Day 3 of the 2023 Merit Poker Gangster Series $2,200 Warm Up has come to a close here at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino. China's Yunsheng Sun bagged the overall chip lead, finishing the night with 5,970,000 worth 60 big blinds going into tomorrow's Day 4. Sun is most closely followed by Bakhos Joumaa (5,050,000), who enjoyed the chip lead for most of the day today, and Ankit Ahuja (4,400,000).
Sun has been on a hot streak this year and recently took third place in a €2,200 High Roller event at EPT Barcelona for a career-best score of €385,240 ($415,846). Sun currently has $1,717,348 in career tournament earnings under his belt and will be looking to add a substantial amount to that number with his deep run in this event.
Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yunsheng Sun | China | 5,970,000 | 60 |
| 2 | Bakhos Joumaa | Lebanon | 5,050,000 | 51 |
| 3 | Ankit Ahuja | India | 4,400,000 | 44 |
| 4 | Hadi Khadra | Lebanon | 3,395,000 | 34 |
| 5 | Ivan Govorov | Russia | 3,005,000 | 30 |
| 6 | Giorgiy Skhulukhiya | Georgia | 2,875,000 | 29 |
| 7 | Tugce Hursoz | Turkey | 2,640,000 | 26 |
| 8 | Martynas Vitkauskas | Lithuania | 2,500,000 | 25 |
| 9 | Bernard Boutboul | France | 2,300,000 | 23 |
| 10 | Feyzullah Karaarslan | Turkey | 2,050,000 | 21 |
Day 3 began with 79 players and that number was whittled down to just 16 over the course of ten 60-minute levels. Andrei Daniliuk began the day with the chip lead but Leonid Sidelkovskiy caught up to him quickly after making a thin value bet and getting paid off in the first level of the day.
Rachid Yaacoubi become the unfortunate soul to bust on the stone bubble today after being on the wrong side of a brutal set over set collision against Giorgiy Skhulukhiya.
It was around this time that Bakhos Joumaa began accumulating a massive stack and he would continue to extend his chip lead over the rest of the field throughout the first half of the day. Sun would be the first player to catch up and eventually overtake Joumaa for the lead, gaining significant momentum after doubling up through Ahuja in a nasty cooler that saw Ahuja lose more than two thirds of his stack. Ahuja would make a quick comeback, knocking out two players back to back during the final three tables to reclaim most of the chips he had lost.
Other notable players to make it to the final day include Day 1b chip leader Dmitry Yurasov (1,850,000) and Day 2 chip leader Andrei Daniliuk (1,935,000). Players who busted just shy of the money include Halil Tasyurek and Day 1c chip leader Arun Sood while players who managed to cash but failed to advance to Day 4 include Anton Markov (45th - $3,840), Guoliang Wei (41st - $4,500) and Benjamin Hamnett (28th - $5,170),
Day 4 begins tomorrow, November 26 at 1:00 p.m. local time at Level 27 with blinds at 50,000/100,000 and a 100,000 big blind ante. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you all the updates for tomorrow's Day 4 where a winner will be crowned and claim the top prize of $167,500.
