The 81 players who return today for Day 3 of the $2,200 Warm Up at the Merit Poker Western Series at noon local time have one goal in common: make it to the money.
Just 53 players will survive the money bubble and guarantee themselves a share of the $830,640 prize pool. One player who doesn’t have to worry about the bubble is Simone Andrian. The Italian pro and WSOP bracelet winner takes 1,398,000 into Day 3, good for second place on the leaderboard behind only Abdullah Alajmi (1,550,000).
Adrian State (1,160,000), Hadi Khordbin (1,075,000), and Aleksandar Tot (1,058,000) round out the top five. Other top stacks include Day 1 chip leader Peng Yang (1,027,000), Guoliang Wei (940,000), Cheng Zhao (794,000), Nina Krasilnikova (718,000), Justus Held (705,000), and Dzmitry Urbanovich (637,000).
Day 3 Top 10 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 |
Further down the leaderboard are Ermanno Di Nicola (594,000), 2023 Merit Poker Retro Series Warm Up champion Hadi Khadra (548,000), Fahredin Mustafov (495,000), and Andrea Dato (378,000), who was runner-up in the EPT festival held here in Cyprus last October.
With late registration closing yesterday, the field ended up with 446 total entries. Everyone making the money is guaranteed $3,770, with a final-table payout worth at least $16,500. The eventual champion takes home $165,000 and the Merit Poker trophy.
The action on Day 3 picks up on Level 17 with blinds of 5,000-10,000 and a 10,000 big blind ante. The plan is to play nine 60-minute levels, which should bring the field down toward the final table. Play will also be live-streamed with a 30-minute delay on Merit Poker’s YouTube channel.
Stay tuned as PokerNews brings you all the action as the field plays down past the money bubble and on toward the final table.
