Day 2 of the Merit Poker Western Series $5,300 High Roller will conclude this evening as the 17 remaining players out of a field of 147 will battle for the $170,000 grand prize out of the $676,200 prizepool. All of the remaining players are now in the money and will look to maximize their winnings. Play begins at 6 p.m. at the sparkling Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino
Fausto Tantillo (2,260,000) of Palermo, Italy enters the day as the chip leader. The Sicilian has just over $500,000 in career earnings thus far with his largest single result being $85,000, which he will surpass if he finishes in the top two slots.
Right behind him to start the day in second place is Osman Ihlamur (2,010,000) of Turkey. He has a very comparable resume to Tantillo with close to the same amount of career earnings (~$534,000) and a similar career-best score of $72,000.
The two stacks are the only players who have above 50 big blinds and after them, there is a bit of a drop-off where the top five stacks are rounded out by Toni Kaukua (1,490,000), Jenya Gavrilovich (1,450,000) and Roman Kolotiuk (1,300,000).
Players Remaining By Chip Count
| Position | Player | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fausto Tantillo | 2,260,000 | 57 |
| 2 | Osman Ihlamur | 2,010,000 | 50 |
| 3 | Toni Kaukua | 1,490,000 | 37 |
| 4 | Jenya Gavrilovich | 1,450,000 | 36 |
| 5 | Roman Kolotiuk | 1,310,000 | 33 |
| 6 | Andreas Christoforou | 1,100,000 | 28 |
| 7 | Yauhen Kontush | 1,035,000 | 26 |
| 8 | Iulian-Remus Blebea | 805,000 | 20 |
| 9 | Dawid Kuliberda | 685,000 | 17 |
| 10 | Giorgiy Skhulukhiya | 515,000 | 13 |
| 11 | Viktor Ustimov | 468,000 | 12 |
| 12 | [Removed:446] | 405,000 | 10 |
| 13 | Mihai Niste | 350,000 | 9 |
| 14 | Joseph Mouwad | 350,000 | 9 |
| 15 | Koray Korkmaz | 235,000 | 6 |
| 16 | Recep Aydemir | 150,00 | 4 |
| 17 | Jack Sinclair | 140,000 | 4 |
The stacks are all pretty shallow and clumped together in the bottom half of the chip counts, so there is expected to be a lot of jostling for position with well-timed preflop jams and calls.
North Cyprus regular players Koray Korkmaz (235,000) and Recep Aydemir (150,000) are two of the shortest stacks to enter the day and will be looking to move up quickly, while Jack Sinclair (140,000) is the shortest stack to start the day with only a handful of big blinds.
Play will start at 6 p.m. with 32 minutes remaining in Level 23 with blinds at 20,000/40,000/40,000. Live streaming will start once the final table is reached and updates will be delayed in tune with the stream at that point.
Stay tuned, as PokerNews will be there for live updates at the start of play before moving to follow the live streaming at the final table.