button in SafariTimur Margolin Bags Day 1a Chip Lead in $5,300 Merit Poker Main Event
The opening flight of the $5,500 Merit Poker Main Event at the Merit Poker Noir Series drew 216 entries to the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa, as players battled to build a stack and try to earn a share of the tournament's $3,000,000 guaranteed prize pool.
After more than twelve hours of play, just 32 players bagged chips, with each survivor securing a return for Day 2 and a guaranteed place in the money. Play stopped with 21 minutes remaining in Level 17, with blinds at 10,000/20,000 and a big blind ante of 20,000. With the eliminations of John Doe K and Ravid Garbi coming in quick succession, there was no need for hand-for-hand play as the remaining players headed off to get some much-needed rest before returning in a few days.
Three-time bracelet winner Timur Margolin finished in the number one spot after bagging 1,760,000. Margolin took his seat during the second level and built up chips early after rightly calling down an opponent with ace-high before moving above the seven-figure mark during one of the final levels, when king-high proved enough to earn him the pot.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Timur Margolin | Israel | 1,760,000 | 88 |
| 2 | Joris Ruijs | Netherlands | 1,560,000 | 78 |
| 3 | Jay O'leary | United Kingdom | 1,525,000 | 76 |
| 4 | Dmitrii Kravchenko | Ukraine | 1,495,000 | 75 |
| 5 | Gilles Simon | Netherlands | 1,490,000 | 75 |
| 6 | Merijn van Rooij | Netherlands | 1,355,000 | 68 |
| 7 | Oleg Silin | Russian Federation | 1,355,000 | 68 |
| 8 | Xiaosheng Zheng | China | 1,040,000 | 52 |
| 9 | Selahaddin Bedir | Turkey | 1,000,000 | 50 |
| 10 | Kenar | Turkey | 785,000 | 39 |
Margolin's closest rival was Joris Ruijs, who finished with 1,560,000, while Jay O'Leary rounded out the top three with 1,525,000. Dmitrii Kravchenko (1,495,000) and EPT Main Event champion Gilles Simon (1,490,000) completed the top five, with Merijn van Rooij and Oleg Silin both ending the night on 1,355,000.
The first flight of the highly anticipated Main Event got off to an explosive start, although not the one Ivan Zabiyakin had been hoping for. On the very first hand of the tournament, Zabiyakin flopped a straight against the top pair and flush draw of Andrei Mashinistov. The two got all 440 big blinds into the middle, only for Mashinistov to drill his flush on the turn to send Zabiyakin to the rail as the day's first casualty.
Shortly after the dinner break, Merit Poker champion Xiaosheng Zheng accumulated the bulk of his chips when his pocket jacks won the flip against the ace-king of Felipe Ketzer. This pot sent Ketzer to the rail and helped Zheng sit comfortably as the tournament neared its end.
Kravchenko found himself on the right side of a cooler toward the end of the night when he flopped a full house against the trip sevens of Christopher Rossos after five players saw the flop. A clean turn and river brought Rossos's tournament run to an end, while Kravchenko climbed the leaderboard as he looks to go one step further than his runner-up finish in the Merit Poker Cup just a few days ago.
Also advancing to Day 2 are Vitaly Kononenko (585,000), Cristinel Dumitru (475,000), Huseyin Akgul (450,000), and Andrei Mashinistov (325,000). Merit regular Konstantin Voronin (245,000) also made it through, along with Halil Tasyurek (210,000). At the opposite end of the chip counts sits Alexander Sokolovsky, who bagged just 40,000, good for two big blinds. The Serbian professional will need plenty of run good early on if he is to avoid becoming one of the first casualties when play resumes on Day 2.
The focus now shifts to Day 1b, which gets underway tomorrow at noon and follows the same structure as the opening flight, with players starting with 100,000 chips and playing 40-minute levels. The final two starting flights, Day 1c and Day 1d, take place on Tuesday, August 4, featuring 30-minute and 25-minute blind levels, respectively.
All surviving players from the four flights will then return for Day 2 on Wednesday, August 5, with every returning player guaranteed a place in the money. The official prize pool and payout information will be released shortly after play gets underway.
Remaining Main Event Schedule
| Date | Day | Time | Blind Levels |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 3 | Day 1b | 12 p.m. | 40 minutes |
| August 4 | Day 1c | 12 p.m. | 30 minutes |
| August 4 | Day 1d | 6 p.m. | 20 minutes |
| August 5 | Day 2 | 12 p.m. | 60 minutes |
| August 6 | Final Day | 12 p.m. | 60 minutes |
Stay tuned to PokerNews as Day 1b of the $5,500 Merit Poker Main Event gets underway, with live updates and all the action direct from the tournament floor.