The penultimate day is upon us in the 2024 Merit Poker Carmen Series Main Event here at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino. Italian pro Fausto Tantillo ended Day 2 with the largest stack in the room, bagging 1,158,000 chips at the end of the night. That stack will be worth 193 big blinds going into Day 3 today. Tantillo is most closely followed by Spain's Adria Diaz (1,102,000) and Poland's Kacper Pyzara (1,024,000).
Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fausto Tantillo | Italy | 1,158,000 | 193 |
| 2 | Adria Diaz | Spain | 1,102,000 | 184 |
| 3 | Kacper Pyzara | Poland | 1,024,000 | 171 |
| 4 | Adrian State | Romania | 935,000 | 156 |
| 5 | Alisa Sibgatova | Russia | 898,000 | 150 |
| 6 | Razvan Sabau | Romania | 845,000 | 141 |
| 7 | Uladzimir Zhyharau | Belarus | 839,000 | 140 |
| 8 | Kemal Aslan | Turkey | 833,000 | 139 |
| 9 | Rashad Iskandarov | Azerbaijan | 815,000 | 136 |
| 10 | Giorgiy Skhulukhiya | Georgia | 807,000 | 135 |
Day 2 of the Main Event began with 242 survivors from the four Day 1 starting flights. Five more levels of late registration were available at the start of Day 2 which attracted a further 162 entrants, creating a total field size of 664 and prize pool of $1,832,640.
Some notable players to advance to Day 3 include Day 1b chip leader Alisa Sibgatova (898,000), Andrey Pateychuk (802,000), Dmitry Gromov (646,000), Milos Skrbic (627,000), Simone Andrian (533,000), Felipe Ketzer (462,000), Boris Kolev (462,000), Day 1c chip leader Rabih El-Hachem (439,000), Halil Tasyurek (392,000), Alexandru Papazian (320,000), Vladimir Bozinovic (318,000), Aylar Lie (193,000), Renan Bruschi (185,000), Andrea Dato (182,000), Benjamin Hamnett (112,000) and Fabio Peluso (81,000).
Day 3 of the Main Event will start at 12:00 p.m. local time. The money bubble will burst today with the top 80 finishers being guaranteed at least a min-cash of $4,580 but all eyes will be on the title and top prize of $338,500. The blinds will start at 3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 big blind ante.
As always, stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you all the updates for this event from the moment cards are in the air until a winner is crowned tomorrow, March 26 on the final day.
