Poker Player Blog

Sponsored by Full Tilt Poker (perhaps in a bid to balance their recent negative bad press) the Merit Cyprus Classic is actually held in Cyprus, Greece. The poker tournament is a part of the World Poker Tour and is traditionally sponsored by Pokerstars. The location is political and the prize pool is around $3 million. So how did the first day go?

The Cypriot Turkish occupied island played host to approximately 100 players and got to play without the concern of the rest of the European Union. Because this part of Cyprus is under Turkish rule, they can pretty much do what they want without having to worry about EU gambling regulations.

At the top of the leader board is Nicolas Chouity who ended play with a healthy 120,000 chips. Chouity has already had some wins this year being the 2010 champion for the Pokerstars EPT. It will be difficult for players to catch up on day two. Another name you might recognize is Michael Mizrachi who came away with a bracelet in this year’s WSOP main event and has made it to the final table in November.

Here’s the chip count as reported by pokernews.com at the end of day one:

1 Nicolas Chouity 119,600

2 Chip Jett 80,750

3 Dave Colclough 68,000

4 Van Marcus 67,500

5 Chris Cellery 59,000

6 Bobbi G 58,000

7 Kevin O’Donnell 52,000

8 Kelly Kim 48,025

9 Chino Rheem 40,300

10 Michael Mizrachi 36,025

Despite a seemingly small turnout for this WPT six day event, the number of players traditionally increases as each day passes.  We’ll keep you informed with anything exciting that happens. Isn’t it great to play poker vicariously though other people?

At least, that is until you can get back into the casino.