Dmitry Gromov Bags Day 1 Chip Lead in the $5,300 High Roller but Multiple Players are Close Behind
Day 1 of the 2023 Merit Poker Gangster Series $5,300 High Roller hosted by the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel attracted a total of 63 runners, with late registration still open till level 12 on Day 2 of the event.
After 8 levels of play, 52 players remained. Dmitry Gromov appeared to have bagged the chip lead with 255,500. This would only be the chip lead by a small margin as many others also bagged a similar stack. Some of those stacks were Lebanon’s Halil Tasyurek (243,000), Maksim Shornikau (249,000) of Belarus, local Turkish Pro Koray Korkmaz (251,000), and Ihar Soika (235,000) who also hails from Belarus.
Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Name | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dmitry Gromov | Russia | 255,500 | 170 |
| 2 | Koray Korkmaz | Turkey | 251,000 | 167 |
| 3 | Aleksandr Kirichenko | Russia | 250,000 | 167 |
| 4 | Maksim Shornikau | Belarus | 249,000 | 166 |
| 5 | Halil Serdar Tasyurek | Turkey | 243,000 | 162 |
| 6 | Ihar Soika | Belarus | 235,500 | 157 |
| 7 | Simas Karaliunas | Lithuania | 234,500 | 156 |
| 8 | Navid Samavati | Iran | 220,500 | 147 |
| 9 | Danut Florin Chisu | France | 219,000 | 146 |
| 10 | Jakub Maciej Michalak | Poland | 214,500 | 143 |
Some other notable names to find a bag on Day 1 include the 2023 Merit Poker $2,200 Warm Up third-place finisher Ankit Ahuja (121,500), Erdal Gulseven (193,500), Nikolay Ponomarev and Damir Gabdullin who both had a top 15 finish in the Warm Up, and Romania’s Danut Chisu (219,000).
Speaking of Chisu, it's worth noting that the Romanian crusher has had some killer results in this exact tournament at this property in the past. He has a first-place finish at the 2020 Merit Poker Western $5,000 High Roller for $127,830, another first-place finish in the same event two years later in 2022 for $42,300, and two second-place finishes in other Merit Poker Gangster Series $5,000 high rollers for over $60,000 each. It's safe to say that the run-good at this property is real for Chisu and he will be a player to watch on Day 2.
Day 2 of the High Roller kicks off on Monday at the same 8:00 p.m. start time and is scheduled to play down to a final table of eight that will be live-streamed on the Merit Poker YouTube channel.
The current prize pool sits at $315,000 with late registration still open until level 12. Expect some players to find their seats right around that time. The players will be starting the day at level 9 with 1,000/1,500/1,500 blinds. The current average stack is 138,000, so it is still anyone's game with plenty of maneuverability to find some creative spots.
As always, stay tuned into PokerNews for all the updates on the Merit Poker Gangster Series and all the other best events happening around the world!