After ten levels of play, Day 1b of the $2,200 Warm Up at the 2025 Merit Poker Western Series drew its curtains with 118 players remaining from 230 entries.
The second flight of the event brought the total number of entries to 285, with two more flights still to play out. Late registration remains open until the end of Level 15, which is around the halfway mark of Day 2, giving players plenty of time to take one last shot at building a stack.
When all was said and done, Luke Marsh rocketed to the chip lead, bagging a commanding 971,500 chips, most of which came from a pivotal hand against Xin Yuan in the final moments of the day.
Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luke Marsh | United Kingdom | 971,500 |
| 2 | Ashraf Akeh | Canada | 718,500 |
| 3 | Edward Quinn | United Kingdom | 575,000 |
| 4 | Soraya Estrada | Spain | 440,000 |
| 5 | Danut Chisu | France | 430,000 |
| 6 | Dmitry Gromov | Russia | 420,500 |
| 7 | Tulica Iani | Romania | 414,500 |
| 8 | Sergei Varnaev | Russia | 405,000 |
| 9 | Paul Runcan | Romania | 400,500 |
| 10 | Nicolas Hasbani | Lebanon | 365,500 |
Marsh was in cruise control for most of the day and built his stack to around 400,000 by the mid-way point of the flight. But as the clock wound down, he found himself in a massive pot that sent him soaring to the top of the counts. After a rare six-bet preflop from Marsh, Yuan called and the two saw a middling board. Yuan, holding Big Slick, made his move on the river, shoving all in, but Marsh snap-called with pocket aces to scoop a pot worth nearly one million chips and vault himself into a commanding position heading into Day 2.
Ashraf Akeh, a Canadian-Jordanian player, took an early lead and was already sitting on 500,000 chips by the first break — nearly five starting stacks. He continued to chip up throughout the day, finishing with 718,500, securing the second-biggest stack of both the day and overall.
Another British player, Edward Quinn, rounded out the top three stacks with 575,000 with Soraya Estrada (440,000), Dmitry Gromov (420,500), Sergei Varnaev (405,000), and Paul Runcan (400,500) all making it in the top ten.
Remaining Schedule
| Date | Day | Time | Blind Levels |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 15 | Day 1c | 9:00 pm | 25 minutes |
| January 16 | Day 1d | 10:00 am | 15 minutes |
| January 16 | Day 2 | 12:30 pm | 40 minutes |
| January 17 | Day 3 | 12:00 pm | 40 minutes |
| January 18 | Day 4 | 12:00 pm | 40 minutes |
Day 1c got underway at 9 p.m. and offers players a faster-paced 25-minute blind structure. For those still hoping to run up a stack, Day 1d — the final starting flight — kicks off tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.. The survivors from all four starting flights will then combine for Day 2, starting at 12:30 p.m., where the real fight for the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool will begin.
Late registration remains open until the end of Level 15, so there’s still plenty of time for the prize pool to swell even further.
Be sure to tune in to PokerNews tomorrow as Day 2 gets underway and the $2,200 Warm Up really starts to heat up!