- Big Stax XXIV 500 Main Event 11:05 PM
- Level 15 (2000/4000/500)
- Day 1A Entries: 236
This is the portion of the session where you will often see tournament regulars taking shots to build a stack before the bags come out. Mermelstein definitely fits into that category and just took a speculative hand and 15 big blinds and got a full double.
Greg Fishberg opened from under the gun to 8k and was shoved on by Mermelstein on his immediate left for 63.5k. Mermelstein may have been ahead of Fishberg but the player on his immediate left isolated with a shove for ~140k. Everyone else folded and they tabled their hands.
Mermelstein A♣9♠ vs Villain A♥K♣
Board: 5♥9♥5♣7♥Q♦
Mermelstein pairs his kicker and moves up to 145k after the hand. The field would have been happy to see the tournament expert with over $2.3M in live earnings lose the hand and be forced to re-buy but instead Mermelstein is now working with over 30 big blinds.