Di Nicola, Boellis and Ketzer Lead the Final 24 in 2024 Merit Poker Western Series $3,300 Main Event
The penultimate day has concluded in the 2024 Merit Poker Western Series $3,300 Main Event here at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino in North Cyprus. Only 24 players remain from a field of 672 entrants after 27 levels of play across the first three days.
Italy's Ermanno Di Nicola bagged the overall chip lead, finishing the night with an impressive 5,770,000 chips worth 72 big blinds going into the final day. Di Nicola is most closely followed by fellow Italian Giuliano Boellis and Brazilian crusher Felipe Ketzer, both of whom bagged exactly 5,495,000 to end the night.
Western Series $3,300 Main Event Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ermanno Di Nicola | Italy | 5,770,000 | 72 |
| 2 | Giuliano Boellis | Italy | 5,495,000 | 69 |
| 3 | Felipe Ketzer | Brazil | 5,495,000 | 69 |
| 4 | Damir Zhugralin | Kazakhstan | 5,060,000 | 63 |
| 5 | Mohamed Mokrani | France | 4,910,000 | 61 |
| 6 | Nichan Khorchidian | Lebanon | 4,665,000 | 58 |
| 7 | Andreas Christoforou | Cyprus | 3,700,000 | 46 |
| 8 | Wael Sarkis | Lebanon | 3,505,000 | 44 |
| 9 | Aleksandr Kirichenko | Russia | 3,220,000 | 40 |
| 10 | Samy Barka | France | 2,885,000 | 36 |
The day began with 129 players returning from Day 2, somewhat close to the money given that 80 spots were paid. France's Mohamed Mokrani got off to a good start after fading a flush draw from Nan Zhu to score a full double up in the first level of the day. Mokrani would ride that momentum all the way to the end of the night where he would finish fifth in chips with 4,910,000.
Maher Achour would become the unfortunate soul to burst the money bubble after losing a flip against Gang Zhou. From that point on all remaining players were guaranteed at least a min-cash worth $4,640.
Felipe Ketzer was active from start to finish today and was consistently making the right decisions throughout the day. He would send the Western Series $5,300 High Roller champion Maksim Shornikau to the rail early on today and never slowed down from there. Midway through the day he would make a great call against Mokrani with just ace-high and suddenly was among the biggest stacks in the room. Later in the evening he would knock out Ali Zebarjad with pocket-kings in another big pot, ultimately finishing the night with the third-largest stack.
Some other notable players to find a bag and advance to the final day include Aleksandr Kirichenko (3,220,000), Day 1a chip leader Samy Barka (2,855,000) and Day 1d chip leader Vedat Yilmaz (1,630,000). Others who were not as fortunate to advance to the final day include Fabio Peluso, Dmitry Yurasov, Andrew Hedley, Andrea Dato, Qiang Xu, Dmitry Gromov, Dzmitry Urbanovich, Shuang Luo, Dean Hutchison, Guoliang Wei and Roman Hrabec who was eliminated in the final hand of the evening.
Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you all the action for the final day of the event, set to start tomorrow January 25 at 12:00 p.m. local time with blinds starting at 40,000/80,000 with an 80,000 big blind ante.