Day 1b of the 2014 partypoker World Poker Tour Merit North Cyprus Classic Main Event attracted 203 entries, bringing the total to 374. That's most likely not the final number though, as players still have the option to enter and reenter for the first level of Day 2. Even without the possible additional latecomers, the event's numbers already easily surpass last years 262, though last year a maximum of two entries per player were possible, while this year it's four.
No player that we know of who survived Day 1a, tried again on Day 1b. A whole lot of people who busted once or twice Friday tried again, though. Toby Lewis was one of them, and he did survive Saturday's nine one-hour levels and will return with 35,400. Paul Tedeschi is one more example of a player who got eliminated on Day 1a, but did manage to make it through Day 1b. The Frenchman bagged 83,500.
European Poker Tour Monte Carlo champion Nicolas Chouity put just a little more in his bag at the end of the day. The Lebanese all-time money leader check-raised left and right, turned a full house, and got a massage while doing all of that for about the entire day.
Another player that enjoyed a massage pretty much all day was Albert Draher. The Lebanese high roller busted in the first level of the day, but did much better on his second bullet. He amassed a whopping 219,200 in chips, with big bluffs and nicely-sized value bets.
Another familiar face that faired well was Sam Trickett. He made his entrance after the dinner break, after spending the morning flyboarding in the Mediterranean Sea. He quickly doubled with pocket aces in a spot where someone isolated a short stack's shove with pocket nines. "And I said call," laughed Trickett.
Fortune didn't end there for the Brit, he flopped bottom set on an flop, and got it in against two opponents. One of them had flopped top-two, and the other had a flush draw with jack-seven. Blanks on turn and river made for a 140,000-chip stack for Trickett at the end of the day.
Play resumes Sunday at 1 p.m. local time. PokerNews will again be on sight for all of your coverage. Let's see if everyone recovered in time from the party that's going on as we speak, and most likely will take all night.
Steve Watts has been eliminated from the tournament. He won't be able to buy back in, it was his second time trying today.
Watts didn't have his day today, suffering several beats and set ups to constantly get knocked back down again after initially chipping up. This time, last years winner Alexey Rybin was the bogeyman.
Rybin opened to 1,200, and Watts made it 4,400 with . Rybin made the call, and the two saw a flop: .
With top pair top kicker, an over card, and back door straight- and flush-draws, Watts wasn't too scared to get his chips in the middle. Rybin with was up for that, and before you knew it both players had their stacks at risk, with Rybin having slightly more than Watts.
The on the turn gave Rybin his beloved straight, but it gave Watts a (better) flush draw. The river wasn't one of the hoped for clubs, instead the popped up and Watts met his Waterloo.
"Good cards huh? said Chouity to Unsal after taking it down
Nicolas Chouity checked to Onur Unsal from the big blind on . Unsal made a 2,200 bet and the player on the button made the call. Chouity now check raised to 5,800 and Unsal reluctantly let go of his hand after about a minute of thinking. The button was a bit harder to shake off, and made the call.
The turn came the and Chouity fired 11,300 into the middle. The button now released his hand, and Chouity exposed the while stacking his new found chips.
Unsal smiled that he folded aces, which made especially the button wonder aloud how that was possible. Unsal just smiled, and we're still not sure if he was serious.
With a raise of 725 in front of him, Mikhail Korotkikh shoved all in for 7,950. A player behind him re shoved, and the initial raiser gave up.
Time to open the cards, and it turned out to be a race situation:
Mikhail Korotkikh:
Opponent:
The board blanked out.
Korotkikh yelled "Я так счастлив!" ("I am so happy!"), or at least we hope that's what he yelled as we don't understand Russian.
His opponent complained about it to the floor man, and the man in charge promised to give Korotkikh a warning the next time something like that happened. As long as Korotkikh is winning all ins we promise you it will, as we've been hearing him shouting for years now after doubling up. It's his trademark ok?
In the break Antoine Abou Khalil told us two hands that had just happened. In the first, a player doubled with pocket sevens agains ace-seven after an board.
Right the next hand, it was Abou Khalil who would be on the lucky side of an coparable situation.
The river made for a lot of action with the board reading . His opponent bet out 2,500, Abou Khalil raised it up to 7,500, and the three bet followed to 14,000. Abou Khalil just called with his , afraid of running into for quads.
Luckily for him, his opponent had , and Abou Khalil doubled to almost 55,000.
Sofia Lövgren opened under the gun to 400, and just the player in the big blind made the call.
The big blind continued to check call 550 on , and 1,300 on the -turn.
