Only 12 players remain in contention for the largest share of the $1,370,800 prize pool in the 2021 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North Cyprus $2,200 Warm Up, which attracted 745 entries.
At the five-star Merit Crystal Cove Hotel Casino & Spa in Girne, North Cyprus, the final dozen hopefuls have won $18,370 for their efforts thus far. All eyes, however, are on the trophy and the $240,265 top prize that comes with it.
Jim Sue Pan of the Netherlands is the only player with a stack of more than 50 big blinds, with a total of $12,750,000 as of the final day. Georges Hanna, Ionel Anton, Mantas Nanartavicius, Fahredin Mustafov, and Kush Vinod Kataria are among the five players who are within five big blinds.
The money bubble burst after ten levels of 60 minutes each, and the goal of reaching the nine-handed final table was narrowly missed. Johan “YoH ViraL” Guilbert, a French online poker streamer, and rising star Artur Martirosian are among the final dozen contenders.
Seating assignments for the $2,200 Warm Up’s final day
The final day will begin at 1 p.m. local time on Monday, September 20, and the final table will be streamed on the partypoker Twitch and YouTube channels with cards-up coverage and commentary. On two six-handed tables, the starting blinds will be 100,000-200,000 with a big blind ante of 200,000.
The Action of The Day
It didn’t take long for the money bubble to be reached, with 94 returning players and 89 spots paid. When he ran with queens into Nicolas Chouity’s aces, Lebanese player Elie Hage Youssef became the last player to leave empty-handed. From there, the eliminations came at a breakneck pace, with Dmitry Gromov, Wael Sarkis, Eimantas Adomavicius, and Chouity among the early money losers.
When Artur Martirosian revived a full house with pocket nines, Piotr Sowinski fell victim to the Russian’s run-good. The stack of Martirosian, on the other hand, was on a roller coaster ride throughout the day as others vied for the top spot on the leaderboard. After knocking out several opponents in a row on the final four tables, Frenchman Gregoire Auzoux emerged victorious.
Only 29 players remained on the dinner break after six levels, and when the action resumed, recent WSOP Online bracelet winner Kacper Pyzara was the first to leave. Zorlu Er rose to the top for a short time after knocking out Job Greben and Bassel Alanaz before paying off a full house of Kush Vinod Kataria to become a short stack. At this point, Jim Sue Pan took command with a lot of vigor, and he never really dropped out of the top three in chips.
Before the final two tables were set, Lachezar Petkov, Kasparas Klezys, and Walid Bou Habib were eliminated, and Viktor Ustimov’s stack was reduced in the final hand before the redraw when he four-bet jammed sixes into Johan Guilbert’s queens. Ustimov never recovered from that and was one of several people who were eliminated in a hurry. With a dozen contenders still in the mix, Zorlu Er and Stefan Fabian’s hopes were dashed when an inferior suited ace arrived before the dust settled.
They’ll return on September 20th after a good night’s sleep to play down to the winner. The PokerNews team will be there to provide up-to-the-minute live coverage until a champion is crowned.