When it folded to Andrey Pateychuk in the small blind he shoved all his 800,000 into the middle with just Nikita Kalinin to get through in the big blind. Kalinin called to put Pateychuk at risk.
Andrey Pateychuk: A♣Q♠
Nikita Kalinin: 2♥2♦
Pateychuk found himself in a flip against Kalinin's deuces. The board ran out 7♦10♥8♠J♦4♠ to keep Kalinin's deuces ahead the whole way, and Pateychuk was out in 20th place.
Aren Bezhanyan raised to 120,000 in the hijack. Gytis Lazauninkas then three-bet shoved for 590,000 in the cutoff, after which Ravil Khamatgareev called all-in for 415,000 in the big blind.
Bezhanyan gave it some thought, but ultimately folded his hand to let the two short stacks battle it out.
Ravil Khamatgareev: K♣Q♥
Gytis Lazauninkas: 8♠8♦
Khematgareev did not receive help on the 9♣3♥6♣ flop or 4♦ turn, and the 8♣ river made Lazauninkas a set to lock up the pot and knock Khamatgareev out.
Ami Barer got his stack of 755,000 in from the cutoff and was at risk against Mohamed Mokrani on the button.
Ami Barer: 10♠10♣
Mohamed Mokrani: A♣7♣
Barer needed to fade an ace to survive the bubble, but the flop had bad news with A♦3♠3♥. He was drawing to just a ten, but the deck had none in store on the 7♥ turn or K♥ river, making Barer the official bubble boy.
Alessio Isaia raised to 85,000 from middle position. Nikita Kalinin then three-bet to 255,000 in the hijack, which Abdullah Alajmi cold-called in the cutoff. Isaia opted to get out of the way, and a A♥2♠9♠ flop was spread.
They both checked to the 5♠ turn, where Kalinin checked again. Alajmi decided to wager his last 400,000 chips and was instantly called by Kalinin.
Abdullah Alajmi: 10♥5♥
Nikita Kalinin: A♦8♦
The 3♦ river did not upgrade Alajmi's pair of fives, sending him to the rail against the aces of Kalinin. At another table, Arunas Sapitavicius was also eliminated from the High Roller.
As communicated on Day 1, 23 players will receive a cash. The minimum amount anyone will take home is $17,500, while $355,000 is reserved for the eventual winner.
One year ago, Nikita Kalinin finished fifth in the High Roller at the Mediterranean Poker Party for his second-best ever score of $95,000. Today, at 1 p.m. local time, he has a chance to improve on that achievement as he is one of 35 players who will return to Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa for the final day of the $10,400 Onyx High Roller.
Kalinin has already reached the top quarter of the field as the High Roller attracted 149 entries, amassing a prize pool of approximately $1,400,000, although the exact figure has yet to be confirmed. The 2,475,000 chips in Kalinin's stack equal 62 big blinds when play resumes, and put him in seventh place on the overall leaderboard.
Leading the field, meanwhile, is Konstantin Voronin, whose stack of 4,625,000 was the biggest of all at the end of Day 1. Maksim Shornikau was the only other player to cross the four-million mark, returning with 4,230,000, while Vedat Yilmaz, Aren Bezhanyan, and Kirill Shcherbakov all bagged more than 75 big blinds.
Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Konstantin Voronin
Russian Federation
4,625,000
116
2
Maksim Shornikau
Belarus
4,230,000
106
3
Vedat Yilmaz
Turkey
3,830,000
96
4
Aren Bezhanyan
Armenia
3,780,000
95
5
Kirill Shcherbakov
Russian Federation
3,000,000
75
6
Abdullah Alajmi
Kuwait
2,930,000
73
7
Nikita Kalinin
Russian Federation
2,475,000
62
8
Dzmitry Budai
Belarus
2,385,000
60
9
Roman Stoika
Russian Federation
2,270,000
57
10
Alessio Isaia
Italy
2,100,000
53
Konstantin Voronin
Chipleader Voronin is hunting his second major final table of the series, having finished fourth in the $2,200 Grand Final, but he is not the only one in this pursuit. Roman Stoika, David Vinayagamoorthy (1,205,000), Andrey Pateychuk (1,060,000), and Yilu Yuan (630,000) all made the final table of the $1,100 Mystery Bounty and have all booked a seat in Day 2 of the High Roller as they chase their first title of the festival.
Day 2 will get underway at 1 p.m. local time, with blinds at 20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 big blind ante. The High Roller has been confirmed to pay 23 spots, although the exact payouts have yet to be announced. The tournament will play 40-minute levels only, with a break after every three levels, and the day will conclude once a new champion has been announced. A dinner break is scheduled around 6:30 p.m. local time and will take an hour.
PokerNews will be on the tournament floor to report all the High Roller action live, so stay tuned for some of the last action from the 2025 MPP.
