The two starting days (Day 1a and 1b) of World Poker Tour Merit Cyprus Classic were played over the weekend. The main event attracted 329 players thus creating a total prize pool of $1,212,694. Now there are 132 players left and they will return to the tables in a few hours to play Day 2. The chip leader is no one else than David Rheem with 291,500. Doesn't ring a bell? David "Chino" Rheem is a well-known figure on the poker circuit having finished 7th in the 2008 WSOP Main Event for 1,7 million and won WPT's Season VII Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, earning $1,5 million.
Other big names with plenty of chips are, for example, Sam El Sayed (winner of 2010 WPT Amneville) in 3rd place with 214,300 and Robert Mizrachi in 6th place with 158,300. Robert's famous brother Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi is also alive but in 19th place with 54,300. It's nice to see that so many poker stars are doing well in the main event so far. It will be very interesting to see how things turn out during Day 2.
We'll be back with an update tomorrow morning.
