Yurasov in the Driver's Seat in Day 2 of 2024 Merit Poker Western Series $3,300 Main Event
The first four starting flights of the 2024 Merit Poker Western Series $3,300 Main Event attracted a field of 511 entrants so far here at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino in North Cyprus. Of those 511 entrants, 223 players managed to find a bag and will be making their return for the second day.
Day 1a chip leader Samy Barka holds the overall chip lead going into Day 2 with 783,000 chips, worth 313 big blinds to start the day. Barka is most closely followed by Michel Habib (753,000) and Dmitry Yurasov (736,000). Yurasov bagging a top three stack is particularly noteworthy given that he took down the $3,300 Merit Poker Gangster Series Main Event this past October for $295,500.
2024 Merit Poker Western Series Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
| 1 | Samy Barka | France | 783,000 | 313 |
| 2 | Michel Habib | Lebanon | 753,000 | 301 |
| 3 | Dmitry Yurasov | Russia | 736,000 | 294 |
| 4 | Fabio Peluso | Italy | 657,000 | 263 |
| 5 | Daniel Henriques | Portugal | 633,000 | 253 |
| 6 | Jianwei Lin | China | 619,000 | 248 |
| 7 | Basem Abudavas | Russia | 600,000 | 240 |
| 8 | Mustafa Ercan | Turkey | 596,500 | 239 |
| 9 | John Doe S | N/A | 538,500 | 215 |
| 10 | John Doe | N/A | 534,500 | 214 |
Other notables to advance to Day 2 include Benjamin Hamnett (427,000), Andrew Hedley (402,000), 2023 WSOP Main Event finalist Dean Hutchison (380,000), Andrea Dato (314,500), Maxime Chilaud (291,000), Helmut Phung (288,000), Milos Skrbic (275,500), Marius Kudzmanas (274,500), Vladimir Bozinovic (268,000), Monika Zukowicz (261,500), Qiang Xu (223,500), Ermanno Di Nicola (217,000), Roman Hrabec (209,500), Felipe Ketzer (197,000), Dmitry Gromov (193,500), Andrey Pateychuk (188,500), Shuang Luo (160,000), Guoliang Wei (146,500) and Dzmitry Urbanovich (146,500).
The second day of the event is scheduled to start at 12:00 p.m. local time. The players who qualified on the first day will return to Level 10, with the blinds set at 1,000/2,500 and a 2,500 big blind ante. The game will go on for another nine levels and is expected to conclude around 10:00 p.m. local time, with each level lasting for 60 minutes.
As always, stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you all the exciting action for this event from the moment cards are in the air until a winner is crowned on Thursday, January 25.