Heads-up in a blind versus blind battle and the board showing 9♥2♣5♣4♥, Jenya Gavrilovich bet 50,000 before Saar Wilf moved all in for 130,000. Gavrilovich quickly called.
Wilf had 10♣6♣ for straight and flush draws, while Gavrilovich showed Q♥Q♦. The 5♠ river missed Wilf and sent him to the rail.
Rachid El-Yaacoubi raised to 20,000 in early position before Fabio Peluso moved all in for 79,000 in middle position. Bojan Berberovic called in the hijack, but Mikhail Zavoloka reraised to 255,000 in the small blind. Both El-Yaacoubi and Berberovic folded.
Fabio Peluso: A♣5♣
Mikhail Zavoloka: A♦K♦
Zavoloka had Peluso dominated as the flop came K♠8♥J♥ to give him top pair. The rest of the board came K♥8♦ and Zavoloka finished with trips to send Peluso to the rail.
Day 2 of the Merit Poker Carmen Series High Roller ended short of the money bubble as 30 players return tomorrow with their sights on securing a payday.
Bojan Berberovic is in the best position to do just that, ending the day as chip leader and the only player above 1,000,000. Berberovic doubled up with a set of threes in a massive pot against Mikalai Vaskaboinikau that catapulted him to the top of the counts as he ended up with 1,156,000.
He’s followed by Rachid El-Yaacoubi (964,000), Milos Skrbic (892,000), Halil Tasyurek (850,000), and Mikhail Zavoloka (750,000). El-Yaacoubi was a Day 2 entrant and quickly found a double up after putting a brutal cooler on Saman Nakhjavani, hitting a full house on the turn against Nakhjavani’s flopped full house. He then spiked a straight on the river in a three-way all in for a double knockout of the luckless Vaskaboinikau and Boris Angelov.
Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Bojan Berberovic
Montenegro
1,156,000
96
2
Rachid El-Yaacoubi
France
964,000
80
3
Milos Skrbic
Serbia
892,000
74
4
Halil Tasyurek
Turkey
850,000
71
5
Mikhail Zavoloka
Russia
750,000
63
6
Dmitrii Kuzin
Russia
719,000
60
7
Andrei Spataru
Romania
641,000
53
8
Michel Habib
Lebanon
639,000
53
9
Dawid Smolka
Poland
619,000
52
10
Daniel Henriques
Portugal
617,000
51
Other notables to survive the day include Michel Habib (639,000), Day 1 chip leader Dawid Smolka (619,000), Maxime Chilaud (606,000), and Jakub Michalak (569,000). The players whose hopes for the title ended today include Western Series High Roller champion Maksim Shornikau, Fabio Peluso, Giorgiy Skhulukhiya, Boris Kolev, Toni Kaukua, Darko Svesko, and Fausto Tantillo.
Day 2 saw 80 new entries join the 65 from the first day to create a total field of 145 and a prize pool of $667,000. The top 17 will finish in the money, with the champion tomorrow walking away with $174,500. The action on Day 3 kicks off at noon local time on Level 18 with blinds of 6,000-12,000 and a 12,000 big blind ante.
Come back to PokerNews tomorrow as the 30 surviving players play down to a new champion here at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino.