The survivors from four starting flights will combine today at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino for Day 2 of the 2024 Merit Poker Western Series $2,200 Warm Up starting at 12:30 p.m. local time.
While the turbo Day 1d flight is currently underway, Peng Yang holds the current overall chip lead going into Day 2 with 1.086,000 chips, worth 434 big blinds. Yang is the only player across the first three starting flights to bag over one million chips, and is most closely followed by Day 1b chip leader Ermanno Di Nicola (937,500) and Aleksandar Tot (827,500).
Start of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Peng Yang
China
1,086,000
434
2
Ermanno Di Nicola
Italy
937,500
375
3
Aleksandar Tot
Montenegro
827,500
331
4
Hadi Khordbin
Iran
781,000
312
5
Antoine Hasbani
Lebanon
559,550
224
6
Roman Stoica
Moldova
552,500
221
7
Qusai Albakeer
N/A
549,500
220
8
Qiang Xu
China
536,000
214
9
Ramez Haddad
Lebanon
521,000
208
10
Xixiang Luo
China
503,500
201
Other players who have already advanced to Day 2 include Andrea Dato (499,000) Guoliang Wei (366,500), Giorgiy Skhulukhiya (359,000), Koray Korkmaz (358,500) Maxime Chilaud (83,500) and Dmitry Gromov (48,000).
Blinds will begin today on Level 9 at 1,000/2,500 with a 2,500 big blind ante. Eight further hour-long levels are scheduled to be played today, with a 10-minute break after every two levels. Late registration remains open through the end of Level 12 on Day 2, with players allowed unlimited reentries. Some notable players who have not yet bagged for Day 2 include Ivan Govorov and Dmitry Yurasov. Both players won titles at the Merit Poker Gangster Series this past November and may register late to this event in search of another victory.
As always, stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you all the action from the moment cards are in the air today until a winner is crowned on Day 4, which is scheduled for Friday, January 19.
Dmitry Gromov opened to 5,500 from middle position and Nikos Lampropoulos three-bet to 18,000 from the button. Gromov moved all in for 46,500 and Lampropoulos quickly called with a covering stack to put Gromov at risk.
Dmitry Gromov: A♥9♥
Nikos Lampropoulos: A♣Q♣
Gromov was in rough shape against the bigger ace but picked up both a flush and straight draw on the J♣8♥7♥ flop. The 7♠ turn was a brick but the 10♣ river gave Gromov the straight to secure a full double up at the expense of Lampropoulos.
Abdullah Alajmi opened to 11,000 from under the gun and received calls from Berij Mussin in the cutoff and Jian Han on the button.
The flop came K♥J♠7♣ and action checked around to Han, who moved all in for 31,000. Alajmi made the call before Mussin check-raised all in, covering Alajmi who had roughly 330,000 behind. Alajmi made the fold leaving Han all in and at risk against Mussin.
Jian Han: A♥4♥
Berik Mussin: K♣J♦
Han had picked the wrong time to make a move and needed to catch running cards to pull ahead of Mussin's top two pair. The K♠ turn gave Mussin a full house, leaving Jian drawing dead. The 8♥ river was inconsequential and Han made his exit from the tournament area.
With four players seeing a board of Q♦9♠4♠ and over 100,000 already in the middle, Dzmitry Urbanovich checked in the small blind, Abdullah Alajmi checked in early position and Peng Yang checked in middle position. Berik Mussin bet from the cutoff to 16,500 only for Urbanovich to put in a check-raise to 70,000, forcing out Alajmi and Yang while Mussin made the call.
Urbanovich moved all in blind for 69,000 as the 9♦ turn was dealt. Mussin thought about his decision for roughly one minute before making the call with a covering stack to put Urbanovich at risk.
Dzmitry Urbanovich: 9♥4♥
Berik Mussin: J♦8♦
Mussin had both a flush and straight draw but was drawing to only the ten of diamonds as Urbanovich had improved from a flopped two pair to a full house on the turn. The 2♠ river changed nothing for either player and Urbanovich dragged in a colossal pot while making a serious dent in Mussin's stack.
Candido Cappiello opened to 11,000 from middle position and received calls from Abdullah Alajmi on the button, Vitalii Pankov in the small blind and Ghassan Bitar in the big blind.
The flop came 9♦7♦2♥ and action checked around to Cappiello, who bet 27,000. Alajmi and Pankov got out of the way while Bitar made the call.
Bitar lead out with a 40,000 bet on the 2♠ turn and Cappiello called.
