Spot in Day 2 Awaits a New Crop of Hopefuls When Day 1b of the $2,200 Warm Up Begins at Noon
A new group of players try to track down Peng Yang’s million-chip stack and book their ticket for Day 2 when Day 1b of the $2,200 Warm Up at the Merit Poker Western Series begins at noon local time.
China’s Yang set a near-impossible standard to match during the first startling flight, finishing with 1,086,000 and far ahead of the 47 players who made it through the day. Other big stacks include Hadi Khordbin (781,000), Roman Stoica (552,500), Qiang Xu (536,000), and Xixiang Luo (503,500).
Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peng Yang | China | 1,086,000 | 434 |
| 2 | Hadi Khordbin | Iran | 781,000 | 312 |
| 3 | Roman Stoica | Moldova | 552,500 | 221 |
| 4 | Qiang Xu | China | 536,000 | 214 |
| 5 | Xixiang Luo | China | 503,500 | 201 |
| 6 | Azamat Tulepbergenov | Kazakhstan | 502,500 | 201 |
| 7 | Andrea Dato | Italy | 499,000 | 200 |
| 8 | Emrah Daban | Turkey | 368,000 | 147 |
| 9 | Guoliang Wei | China | 366,500 | 147 |
| 10 | Koray Korkmaz | Turkey | 358,500 | 143 |
Andrea Dato (499,000), Koray Korkmaz (358,500), as well as WSOP bracelet winners Guoliang Wei (366,500) and Simone Andrian (335,500) also survived the opening flight. Now it’s the task of players in today’s flight to join them.
Day 1b is the second of four starting flights. There is also a 1c flight tonight at 9:30 p.m. with 25-minute levels, while a turbo Day 1d flight takes place tomorrow at 10 a.m. with 15-minute levels. The surviving players then return for Day 2 at 12:30. Late registration remains open until the end of Level 12 on Day 2. Unlimited reentries are allowed during the registration period, so the field should grow considerably from the 115 entries so far by the time the prize pool is determined.
Players begin with a 100,000 starting stack. Day 1b consists of eight 60-minute levels, with a 15-minute break every two levels.
Stay tuned as PokerNews follows all the action and provides live updates throughout the day here at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino in North Cyprus.