Ketzer, Wei and Zukowicz Advance in Day 1c of Merit Poker Western Series $3,300 Main Event
The third starting flight has come to a close in the 2023 Merit Poker Western Series $3,300 Main Event here at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino in North Cyprus. Several big names managed to find a bag at the end of this flight, including ACR team pro Monika Zukowicz, Brazilian crusher Felipe Ketzer and bracelet winner Guoliang Wei. They are chasing an anonymous player who bagged the overall chip lead for Day 1c.
Day 1c attracted 131 entrants, bringing the total number of entrants across the first three starting flights to 491. Of those 131 entrants, 65 players were able to find a bag and advance to Day 2 after nine 40-minute levels of play. Despite a deep structure featuring starting stacks worth 200 big blinds, the players wasted no time trying to accumulate chips. Ali El-Siblani got off to a good start today after making a full house in the early levels and getting paid off. He would later win a colossal three-way all in to soar up the chip counts in another highlight midway through the day before eventually finishing the night with the fourth-largest stack.
Lebanon's Amine Karami established himself as an early chip leader after winning a huge flip and would ride that momentum all the way to the end of the night, finishing with one of the biggest stacks of the evening at 392,000.
$3,300 Main Event Day 1c Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
| 1 | John Doe S | N/A | 538,500 | 215 |
| 2 | Siarhei Chudapal | Belarus | 405,500 | 162 |
| 3 | Amine Karami | Lebanon | 392,000 | 157 |
| 4 | Ali El-Siblani | Lebanon | 372,000 | 149 |
| 5 | Gianfranco Iaculli | Italy | 342,500 | 137 |
| 6 | Thomas Eychenne | France | 334,500 | 134 |
| 7 | Nuri Hadioglu | Turkey | 334,000 | 134 |
| 8 | Hassanin Hashim | New Zealand | 330,000 | 132 |
| 9 | Giuliano Boellis | Italy | 317,000 | 127 |
| 10 | Mihai Tusnea | Romania | 317,000 | 127 |
Ketzer and Wei were seated together for the majority of the day at what was perhaps the toughest table in the room. The two crushers would tangle a few times throughout the evening, most notably when Ketzer flopped two pair and scored a full double up through Wei who held both a pair and a flush draw. Both players managed to find a bag by the end of the evening; Ketzer finished with 197,000 while Wei ended with 146,500. Wei has already made deep runs in both of the other two major events from this series. He finished 12th in the $2,200 Warm Up for $12,060 and then made the final table of the $5,300 High Roller where he finished in eighth place for $23,400. Only time will tell if a third deep run is in the cards for Wei during this series.
Chudapal began to separate himself from the rest of the field in the later levels of the evening, at one point extracting value with two pair in a big pot that saw him become the largest stack in the room at the time. He would end the night as the second-largest stack, finishing with 405,000. Meanwhile, Zukowicz was under the radar for most of the day until taking down a three-bet pot against Di Nicola in one of the last hands of the evening. She would end the night with 237,000, just slightly under 100 big blinds going into Day 2.
There is one more starting flight this evening that is already underway, featuring 25-minute levels. Afterwards, the field will combine for Day 2 tomorrow, January 23. As always, stay tuned to PokerNews for all your live coverage needs for this event until a winner is crowned on the final day taking place January 25.