Main Event
Day 5 Completed
2019 Merit Poker Classic
Main Event
Day: 5
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2019 Merit Poker Classic
Buy-in
$5,300
Prize Pool
$2,990,267
Entries
649
Level
35
Blinds
400,000 / 800,000
Ante
800,000
Andreas Christoforou Wins the 2019 Merit Poker Classic Main Event for $565,157
Level 35
: 400,000/800,000, 800,000 ante
More than thirteen hours after the final day started, a winner has been crowned in the Merit Poker Classic $5,300 Main Event. It’s a home island win for Cyprus’ own Andreas Christoforou who grabbed the first-place prize of $565,157 by defeating Israel’s Liran Twito heads-up. The tournament was organized by partypoker LIVE and Poker Club Management here in the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino and attracted 649 entries in total, which included 211 entries, which created a total prize pool of $2,990,267.
This win is Christoforou’s biggest cash ever in the live tournament circuit according to The Hendon Mob and will take him to second place on the Cyprus All Time Money List. It also means the first-place prize takes him to almost $1.2 million in lifetime cashes. Christoforou started the day at the short stack but managed to wield himself through the minefield of eliminations to claim the win in the end with a huge rail as the local here.
Other notable players to have reached the final table of ten included the two partypoker pros Kristen Bicknell and Ludovic Geilich, Basil Yaiche, Anton Morgenstern, Mustafa Biz, and Florian Duta.
[i]Merit Poker Classic Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andreas Christoforou | Cyprus | $565,157 |
| 2 | Liran Twito | Israel | $416,245 |
| 3 | Kristen Bicknell | Canada | $254,770 |
| 4 | Daniel Braude | Israel | $188,685 |
| 5 | Basil Yaiche | France | $141,440 |
| 6 | Ludovic Geilich | United Kingdom | $113,330 |
| 7 | Selahaddin Bedir | Turkey | $94,490 |
| 8 | Anton Morgenstern | Germany | $75,355 |
| 9 | Mustafa Biz | Turkey | $56,515 |
| 10 | Florian Duta | Romania | $41,565 |
Today’s Action
Sixteen players returned at noon local time and Geilich was off to a bad start when he first doubled up Anatoly Suvarov and Duta. Then it was time for Bicknell to double up through Morgenstern but the first elimination could be claimed by Geilich when he busted Shahar Levi who ran his ace-queen into the aces of Geilich. Levi turned a pair of queens for some hope but he bricked the river to be the first player of the day to go to the payout desk. A mere twenty minutes later, it was Pavel Kovalenko who would make his way to collect his cash in a bit of a shock. Kovalenko called Geilich’s four-bet shove with the shorter stack and thought he was pretty safe when he saw they both held pocket jacks. But Geilich was running good and hit a flush on the river to send the Russian away.
Suvarov was next to go when he shoved his last ten big blinds with queen-jack and also fell victim to Geilich who held ace-seven. Geilich flopped a pair and improve to two pair on the turn. Christoforou found a double-up through Geilich to stop his run-good when he rivered a pair of aces to beat Geilich’s pocket nines. Hasan Dogan’s ace-king failed to win against the pocket queens of Dori Yacoub for twelve players to make it to the first break of the day.
Bicknell managed to hit quads with her seven-deuce when it all went in on the river and Yacoub snap-called with the full house. Yacoub couldn’t recover when he shoved with jack-eight on the six-king-jack-nine board and was called by Morgenstern who held ace-king and got no help on the river. Ulan Dzholdoshbekov was eliminated in eleventh place when he shoved his ten big blinds with pocket tens and was called by Daniel Braude who held ace-king and made a full house in the end. The ten remaining players were then sent for a break of around 40 minutes so they could get the final table set up for the special walk-on ceremony and photo opportunities. Almost 70 minutes later, it was finally time for the final table to kick off with Geilich holding a narrow chip lead and Christoforou as the second lowest stack.
Half an hour in, Duta was sent away from the final table stage when Duta three-bet shoved with pocket aces on the ace-deuce-ten all-diamond flop and was called by Braude who had flopped the nut-flush. No pair on the board when the turn and river were dealt and the Romanian player who lives in the United Kingdom was done in tenth place. Morgenstern was the next to claim an elimination to his name when he took out Biz. Biz’s last ten big blind went in with king-queen while Morgenstern held ace-queen.
It would then take almost three hours before Morgenstern’s ace-king couldn’t beat the pocket jacks of Twito and eight players to go down to seven. Selahaddin Bedir was the last to go before the impromptu dinner break as he four-bet shoved his whole stack in with jacks while Twito held aces. Twito took the chip lead into the dinner break and didn’t let up after having filled his appetite.
Geilich fell to Twito too as he shoved his jack-ten suited into the ace-jack of Twito and didn’t hit on the board. And less than five minutes later, Yaiche couldn’t beat Twito either as he found sixes but was behind against Twito’s eights. With more than half of the chips in play in Twito’s possession, he kept the pressure on his three opponents while they kept getting shorter. Christoforou managed to double through Braude, Bicknell also got a double-up paid by Braude, and then the curtain finally fell for him when his last 4 big blinds went in with six-four. Christoforou took them from him with the pocket eights even though Braude flopped a pair but got no extra help of the turn or river.
