From under the gun, Mark Saad made it 5,000 to go with Tamer Abdelzaher calling from the next seat. Fang Zhang bumped up the action to 22,000 from middle position. When it folded back to Saad, he four-bet to 65,000, which forced Abdelzaher to fold. Zhang five-bet ripped it for 185,000, and Saad made the call.
Fang Zhang: A♠A♥
Mark Saad: K♦K♠
It was poker's classic cooler of aces versus kings, and Zhang looked poised to double-up early in the day. The board ran out 5♥4♥9♠J♥7♣, keeping Zhang's bullets ahead the whole way, and she earned the double-up.
The $2,200 IPO Master at the 2025 Merit Poker Dolce Vita Series is heading into its next chapter as Day 2 gets underway today at 12:30 p.m. inside the luxurious Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino. So far, the first three starting flights have drawn a combined 530 entries and 248 survivors will return to battle for a share of the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool.
Russia's Roman Kolotiuk comes into today's proceedings with the biggest stack, after he managed to accumulate a huge stack of 875,500 on Day 1b. Kolotiuk's closest rival is the Day 1a chip leader, Hassan Nashar, with 699,500 chips. Rounding out the top three is Afshin Afsharorumieh with 670,000, while the. Day 1c chip leader Konstantin Voronin starts today with 601,000, and is the only other player to bring through a stack of over six hundred thousand.
While Day 2 gets underway, the final turbo flight, Day 1d is still playing out. Late registration remains open until the end of Level 15, allowing last-minute entries and short stacks one final shot at building a stack before the field officially joins.
Current Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Roman Kolotiuk
Russian Federation
875,500
350
2
Hassan Nashar
Guinea-Bissau
699,500
280
3
Afshin Afsharorumieh
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
670,000
268
4
Konstantin Voronin
Russian Federation
601,000
240
5
Michael Iakovlev
Russian Federation
540,000
216
6
Kirill Burtin
Russian Federation
534,000
214
7
Imad Saab
Lebanon
527,000
211
8
Samuel Dray
France
521,000
208
9
Osman Ihlamur
Turkey
513,500
205
10
Gerard Carbo Santamaria
Spain
506,000
202
Several big names will also carry healthy stacks into Day 2, including Michael Iakovlev (540,000), Osman Ihlamur (513,500), Imad Saab (527,000), and Maciej Toma (497,000). Others such as Danielle Noja (452,500), Aleksei Savenkov (444,000), Ivan Banovic (443,000), and Aleksandr Chernikov (388,000) are also in striking distance as the field begins to consolidate.
Aleksandr Chernikov
Day 1d kicked off this morning at 10:00 a.m. as the final turbo flight before all remaining players return at 12:30 p.m. to resume the race toward the IPO Master title. Levels will remain at 40 minutes until the field reaches Day 3, where the structure will extend to 60 minutes and the pressure will only intensify.
IPO Master Remaining Schedule
Date
Day
Time
Blind Levels
July 30
Day 1d
10 a.m.
13 minutes
July 30
Day 2
12:30 p.m.
40 minutes
July 31
Day 3
12 p.m.
60 minutes
August 1
Day 4
12 p.m.
60 minutes
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