Who Will Walk Away With $565,157 By Winning The Merit Poker Classic Main Event?
The most important day of any tournament is here, the final day of the Merit Poker Classic $5,300 Main Event means that a winner will be crowned tonight. Sixteen players will return to the poker room at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino at noon local time to battle it out for that first-place prize of $565,157 and bragging rights.
Currently sitting in pole position is partypoker’s own pro Ludovic Geilich who bagged 8,080,000 last night which is six big blinds more than Liran Twito who put 7,470,000 into his seal bag. Geilich and Twito are seated on the same table, as is Shahar Levi who finished third in the chip counts with 7,255,000. With the addition of Basil Yaiche, this means that the four biggest stacks of the tournament are on one table which could cause lots of fireworks.
Kristen Bicknell, the other partypoker pro left in the tournament is sat on the other table where the stacks are all pretty even. This also means that there could possibly be a lot of action from the start as everyone will be trying to build up their stacks to make it to the final table and be in with a fighting chance. Anton Morgenstern is the only other player on the table who also sports an above average stack while the rest is floating just below average but still have around thirty big blinds each.
When the players return at noon local time, they will play Level 25 which features a small blind of 50,000, big blind of 100,000, and big blind ante of 100,000. No matter what, a new champion will be crowned here in Cyprus at the end of this, so make sure to follow the updates which will be provided to you by the PokerNews live reporting team.
Final Day Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Kristen Bicknell | Canada | 4,980,000 | 50 |
| 1 | 2 | Ulan Dzholdoshbekov | Russia | 3,500,000 | 35 |
| 1 | 3 | Dori Yacoub | Lebanon | 3,120,000 | 31 |
| 1 | 4 | Daniel Braude | Israel | 2,630,000 | 26 |
| 1 | 5 | Hasan Dogan | Turkey | 3,200,000 | 32 |
| 1 | 6 | Mustafa Biz | Turkey | 3,415,000 | 34 |
| 1 | 7 | Empty | - | ||
| 1 | 8 | Selahaddin Bedir | Turkey | 3,350,000 | 34 |
| 1 | 9 | Anton Morgenstern | Germany | 4,300,000 | 43 |
| 2 | 1 | Empty | - | ||
| 2 | 2 | Anatoly Suvorov | Russia | 2,200,000 | 22 |
| 2 | 3 | Shahar Levi | Israel | 7,255,000 | 73 |
| 2 | 4 | Liran Twito | Israel | 7,470,000 | 75 |
| 2 | 5 | Ludovic Geilich | Germany | 8,080,000 | 81 |
| 2 | 6 | Andreas Christoforou | Cyprus | 1,700,000 | 17 |
| 2 | 7 | Pavel Kovalenko | Russia | 3,405,000 | 34 |
| 2 | 8 | Florian Duta | Romania | 1,995,000 | 20 |
| 2 | 9 | Basil Yaiche | France | 5,385,000 | 54 |
for Bicknell to flop top two pair to double up.
for Levi to turn the queen for a glimmer of hope but he bricked the river to get eliminated in 16th place for $29,005.
for Geilich to flop the flush draw and the crowd gasped.
which didn't change the situation much but the 
on the river gave Geilich the flush indeed. 
was dealt on the river to complete the board as a formality. 
for Yacoub to make a full house on the river to eliminate Dogan in 13th place for $33,790.
, Yacoub checked again and Morgenstern shoved with the bigger stack. Yacoub tanked for a while, counted out his stack which was worth around 1,800,000, and then put a stack for the call.
completed the board on the river to seal the deal for Morgenstern and Yacoub would be the first player to benefit from the payjump. Yacoub collected $41,565 for finishing in 12th place.
, Bicknell contemplated her options for a while but then opted to check. Bedir took some time too before deciding to check too. Bicknell tabled 
on the river to get eliminated in tenth place for $41,565.
