Merzhvinskii Takes Event #3: �1,350 Mini Main Event Day 1a Chip Lead; Ha, Deeb, Campbell, Ferguson, Blom All Make Day 2
The first of three starting days of Event #3: 1,350 Mini Main Event No-Limit Hold��em has come to a hectic end at the start of Level 17 with 39 minutes and 56 seconds left in the level. There 174 entries collected which included 42 reentries and at the end of the day, there were 34 players left even though they only had to play down to 35.
With four people all-in and another monster pot, the last few minutes of the night were ones to remember. Aleksandr Merzhvinskii claimed the chip lead by taking almost all of Arturs Scerbaks�� chips when he had flopped a set of fours. Thanks to that hand, Merzhvinskii bagged 1,255,000 in chips. He is followed by Thai Ha who was the only other player to bag over a million in chips. Ha eliminated Yi Ye in the last hand of the night when Ye tried to bluff him and Ha had made the right call with two pair.
Bracelet winners Chris Ferguson, Shaun Deeb, Robert Campbell, and Julien Martini have all made it through to Day 2 but aren��t in the money yet as the tournament organization had decided to play down to 20% of the field instead of 15% to shorten the day. Other notable players to find a bag for Day 2 include Viktor Blom, Paulius Vaitiekunas, Sebastian Pauli, Aaron Duczak, Aaron Duczak, Pierre Neuville, and Fabian Gumz.
Not everyone was lucky enough though, Allen Kessler lost all his chips when he tried to bluff Vaitiekunas, Anthony Zinno lost his chips to Jean-Rene Fontaine who unfortunately for him couldn��t keep a hold on them himself. Ismael Bojang couldn��t find a good birthday present for himself by bagging when he failed to win his all-in against Bartlomiej Staszczak.
But they all have a few more shots to try and battle it out for their share of the �551,750 guaranteed prize pool which includes five WSOPE Main Event tickets worth �10,350 each. Day 1b on Thursday, October 17, or Day 1c, October 18, gives them another chance to make Day 2. Both of those days will follow the same structure as Day 1a with 40-minute levels, a 15-minute break after every three levels, a 60-minute dinner break after Level 9, and 12 levels of late registration or one reentry possibility.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be there to let you know who else will make it through the two other starting days so make sure to keep following the updates throughout the event.