Merge to Return in End-July

Renewed competition in the online poker market? The times after Black Friday seem to be bad for indicted operators, but good for players who can now choose between companies that boost their promos and slash rake in order to get as many of the migrating players as possible. One of the first networks to succeed in this was Merge, which instantly noted boosted traffic. However, not much later, in June, the network announced that it was to temporarily restrict US activity in order to reorganize its administration to better handle the increased business, without effect on the existing players. It seems that the reorganization period has passed, as according to the latest reports, Merge is planning a comeback to accepting new US action, except those from Washington, New York, Missouri and Louisiana, by the end of July. The actions stopped at level 14, at which point Patrick Poirier was the chip leader on 1,328,000, ahead of Daryl Jace (1,282,500), followed by Chris Kwon (944,500), Sebastian Ruthenberg (889,000) and Aleksandr Mozhnyakov (813,000). Also remaining in the competition are Guillaume Darcourt, Peter Jetten, Sami Kelopuro, Sorel Mizzi, Daniel Negreanu, Kristy Gazes, Adam Junglen, Erick Lindgren, Allen Cunningham, JP Kelly, and the only surviving 2010 November Nine finalist Joseph Cheong, along with the chip leaders at the start of Day 3, Ben Lamb and Kevin Saul. As for Phil Hellmuth who unfortunately mixed up his playing schedule, he also managed to remain in contention, but he will need to put in a great performance to really get back in the game.