"John Doe" Leads By Large Margin After Day 3 of the $2,200 Warm Up
Day 3 of the Merit Poker Western Series $2,200 Warm Up started with 102 players out of a total field of 523 and ended with just 19 after ten levels of play.
Leading the way by a large distance at the end of the night was the man who wishes only to be known as John Doe (9,800,000). He started to build his stack in the early parts of the day and would just continue to grow throughout to finish with over 3 million more than second place.
Maxime Chilaud is that player in second place as the Frenchman finished the day with 6,755,000, which is almost 2 million more than third, creating a dymanic where the top two stacks have some considerable distance between each other and also from the rest of the pack.
In third place after Day 3 was Russian player Vladislav Fedoseev who bagged up 4,550,000. Helmut Phung (3,900,000) and Recep Aydemir (3,245,000) would round out the top five counts.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Doe | -- | 9,800,000 | 98 |
| 2 | Maxime Chilaud | France | 6,755,000 | 67 |
| 3 | Vladislav Fedoseev | Russia | 4,550,000 | 45 |
| 4 | Helmut Phung | Germany | 3,900,000 | 39 |
| 5 | Recep Aydemir | Turkey | 3,245,000 | 32 |
| 6 | Eli Saad | Lebanon | 2,660,000 | 26 |
| 7 | Andress Merheb | Lebanon | 2,600,000 | 26 |
| 8 | Valentin Tsoy | Uzbekistan | 2,570,000 | 25 |
| 9 | Halil Baybars | Turkey | 2,130,000 | 21 |
| 10 | Ryan Mandara | United Kingdom | 2,010,000 | 20 |
Behind the top five there are many players who are bunched together in chips, all within only a few chips of one another, which will make for an action-packed day of jostling for position on the final day tomorrow.
The day began with 102 and was steadily wilted down with eliminations until the money bubble where two players would be eliminated on the same hand at different tables to bring the field into the money. From there, the pace would stay consistent until after the final break. The eliminations would slow with Day 4 on the horizon and the play jumps becoming more significant where Nuri Hadioglu would become the last elimination of the night.
The remaining 19 players will hit the felt at 1 p.m. local time and play down to the $181,200 grand prize winner. Play will start at Level 27 with blinds at 50,000/100,000/100,000.
PokerNews will be on hand to cover every aspect of the action on Day 4.