The option of discussing a deal came up and the three remaining agreed to look at the numbers but decided to play the current hand first which proved to be crucial for Christoforou who doubled up with pocket queens through Twito to decrease the gap between them. They all looked at the ICM numbers but decided to continue on with Bicknell hitting the road when she shoved her king-six into the ace-ten of Christoforou. Now the difference between them was only 10 million in chips and they looked at the numbers again.
No deal was agreed upon and they continued playing. The chips went back and forth for almost two hours. Christoforou doubled up with ace-nine against Twito’s king-queen to take over the chip lead, Twito made a bit of a comeback when he doubled with king-seven on the king-ten-four-seven-queen board while Christoforou held jack-ten. He then took the chip lead back when he managed to double up again with queen-seven on the jack-six-deuce-queen-eight board. This time Christoforou had jack-nine for the flopped pair of jacks. The chip lead flipped back to Christoforou when he won a few hands in a row before it all went in when Twito shoved with ace-eight. Christoforou called with king-ten suited and turned a flush while avoiding another club on the river which would have given Twito the nut-flush. With the rail and Christoforou himself exploding from happiness, the tournament was over after a long day’s grind.
This concludes the PokerNews live coverage from Cyprus, make sure to return as the next partypoker LIVE tournament coverage will take us to Montreal for the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America in about a week! Thank you for following all the updates.
Liran Twito Eliminated in 2nd Place ($416,245)
Level 35
: 400,000/800,000, 800,000 ante
Andreas Christoforou raised to 2,000,000 from the button and Liran Twito shoved for 22,300,000. Christoforou called his friends over before making the call and then put in the chips for the actual call.
Liran Twito: 
Andreas Christoforou: 
The flop came 
for Twito to stay ahead with the higher kicker but Christoforou picked up the flush draw.
The turn was the 
for Christoforou to hit the flush indeed and for the rail to explode.
The river was the 
to complete the board with no extra club and Twito was eliminated in second place for $416,245.
The rail all cheered and the dealers came on stage for the winner's ceremony as Christoforou claimed the win and the first-place prize of $565,157.
A recap of today's action is to follow.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
64,900,000 | 23,100,000 |
|
Busted |
Christoforou Takes Back the Chip Lead
Level 35
: 400,000/800,000, 800,000 ante
Liran Twito called on the button and Andreas Christoforou checked after having won the last few hands with quick bets and small raises preflop.
The flop came 
, Christoforou check-called the 800,000 bet of Twito.
The turn was the 
, Christoforou checked again and Twito now bet 2,500,000 which Christoforou called.
The river completed the board with the on which they both checked. Twito tabled 
but Christoforou picked up the pot with 
for the flopped pair of eights which he improved to two pair on the turn.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
41,800,000 | 12,100,000 |
|
|
23,100,000 | -12,100,000 |
Twito Doubles Again to Take Chip Lead
Level 35
: 400,000/800,000, 800,000 ante
Liran Twito called on the button and Andreas Christoforou checked.
The flop came 
, Christoforou check-called the 1,000,000 bet of Twito.
The turn was the 
, Christoforou checked again. Twito now bet 4,500,000 and Christoforou called after taking a few seconds.
The river completed the board with the 
, Christoforou checked quickly and Twito tanked. He counted out his stack, took some more time, before stacking all his chips up for the all-in for 11,600,000 in total. Christoforou snap-called.
Twito held 
for the turned pair of queens while Christoforou had 
for the flopped pair of jacks for Twito to double up and take over the chip lead.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
35,200,000 | 8,600,000 |
|
|
29,700,000 | -8,600,000 |
Level: 35
Blinds: 400,000/800,000
Ante: 800,000
Twito Doubles Up
Level 34
: 300,000/600,000, 600,000 ante
Andreas Christoforou called on the button and Liran Twito opted to check.
The flop came , Twito bet 700,000 and Christoforou called.
The turn was the 
, Twito now bet 3,000,000 and Christoforou called again after tanking for a while.
The river completed the board with the and Twito now shoved for 9,000,000. Christoforou tanked once more.
"I can show you 1 card if you fold," Twito offered Christoforou.
After a while, Christoforou called. Twito tabled 
for the flopped top pair and turned two pair. Christoforou pushed his cards over the line and the dealer turned them around to reveal Christoforou held 
for the flopped pair of tens.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
38,300,000 | -11,600,000 |
|
|
26,600,000 | 11,600,000 |
Christoforou Grinding Twito Down
Level 34
: 300,000/600,000, 600,000 ante
Liran Twito raised to 1,200,000 on the button and Andreas Christoforou raised to 5,000,000 which Twito called.
The flop came 
on which they both checked. They did the same on the to see the land on the river. Christoforou checked for the last time. Twito bet 3,500,000 and Christoforou called. Twito tabled 
for the bluff. Christoforou had for two pair which was good enough to pick up the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
49,900,000 | 8,900,000 |
|
|
15,000,000 | -8,900,000 |
Back and Forth
Level 34
: 300,000/600,000, 600,000 ante
The hands and chips are flying over the table with limped pots and small raises but nothing significant has happened yet. Liran Twito has won about ten big blinds back in the meantime.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
41,000,000 | -5,600,000 |
|
|
23,900,000 | 5,600,000 |
Level: 34
Blinds: 300,000/600,000
Ante: 600,000