Feng Qu opened from middle position and Monika Zukowicz called from the hijack.
Both players checked the Q?10?4? flop leading to the 2? on the turn. Qu bet 4,000, Zukowicz check-raised to to 10,500 and Qu made the call.
The 3? river completed the potential backdoor flush draw and Qu bet 32,000. Zukowicz thought for roughly 45 seconds before making the call.
Qu could only show A?9? for a pure bluff while Zukowicz tabled 2?2? for bottom set to take down a sizable pot.
Giorgiy Skhulukhiya also recently sat down at this table and is off to a good start on his second bullet, having already doubled up from his starting stack.
The action continues here at the 2023 Merit Poker Western Series at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino with Day 2 of the $5,300 High Roller. The event got off to a great start yesterday, attracting a total of 91 entrants to surpass it's $300,000 guaranteed prize pool. That number is set to increase as late registration and unlimited reentries will be available for the first four levels of play today.
Anonymous player John Doe bagged the overall chip lead for Day 1, finishing the evening with 403,000 worth 269 big blinds. The leader is most closely followed by Russia's Vladimir Troyanovskiy (402,000) and Lebanon's Joseph Sabe (338,500). Troyanovskiy in particular will be a force to be reckoned with as the Russian pro has just over $8,000,000 in career tournament earnings from results spanning the last two decades.
$5,300 High Roller Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
John Doe
N/A
403,000
269
2
Vladimir Troyanovskiy
Russian Federation
402,000
268
3
Joseph Sabe
Lebanon
338,500
226
4
Ihar Soika
Belarus
320,500
214
5
Aleksandr Kirichenko
Russian Federation
318,000
212
6
Kemal Aslan
Turkey
287,000
191
7
Shuang Luo
China
265,000
177
8
Maciej Komorowski
Poland
264,000
176
9
Roman Gadzhiev
Russian Federation
263,000
175
10
Fausto Tantillo
Italy
245,500
164
Vladimir Troyanovskiy
Other notables to advance to Day 2 include Ihar Soika (320,500), Aleksandr Kirichenko (318,000), Roman Hrabec (230,500), Qiang Xu (200,000), Marius Kudzmanas (198,500), Andrey Pateychuk (152,000), and Dmitry Gromov (82,500). Pateychuk and Hrabec in particular are still riding the momentum off of a very succesful year in 2023, with Pateychuk finishing 17th at the 2023 WSOP main event for $430,200 and Hrabec scoring four six-figure cashes in 2023 for just under $1,500,000 from those four cashes alone.
Some notable players who busted before the end of Day 1 include Giorgiy Skhulukhiya, who won the last Merit Poker High Roller event at the Gangster Series this past October for $149,200 and Dmitry Yurasov, who won the Main Event at that same series for $295,500. Both players will have the option to fire a second bullet during the first four levels of play today.
Day 2 of the high roller is set to begin at 8:00 p.m. local time and play ten 40-minute levels or until the money is reached. The blinds will start at 1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 big blind ante. As always, stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you all the action for this event until a winner is crowned tomorrow, January 20.