The river came the and the big blind checked again. Lövgren paused for a second, and then grabbed a bunch of chips. You could tell she changed her mind a mili second after, and was in doubt if she wanted to bet the picked out amount. Before she knew it, it looked like she thought her neighbor had seen her dubiety, and she knew it wasn't as strong anymore as it would have looked without the hesitance. Or was she an Oscar winning actor, trying to lure in her opponent with a fake sign of weakness?
Nope.
Lövgren decided against it, and checked behind.
The big blind showed his , and Lövgren mucked.
Would a third bullet have worked against the big blind's vulnerable top pair and good kicker? We'll never know.
We're not entirely sure what exactly happened before the flop, but as we saw it Steve Watts had 2,100 in front of im under the gun, and Albert Daher made the call from the cutoff.
Steve Watts bet out 2,350 on , and Daher raised to 6,300. Watts three bet to a little over 14,000, and Daher released.
Did Watts mis click before the flop? Did we miss a lot of pre flop action and was it in fact a four bet pot? We don't know, and we'll never will most likely.
What we do know is that Daher and Watts played together before, Daher eliminated Watts in a big tournament in Barcelona not too long ago.
Sevket Yildiz is an animated character, clearly enjoying his World Poker Tour Main Event so far. Just a month ago, he made the final table in another big tournament here in North Cyprus (6th for $24,100), and he's trying to best that performance here this week.
Yildiz is already up to 65,000 after winning a big all in in one of the first hands of the day. His flush draw with was up against a lower flush draw with , and Yildiz was responsible for the first elimination of the day.
Yildiz played yesterday as well, and ran his stack up to 80,000 at one point, but didn't make it through the day. Will he be able to hold on to his chips today? We sure hope so, as someone as vivid as Yildiz is a great player to have in the tournament room.
In two hours time, the Merit Crystal Cove poker room on North Cyprus will again be flocked by poker players from all over the world. It's almost time for Day 1b of the 2014 partypoker World Poker Tour Merit North Cyprus Classic!
Yesterday a total of 171 entries were made, with a bunch of those being re entries. Players are able to re enter once, if they're unfortunate enough of busting. It's a single re entry per day, so four entries tops. One of the players that just might give it another shot today is Toby Lewis, who busted twice yesterday. He has a maximum of two more shots at glory today.
Andrey Pateychuk didn't have the need to re enter, he sky rocketed his stack to over 160,000 on his first bullet. Reigning champion Alexey Rybin wasn't so lucky, he busted late on Day 1a and will most likely try again today.
The schedule for today will match yesterdays, with again nine one-hour levels and 15-minute breaks every other level. The dinner break after level 6 will again be 60 minutes long, the excellent all inclusive buffet will again be ready around 7:45 p.m. local time.
Level
Small Blind
Big Blind
Ante
1
50
100
-
2
75
150
-
15-minute break
3
75
150
25
4
100
200
25
15-minute break
5
150
300
50
6
200
400
50
60-minute break
7
250
500
75
8
300
600
75
15-minute break
9
400
800
100
PokerNews.com will be there from the get go, supplying you all day with all the updates and photos you can wish for. See you soon!
flop, and got it in against two opponents. One of them had flopped top-two, and the other had a flush draw with jack-seven. Blanks on turn and river made for a 140,000-chip stack for Trickett at the end of the day.
. Rybin made the call, and the two saw a flop: 
.
was up for that, and before you knew it both players had their stacks at risk, with Rybin having slightly more than Watts.
on the turn gave Rybin his beloved straight, but it gave Watts a (better) flush draw. The river wasn't one of the hoped for clubs, instead the 
popped up and Watts met his Waterloo.
. Unsal made a 2,200 bet and the player on the button made the call. Chouity now check raised to 5,800 and Unsal reluctantly let go of his hand after about a minute of thinking. The button was a bit harder to shake off, and made the call.
and Chouity fired 11,300 into the middle. The button now released his hand, and Chouity exposed the 
while stacking his new found chips.
board blanked out.
board.
, and 1,300 on the 
-turn.
and the big blind checked again. Lövgren paused for a second, and then grabbed a bunch of chips. You could tell she changed her mind a mili second after, and was in doubt if she wanted to bet the picked out amount. Before she knew it, it looked like she thought her neighbor had seen her dubiety, and she knew it wasn't as strong anymore as it would have looked without the hesitance. Or was she an Oscar winning actor, trying to lure in her opponent with a fake sign of weakness?
, and Lövgren mucked.
, and Yildiz was responsible for the first elimination of the day.
