It turns out the best way to play pocket jacks is to just make quads, and that��s what helped put Samir Nacer atop the leaderboard after Day 1a of the Merit Poker Dolce Vita Series $2,200 La Notte Degli Assi.
Nacer made quad jacks to bust Kerem Turuskan in the last level of the night on his way to bagging up 703,500. He leads 87 players who survived the day out of 237 total entries.
Ermanno Pacini also ended up as a big stack after he called on the river for his last 150,000 with a pair of tens. His opponent only had ace-high as Pacini doubled up in a more than 600,000-chip pot, ending up with 676,500. Navid Samavati (682,500), ��set machine�� Guillermo Gordo (586,000), Gurcan Gungoren (567,000), and Danut Chisu (495,000) are also near the top of the leaderboard after the opening flight.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samir Nacer | France | 703,500 | 281 |
| 2 | Navid Samavati | Iran | 682,500 | 273 |
| 3 | Ermanno Pacini | Italy | 676,500 | 271 |
| 4 | Guillermo Cifuentes | Poland | 586,000 | 234 |
| 5 | Gurcan Gungoren | Turkey | 567,000 | 227 |
| 6 | Ahmet Akyun | Turkey | 536,000 | 214 |
| 7 | Danut Chisu | Romania | 495,000 | 198 |
| 8 | Yilu Yuan | China | 476,500 | 191 |
| 9 | Kemal Aslan | Turkey | 458,500 | 183 |
| 10 | Miroslav Rizov | Bulgaria | 452,000 | 181 |
Other players to advance include Ali Moein (402,000), Bakhos Joumaa (254,000), Maxim Lykov (232,000), Roman Gadzhiev (190,000), Rachid El Yaacoubi (162,500), and Koray Korkmaz (155,500).
Fausto Tantillo nearly made it through the day but ran his flopped pair of tens into Yilu Yuan��s queens to bust near the end of the night, while Chakib M��Hiri, Cheng Zhao, and Samuel Dray also were sent to the rail and will have to try again on a different flight.
There are three more starting flights available. Day 1b begins tomorrow at noon, while Day 1c is on July 31 and features 40-minute levels. There is also a turbo Day 1d flight featuring 25-minute levels. Everyone to advance combines for Day 2 on August 1. Late registration remains open through Level 14 on Day 2, with unlimited reentries allowed.
PokerNews will be back providing live updates tomorrow for what is sure to be another packed poker room at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino in North Cyprus.
