$2,200 Warm Up Day 2 | 2024 Merit Poker Western Series

01-17-2024 16:21 UTC+3

Di Nicola Continues to Climb

Ryan Lashmar

Level 11 : Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante

Ermanno Di Nicola opened to 6,500 from middle position and received calls from Abdullah Alajmi in the hijack, Berik Mussin in the small blind and Serkan Solak in the big blind.

Action checked around to Di Nicola, who bet 11,000 on the 9♥5♣2♣ flop. Mussin and Solak got out of the way while Alajmi made the call.

Di Nicola bet again for 46,000 on the 6♠ turn and once again Alajmi made the call.

On the 2♥ river Di Nicola bet 100,000, sending Alajmi into the tank. After a couple minutes Alajmi decided to muck and Di Nicola took down a nice pot without showdown.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ermanno Di Nicola	1,225,000 145,000	145,000

Berik Mussin	558,000 -122,000	-122,000
Abdullah Alajmi	466,000 126,000	126,000

Serkan Solak	115,000 44,000	44,000

Tags: Abdullah Alajmi Berik Mussin Ermanno Di Nicola Serkan Solak

01-17-2024 16:01 UTC+3

Assorted Chip Counts after First Break

Ryan Lashmar

Level 11 : Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Ermanno Di Nicola	1,080,000 50,000	50,000

Roman Stoica	818,000 28,000	28,000
Peng Yang	810,000 -276,000	-276,000

Antoine Farhat	527,000 216,500	216,500
Guoliang Wei	475,000 108,500	108,500

Fabio Peluso	450,000 183,000	183,000

Hadi Khadra	314,000 314,000	314,000
Andrei Daniliuk	212,000 212,000	212,000
Dmitry Gromov	160,000 61,000	61,000

Yunsheng Sun	90,000 90,000	90,000

Level: 11

Blinds: 1,500/3,000

Ante: 3,000

01-17-2024 15:35 UTC+3

Break Time

Ryan Lashmar

Level 10 : Blinds 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante

Players are now on their first 20-minute break of the day.

The field has grown to 403 total entrants, of which 166 players currently remain.

01-17-2024 15:25 UTC+3

Player	Chips	Progress
Roman Stoica	790,000 237,500	237,500
Jose Nehme	107,000

Mussin Sets the Trap

Ryan Lashmar

Level 10 : Blinds 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante

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.

Player	Chips	Progress
Berik Mussin	680,000
Abdullah Alajmi	340,000

Jian Han	Busted

Tags: Abdullah Alajmi Han Jian

01-17-2024 14:43 UTC+3

Wang Denied a Double Knockout

Ryan Lashmar

Level 10 : 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante

Erdal Gulseven moved all in for 15,000 from early position and Shuang Luo also moved all in from middle position for approximately 60,000. Ming Wang, who had both players covered, made the call from the hijack to put both players at risk.

Erdal Gulseven: J♣10♣
Shuang Luo: 6♥6♠
Ming Wang: 10♥10♠

Wang was in good shape with the higher pocket pair but Luo took the lead with middle set on the 8♠3♣6♣ flop. The Q♣ flush draw came through on the Q♣ river, giving Gulseven the lead. Gulseven remained ahead on the A♥ river to score a full triple up while Luo took the side pot with her set of sixes.

Player	Chips	Progress
Shuang Luo	92,000 12,000	12,000
Erdal Gulseven	51,000 51,000	51,000
Ming Wang	40,000 40,000	40,000

Tags: Erdal Gulseven Ming Wang Shuang Luo

Level: 10

Blinds: 1,500/2,500

Ante: 2,500

01-17-2024 14:35 UTC+3

Day 1d Survivors

Ryan Lashmar

Level 9 : Blinds 1,000/2,500, 2,500 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Mert Tozlu	316,000 316,000	316,000

Basem Abudavas	290,000 290,000	290,000
Zorlu Er	247,000 247,000	247,000
Ghassan Bitar	205,000 205,000	205,000
Fady Kreidieh	103,000 103,000	103,000
Hadi Khadra	102,500 102,500	102,500
Alisa Sibgatova	75,500 75,500	75,500
Milos Skrbic	62,000 62,000	62,000

01-17-2024 14:24 UTC+3

Gromov Rivers the Goods

Ryan Lashmar

Level 9 : Blinds 1,000/2,500, 2,500 ante

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.

Player	Chips	Progress
Dmitry Gromov	99,000 51,000	51,000

Nikos Lampropoulos	96,000 16,000	16,000

Tags: Dmitry Gromov Nikos Lampropoulos