Bedir Chip Leading As The Final Table Plays Out In Event #1
Welcome to the final table of Event #1: $1,100 MPP Open at the Luxon Pay Mediterranean Poker Party staged at Merit Royal Diamond Hotel and Casino.
Nine hopefuls remain for a chance at glory in the first event of the series. Just three 40-minute levels were played to sort the 134 that had made Day 2 and the money to the final table, action was very fast-paced, concluding at 9 p.m. local time. Players returning will continue with the same structure of 40-minute levels with a 15-minute break every three levels. There may or may not be a dinner break, depending on when players reach the tail end of proceedings.
Action will resume at 12:00 p.m. as it has done every day thus far. Blinds will be 60,000/120,000 with a 120,000 big blind ante. A 30-second shot clock will be in play with each player starting with time extension cards they can use as they please. The final table may also be live streamed, more updates on that will be added, so watch this space.
Selahaddin Bedir 2nd on Turkey all-time money list takes the lead into the final table with a stack of 10,500,000. He's closely followed by the cool and collected Frederick Anastasiades, who has 7,865,000, the Cypriot is one of two flying the flag for Cyprus in this event. Everyone left still has a good shot at the win, especially as the smallest stack still has over 2,000,000 (18 big blinds)
Coming in third in chips is Elftherios Sinnos, who final tabled an event held here in July, he is also 41st on Cyprus's all-time money list. Fourth place is Alessio Isaia, who boasts almost $2,500,000 in tournament live earnings, coming in with 5,210,000 chips. The Italian has great results both in Europe and across the pond.
In 5th is Ben Hershkovich, with the Israeli-born player bringing in 4,950,000 and looking for his biggest live score to date. Just behind him is Belarusian Vadzim Godzdanker with 4,865,000. The player has over $100,000 in live tournament cashes but this will be his first outside of Russia or Belarus.
Two-time bracelet winner Timur Margolin comes into the final table in 7th with 3,075,000 chips. The man sitting 7th also sits 7th on Israel's all-time money list for cashes with over $2,000,000 in earnings. He's certainly one to watch.
Not much is known about Iosebi Laperashvili in 8th, who still has a healthy 2,200,000 chips. The Georgian sits just ahead of 9th place Raoul Iancovici with 2,100,000. The Romanian has locked up his biggest score and will look to build on his $90,000 in live tournament earnings in his first cash in North Cypriot grounds.
MPP Open Day 2 Final Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blind |
| 1 | Selahaddin Bedir | Turkey | 10500000 | 88 |
| 2 | Frederick Anastasiades | Cyprus | 7865000 | 66 |
| 3 | Eleftherios Sinnos | Cyprus | 5540000 | 46 |
| 4 | Alessio Isaia | Italy | 5210000 | 43 |
| 5 | Ben Hershkovich | Israel | 4950000 | 41 |
| 6 | Vadzim Godzdanker | Belarus | 4865000 | 41 |
| 7 | Timur Margolin | Israel | 3075000 | 26 |
| 8 | Iosebi Laperashvili | Georgia | 2200000 | 18 |
| 9 | Raoul Iancovici | Romania | 2100000 | 18 |
As always PokerNews will provide all of the information as they play down from nine to a winner in Event #1: $1,100 MPP Open at the Luxon Pay Mediterranean Poker Party.