Aleksei Petrov Starts and Finishes Day 2 with Chip Lead in Merit Poker Gangster Series $3,300 Main Event
The action has come to a close in Day 2 of the 2023 Merit Poker Gangster Series $3,300 Main Event here at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino.
Russia's Aleksei Petrov began the day with the overall chip lead and finished the day with the chip lead as well, ending with 1,678,000 chips after nine hour-long levels of play. That stack will be worth 168 big blinds going into tomorrow's Day 3. Petrov is most closely followed by the United Kingdom's Mark Smith (1,535,000) and Russia's Alexey Popov (1,301,000).
Petrov currently has $288,327 in career tournament earnings under his belt with a previous best score of $87.612 from a victory in Sochi this past June. That score would be surpassed with a fourth-place or better finish in this event.
Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aleksei Petrov | Russian Federation | 1,678,000 | 168 |
| 2 | Mark Smith | United Kingdom | 1,535,000 | 154 |
| 3 | Alexey Popov | Russian Federation | 1,301,000 | 130 |
| 4 | Simas Karaliunas | Lithuania | 1,300,000 | 130 |
| 5 | Christos Leantzis | Cyprus | 1,284,000 | 128 |
| 6 | Mikalai Vaskaboinikau | Belarus | 1,269,000 | 127 |
| 7 | Hadi Khadra | Lebanon | 1,224,000 | 122 |
| 8 | Razvan Sabau | Romania | 1,209,000 | 121 |
| 9 | John One | Unknown | 1,095,000 | 110 |
| 10 | Dmitry Gromov | Russian Federation | 1,092,000 | 109 |
Day 2 began with 195 survivors who bagged chips from one of four Day 1 flights. Late registration was open for the first five levels of play today, which attracted an additional 119 entrants. That brought the total field size to 566 entrants which generated a prize pool of $1,562,160. Of those 566 total entrants, 96 players managed to bag and tag by the end of the night and will advance to tomorrow's Day 3.
With five full levels of late registration and reentries available from the start of play today, the action was fast-paced from the moment cards were in the air as players attempted to position themselves for a deep run in today's event. Russia's Damir Gabdullin got off to a good start today after scoring a double knockout to put himself among the chip leaders in the second level of the day. In another early highlight, two-time braclet winner Dmitry Yurasov ran a suited king-queen into the ace-king of Iraklis Manikaros and failed to improve, resulting in Yurasov being forced to reenter while Manikaros chipped up early.
Petrov found himself among the biggest stacks in the room throughout the day, at one point delivering a cooler to Gabriel Semaan who flopped top pair against Petrov's overpair, allowing the latter to rake in a large pot late in the day.
The United Kingdom's Mark Smith also enjoyed one of the largest stacks in the room throughout the later levels of the day. Smith was consistently able to apply pressure to shorter stacks and win a plethora of pots without showdown.
Other notable stacks to bag and tag for tomorrow's Day 3 include anonymous player and Day 1c chip leader "John One" (1,095,000), World Poker Tour champion Dmitry Gromov (1,092,000), Day 1b chip leader Shuang Luo (1,014,000), Victor Yugay (998,000), Yunsheng Sun (856,000), Oleg Netaliev (798,000), Selahaddin Bedir (732,000), Halil Tasyurek (510,000), two-time braclet winner Dmitry Yurasov (500,000) and Guoliang Wei (348,000).
Other players not as fortunate to finish the night with chips in a bag include winner of the 2023 Gangster Series $5,300 High Roller Giorgiy Skhulukhiya, Ankit Ahuja, previous Merit Poker Main Event winner Maxime Chilaud, runner up of the 2023 Gangster Series $2,200 Warm Up Andrei Daniliuk , runner up of the 2023 Gangster Series $5,300 High Roller Aleksandr Kirichenko, World Poker Tour champion Benjamin Hamnett, Day 1d chip leader Fadi Nakhoul and Koray Korkmaz .
Day 3 of the Main Event is scheduled to start at 12:00 p.m. local time tomorrow, December 2 2023 and play an additional ten hour-long levels. As always, stay tuned to PokerNews for all your live coverage needs for this event from the moment cards are in the air until a winner is crowned on the final day which will take place on December 3 2023.