It's been a short but productive day for a little over one hundred players on Day 1c of the 2023 Merit Poker Retro Series $3,300 Main Event at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino.
Out of the total number of 225 entrants, 108 players filled their bags at the end of Level 9 and qualified for Day 2. Among all these players, Kanan Taherkhani ended the day as the chipleader with 825?000 chips. Just shy of 700,000 chips by two blinds (696,500), Michael Allen 696,500 chips finished second. "I put a few bullets in 1a, so I focused more on Day 1c", he said to justify his stack. Belgian player Bart Lybaert follows closely behind with 646,000 chips.
| RANK | PLAYER | COUNTRY | CHIP COUNT | BLINDS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kanan Taherkhani | Turkey | 825,000 | 275 |
| 2 | Michael Allen | Unite Kingdom | 696,500 | 232 |
| 3 | Jakub Koleckar | Czech Republic | 691,500 | 231 |
| 4 | Bart Lybaert | Belgium | 646,000 | 215 |
| 5 | Ergin Karacay | Turkey | 534,000 | 178 |
| 6 | Mihail Cuza | Romania | 528,000 | 176 |
| 7 | Mustafa Biz | Turkey | 503,500 | 168 |
| 8 | Georgios Theodorou | Cyprus | 490,500 | 164 |
| 9 | Nazari Farbod | 454?,500 | 152 | |
| 10 | Endravuz Lahdo | Switzerland | 443,500 | 148 |
Already third of the $10,500 High Roller earlier in the week for $158,600, Mustafa Biz also bagged a sizable stack with a total of 503,500 chips. This is more than twice Ran Koller (267,000), Nicolas Chouity (265,000) and Toni Kaukua (230,500)'s stacks. The gap between Biz and Paul Newey is even larger, with Newey holding 161,000 chips.
The winner of the 2023 WSOP Colossus, Moshe Refaelowitz, hopes to recreate the same success he had in Las Vegas this summer. However, at the moment, things haven't started well for him as he ended Day 1c with just the starting stack (100,000).
If he gets eliminated early on Day 2, he'll also have the option to reenter the tournament, as late registrations will remain open until the end of Level 14. This will be the last opportunity for players to attempt to cash in on the $3,000,000 guaranteed Main Event.
But for those who want to qualify through a Day 1, Day 1d Turbo, with 25-minute levels, started at 7:00 p.m.
PokerNews will be back on Day 2 to closely follow the reunion of the four Day 1s.