On the 8♦ river Bitar bet again, this time for 50,000. Cappiello raised to 180,000, sending Bitar deep into the tank.
After a couple minutes Bitar opted to call. Cappiello tabled Q♦J♦ for a rivered flush which was enough to take down a sizable pot and make a serious dent in Bitar's stack.
Yuefan Gu opened to 15,000 from the button and received calls from Abdullah Alajmi in the small blind and Vitalii Pankov in the big blind.
The flop came 10♠3♣3♠ and Alajmi lead out with a bet of 28,000. Pankov got out of the way while Gu made the call.
Gu called another bet from Alajmi on the 7♥ turn, this time for 54,000.
On the 4♦ river Alajmi fired a third barrel for 75,000. Gu thought about his decision briefly before folding and Alajmi took down another pot without showdown, extending his lead over the rest of the field.
Day 2 of the 2024 Merit Poker Western Series $2,200 Warm Up has come to a close here at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino in North Cyprus. Abdullah Alajmi has emerged as the overall Day 2 chip leader, bagging 1,550,000 chips to end the night, worth 155 big blinds going into tomorrow's Day 3. Alajmi is most closely followed by Simone Andrian (1,398,000) and Adrian State (1,160,000).
Alajmi began the day with an average stack but wasted no time accumulating chips with an aggressive style of play that earned him many pots without showdown. Alajmi only has one one recorded live tournament score for $6,500, a number he will surpass should he finish in 24th place or better in this event. In stark contrast, State and Andrian are no strangers to success in the large-field poker tournaments. Both players have nearly $1,000,000 in live career tournament earnings and Andrian holds a WSOP gold bracelet from an event in 2021 that earned him a career-best score of €158,616 ($179,653).
Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Abdullah Alajmi
Kuwait
1,550,000
155
2
Simone Andrian
Italy
1,398,000
140
3
Adrian State
Romania
1,160,000
116
4
Hadi Khordbin
Iran
1,075,000
108
5
Aleksandar Tot
Montengro
1,058,000
106
6
Xixiang Luo
China
1,053,000
105
7
Baurzhan Akimov
Kazakhstan
1,045,000
105
8
Peng Yang
China
1,027,000
103
9
Ghassan Bitar
Monaco
1,003,000
100
10
Guoliang Wei
China
940,000
94
Day 2 began with 159 survivors from the first three starting flights. They were later joined by eight more players from the turbo Day 1d flight that began this morning. Late registration and unlimited reentries were available for the first four levels of play today, which resulted in approximately 110 more entrants. That brought the total field size to 446, generating a prize pool of $830,640. By the end of the night only 81 players managed to find a bag and advance to Day 3.
Ermanno Di Nicola
The slow structure of the tournament ensured that the players, many of whom began the day with well over 100 big blinds, had plenty of room to maneuver. Day 1a chip leader Peng Yang and Day 1b chip leader Ermanno Di Nicola not only began the day with the two biggest stacks, but also were seated at the same table for the first half of the day. The two chip leaders trended in opposite directions; Di Nicola continued to accumulate chips while Yang would ultimately bust and reenter just before the end of late registration. Despite the setback, Yang made good use of his second bullet and would finish the day with a top ten chip stack.
Also seated at this table throughout the day were Alajmi, who showed no fear in tangling with the big stacks, and Dzmitry Urbanovich, who quickly made his presence felt after turning a full house to score nearly a full triple up.
Dzmitry Urbanovich
Alajmi began to surpass Di Nicola for the chip lead in the later levels of the day and nearly surpassed two million chips at one point after firing three barrels to force a fold from Yuefan Gu. From this point Di Nicola could not sustain the momentum he had earlier and he would finish Day 2 with roughly half the chips he had to begin the day.
Some notables to advance to Day 3 include Yang (1,027,000), Guoliang Wei (940,000), Matthew Davenport (704,000), Urbanovich (637,000), Di Nicola (594,000), Hadi Khadra (548,000), Andrea Dato (378,000), Qiang Xu (306,000), Andrey Pateychuk (167,000), Andrei Daniliuk (159,000) and Dmitry Gromov (90,000). Other notables who failed to find a bag by the end of the night include Shuang Luo, Felipe Ketzer, Maxime Chilaud and Giorgiy Skhulukhiya.
Day 3 begins tomorrow January 18, at 12:00 p.m. local time and is scheduled to play ten hour-long levels, with blinds starting at 5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante.
As always, stay tuned to PokerNews for all the updates for this event until a winner is crowned on Day 4, which will take place on January 19.
