The action continues today at the 2023 Merit Poker Gangster Series at Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino with Day 1b of the $2,200 Warm Up. Turkey's Mustafa Sancak set the benchmark during yesterday's Day 1a, leading the 45 survivors from the first flight with an impressive 592,500 chips. Today a new group of contenders will try to replicate that success with day 1b starting at noon local time.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mustafa Sancak | Turkey | 592,500 | 198 |
| 2 | Inas Eldeghedy | Egypt | 491,000 | 164 |
| 3 | Christos Christou | Cyprus | 433,000 | 144 |
| 4 | Halil Tasyurek | Turkey | 418,500 | 140 |
| 5 | Abdelmajid Chiboub | France | 377,500 | 126 |
| 6 | Hadi Khordbin | Iran | 365,500 | 122 |
| 7 | Semih Aras | Cyprus | 365,000 | 122 |
| 8 | Shuang Luo | China | 361,000 | 120 |
| 9 | Gorkem Gedikoglu | Turkey | 352,000 | 117 |
| 10 | Karim Abdelhamid | Canada | 347,000 | 116 |
Other notables to survive yesterday's Day 1a include Halil Tasyurek (418,500) Shuang Luo (361,000), Ankit Ahuja (324,000), Selahaddin Bedir (190,000), Koray Korkmaz (168,000), Victor Yugay (147,000) and Aleksandr Pak (135,000).
Day 1b will feature the same structure as yesterday's Day 1a. Players will start with 100,000 chips and play eight 60-minute levels, with a ten-minute break occurring after every two levels. Unlimited reentries and late registration will be available until the end of Level 12 on Day 2.
Those who bag and tag at the end of the night will join the survivor's from yesterdays flight in advancing to Day 2 tomorrow on November 23. Before that, there will be two more starting flights, with Day 1c beginning at 9:30 p.m. local time tonight and a turbo Day 1d set for 10:00 a.m. local time on November 23.
Day 1a featured a total of 107 entrants as players took their shot at the lion's share of the $700,000 guaranteed prize pool. That number is expected to grow substantially with three more starting flights to go. As always, stay tuned to PokerNews for all your live coverage needs for this event.
