Day 2 of the Merit Poker Western Series $5,300 High Roller has come to a close here at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino in North Cyprus. After ten 40-minute levels, Aleksandr Kirichenko has emerged as the overall chip leader, ending the night with 1,480,000, worth 93 big blinds going into the final day tomorrow. Kirichenko began the day as the fifth-largest stack and appeared to be in complete control with an above-average stack throughout the evening. Kirichenko would surge to the top of the counts after being on the right side of a late-night cooler and is most closely followed by Germany's Justus Held (1,390,000) and Maksim Shornikau of Belarus (1,320,000).
Kirichenko recently claimed the biggest score of his career with a second-place finish at the last Merit Poker $5,300 High Roller event from the Merit Poker Gangster Series this past October. Kirichenko won $104,500 in that event but ultimately fell short to Giorgiy Skhulukhiya in heads-up play. With $800,000 in career tournament earnings to his name the Russian pro is clearly adept at navigating large fields and will seek to avenge his runner up finish during tomorrow's Day 3.
Merit Poker Western Series $5,300 High Roller Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aleksandr Kirichenko | Russian Federation | 1,480,000 | 93 |
| 2 | Justus Held | Germany | 1,390,000 | 87 |
| 3 | Maksim Shornikau | Belarus | 1,320,000 | 83 |
| 4 | Xixiang Luo | China | 1,250,000 | 78 |
| 5 | John Doe | N/A | 907,000 | 57 |
| 6 | Shuang Luo | China | 821,000 | 51 |
| 7 | Joseph Sabe | Lebanon | 728,000 | 46 |
| 8 | Aleksandar Tot | Montenegro | 684,000 | 43 |
| 9 | Guoliang Wei | China | 591,000 | 37 |
| 10 | Frederic Popot | France | 426,000 | 27 |
Day 2 began with 59 players. Late registration and reentries were available for the first four levels of play today which resulted in approximately 60 more entrants. That brought the total field size to 153 entrants, generating a prize pool of $703,800 that smashed the $300,000 guarantee.
ACR team pro Monika Zukowicz and Serbia's Milos Skrbic both got off to a good start today. Zukowicz picked off a bluff from Feng Qu to nearly double up her stack in the second level of the day. Zukowicz would score another double up in similar fashion later in the evening after catching another bluff, this time from Day 1 chip leader John Doe. Skrbic, who made the final table of the 2019 WSOP main event, would knock out Maxime Chilaud in a brutal cooler to rocket up the counts in another early highlight.
China's Shuang Luo began to build a monster stack midway through the day. After an overbet on the river forced a fold from Kirichenko she found herself among the chip leaders and ended the night with a top ten chip stack. Around the same time, Justus Held began building a colossal stack of his own after making the nut-flush on the river to pull ahead of Ghassan Bitar's flopped set.
Kirichenko claimed the chip lead late in the evening after being on the right side of the ultimate cooler. Kirichenko held pocket-aces, got in a raising war with an opponent who held pocket kings, and remained ahead throughout to score a pot worth well over 100 big blinds. Kirichenko would remain at the top of the counts for the rest of the evening.
Some notable players to advance to Day 3 include bracelet winner Guoliang Wei (591,000), Skhulukhiya (345,000), Skrbic (334,000), Zukowicz (236,000) and Andrey Pateychuk (204,000). Others not as fortunate to find a bag at the end of the night include Moritz Dietrich, Dmitry Gromov, Yunsheng Sun, Ihar Soika, Roman Hrabec and Vladimir Troyanovskiy.
As always, stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you all the action for this event which will play down to a winner tomorrow, January 20.
