The money bubble burst at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Merit Classic North Cyprus Main Event Monday as the field was reduced from 79 to just 30 with two days left to play. Leading the way once again was Antonio Buonanno, who was also the chip leader after Day 2. With 1.175 million chips, Buonanno is way ahead of the rest of the field, as his closest competitor has just 800,000.
Antonio Buonanno is one of those really good poker players that most poker fans have never heard of, likely because he has done the vast majority of his work in Europe. He only has a dozen live tournament cashes on his resume over at TheHendonMob.com, but when he cashes he makes it count. Of his eleven cashes in open events, nine have been for at least five figures. He has nine cashes on the European Poker Tour (EPT), including his latest, a win at the EPT Grand Final Main Event in April for $1,715,526. He also finished fourth in a $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Event at the World Series of Poker last year, good for $231,147. All told, Buonanno has won over $2.1 million on the live tournament circuit.
WPT Cyprus has had a few minor controversies so far. Nothing major, just some instances of tough decisions the Tournament Director had to make when there were some disagreements at the table. The TD had to leap into action again yesterday as one player just could not get things right. Russian Nicolay Vershinin is an amateur poker player who can barely speak a word of English. On one hand after the flop, Vershinin bet, Albert Daher raised, and while Alexander Nudin was deciding what to do, Vershinin announced he was all-in. The Tournament Director was called over and determined that Vershinin had to stick with his action, but Nudin could do whatever he wanted with the benefit of this information. Nudin made the call, Daher folded, and eventually Nudin won the pot, crippling Vershanin.
Vershinin wasn’t out, though, and quickly rebuilt his chip stack. A short time later, Mario Perez opened the betting pre-flop and the action folded to Abbas Morady. Vershinin, who would be next to act, once again shouted that he was all-in before it was his turn. That was actually the third time he did that and again, the TD was called over. The TD ruled that if Morady raised the Vershinin could change his mind and decided to fold if he wanted (he would not get the raise from Perez if he folded). If Morady folded or called, though, Vershinin would have to remain all-in. Morady folded, Vershinin stayed all-in, and Perez called. Vershinin ended up doubling-up, but was then given a two-round penalty by the TD. Nobody felt Vershinin was breaking the rules on purpose, but he still needed to be penalized.
Day 4 is underway in Cyprus; by the end of Tuesday, the final table will be determined.
World Poker Tour Merit Classic North Cyprus Main Event – Day 3 Chip Leaders
1. Antonio Buonanno – 1,175,000
2. Serdar Saglam – 800,000
3. Christian Christner – 721,000
4. Alexander Lakhov – 641,000
5. Oliver Price – 626,000
6. Toby Lewis – 617,000
7. Dmitry Gromov – 595,000
8. Yuri Salikaev – 577,000
9. Abbas Morady – 543,000
10. Eddy Maksoud – 528,000`
* Tournament information and recaps courtesy WPT.com.