik Brockmann
Germany
433,500
173
8
Maksim Skripkin
Russian Federation
396,000
158
9
Oleg Ustinovich
Russian Federation
390,000
156
10
Fabio Peluso
Italy
330,500
132
Shcherbakov is relatively new on the live poker scene, with his first live cash coming in 2021. He recently enjoyed a career-best score right here in Cyprus earlier this year when he took second place in the Mediterranean Poker Party Main Event for $680,000 and with a stack worth over 200 big blinds going into Day 2 he will be in a great position for another deep run in this event.
Yurasov knows what it takes to go the distance in Merit Poker events, having won the 2023 Gangster Series Main event last year for $295,500. The Russian pro had a rough start today after losing most of his stack to Charbel Salloum after the latter player rivered a three-outer. Yurasov busted and reentered shortly after, and from that point he wasted no time building a stack worth over 200 big blinds by the end of the night.
Andrey Pateychuk
Rounding out the top five are Andrey Pateychuk (460,000) and Dawid Smolka. With nearly $6,000,000 in career tournament earnings including an EPT Main Event win and a 17th place finish in the WSOP Main Event under his belt, Pateychuk can easily be considered one of the most accomplished players in the field and will be a force to be reckoned with going into Day 2. Meanwhile, Smolka has momentum on his side after taking down the $2,200 Warm Up just two days ago for $179,650.
Dawid Smolka
Other players to make it through the day include Fabio Peluso (330,500), Giorgiy Skhulukhiya (319,500), Dmitry Gromov (240,000) and Aylar Lie (156,500). Notables who played Day 1b but fell before the end of the night include Nikolay Fal and Alessio Isaia.
Two starting flights remain in the Main Event, both taking place on November 27. Day 1c begins at noon local time, while a turbo Day 1d flight begins at 7 p.m. The fields will combine at noon on November 28 for Day 2. Late registration and reentries will remain open until the end of Level 14, midway through Day 2, and a winner will be crowned on the final day, taking place on December 1.
Stay tuned to Pokernews as we bring you all the action for the remainder of the festival here in North Cyprus.
