2016 WSOPC Caribbean: Hatice Demir Claims the Lead After Day 1b of Event #3
The third day of the inaugural World Series of Poker Circuit Caribbean at the Casino Royale on Sint Maarten saw the second starting day of the $365 No Limit Hold'em $50,000 GTD Event #3 as well as two satellites. Seven players joined the action through the $65 Turbo satellite, thanks to 55 entries.
Once the registration closed after the end of level nine, Day 1b had attracted a field of 71 entries to bring the total numbers up to 140 and continue the trend to meet the guarantee comfortably. After 14 levels of 30 minutes each, only 11 players bagged up chips, which is exactly how many survivors finished the previous flight the day before.
In a battle of Sint Maarten residents, Hatice Demir (127,100) edged out Rodrigue Robineau (118,800) for the lead after Day 1b, whereas France's Jean-Pierre Didier advanced with 86,600. Peter Hajszan, boss of the Austrian-based Poker Royale, made it through with 72,700 and other notables at the end of Day 1b include Layne Flack (66,900 and Frederic Maniez (57,900).
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count |
| 1 | Hatice Demir | Sint Maarten | 127,100 |
| 2 | Rodrigue Robineau | Sint Maarten | 118,800 |
| 3 | Jean Pierre Didier | France | 86,600 |
| 4 | Peter Hajszan | Austria | 72,700 |
| 5 | Mohammed Elmazouni | Netherlands | 71,400 |
| 6 | Layne Flack | USA | 66,900 |
| 7 | Christophe Enrici | Sint Maarten | 64,000 |
| 8 | Jacco van Limpt | Netherlands | 63,700 |
| 9 | Mohamed Nahed | Sint Maarten | 63,400 |
| 10 | Frederic Maniez | Sint Maarten | 57,900 |
| 11 | Johan Dijkhoffz | Sint Maarten | 53,600 |
The day started off with a big flip for Flack, who lost with queens to the ace-king of Christophe Emrici. Vaea Profit would bow out within the first three levels on the very same table, while Flack re-entered and slowly but surely increased his stack.
Jean-Luc Adam and Peter Lawson ran out of chips after dinner, while Mohamed Nahed and Jean Claude Benmoha headed for the top of the counts. Nahed had a roller coaster throughout the entire day and was forced to fold a flopped set of fives after the river brought a fourth club, and Demir flashed pocket queens with a flush to claim the pot and take the lead. Robineau flopped a set of fours against two opponents, one with sevens and the other with a set of deuces and continued to build his stack from there on.
The last few levels of Day 1b then saw plenty of eliminations in quick succession. Among them was also Benmoha, who first lost a big chunk of his stack with eights against the jacks of Nahed on a six-high flop before check-raising with top pair and running into the set of deuces from Maniez. Konstantin Tourevski became the latest casualty of the night when his ace-king failed to hold up against ace-jack and the American was drawing dead after the turn brought a second jack.
Tomorrow, a $65 satellite for Day 1c of the $365 No Limit Hold'em $50,000 GTD Event #3 kicks off at 4 p.m. local time and the target tournament gets underway two hours later. As of 9 p.m. local time, there is also a $135 Survivor Event that pays out $500 to the top 20 percent of the field. Event #3 will then continue on Nov. 7 at 3:30 p.m. local time to determine the winner of the first WSOP Circuit ring.
