partypoker Pro Geilich Takes Chip Lead as 16 Remain in Merit Poker Classic Main Event
The penultimate day of the Merit Poker Classic $5,300 Main Event has come to an end after six levels of 75 minutes have been played and sixteen players have found a bag to tag. partypoker pro Ludovic Geilich claimed the Day 4 chip lead when he bagged 8,080,000 in chips.
The Scottish player scored a huge double-up when he found pocket kings and five-bet shoved for over 4 million and was called by Basil Yaiche who had pocket queens. Geilich is followed by Israel's Liran Twito who claimed oodles of bust-outs to his name including Pavel Plesuv and Kacper Pyzara. Rounding out the podium is Shahar Levi (7,255,000), who also hails from Israel. After going up and down the chip counts throughout the day, he found a double-up through Twito among other things in the last level of the day to soar to third.
Also bagging an above average stack are Basil Yaiche, partypoker pro Kristen Bicknell, and the day 1c chip leader Anton Morgenstern. Other more familiar faces who have made it through to the final day include Mustafa Biz, Day 3 chip leader Pavel Kovalenko, Dori Yacoub, Florian Duta, and Andreas Christoforou.
Day 4 started with 66 players, although not everyone showed up in time. The eliminations were coming in at a rapid pace, and by the first break only 37 players were left. Albert Daher, birthday boy Milad Oghabian, Stoyan Abreshkov, Lachezar Petkov, Uri Reichenstein, day 2 chip leader Sergey Baburin, Vladimir Troyanovskiy, Vlad Darie, and Joey Weissman were some of the bigger names who didn’t get through the first two levels of the day.
Things started slowing down afterward, and in the next two levels Andrey Pateychuk, Boris Kolev, Elvin Sarkarov, Joep Raemaekers, and Kenny Hallaert were among those to fall. Hallaert managed to catch his flight in time as his pocket eights got beaten by the ace-queen of Daniel Braude, who ended up with the better kicker on a seven-seven-seven-seven-deuce board.
Twenty-five players went into the last break of the day and things started slowing down even more. The likes of Dragos Trofimov, Ben Farrell and Manig Loeser, who lost his stack to Bicknell, fell along the way. Daniil Kiselev busted with ace-jack against the eights of Morgenstern, followed by Orhan Ates who was the final elimination of the night. Fittingly, it was Geilich who did him in to bag the overall chip lead.
The final sixteen players will return at noon local time on Sunday, May 12, to play down to a winner. The eventual champion will walk away with the first-place prize of a staggering $565,157. Action resumes in level 25, with a small blind of 50,000, a big blind of 100,000, and big blind ante of 100,000. Make sure to come back to see who will be victorious here in the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino in Cyprus!
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 | United Kingdom | 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 Ates' two pair to get counterfeited on the river and Geilich to win with the higher kicker.
for Morgenstern to hold and eliminate Kiselev in 18th place before the remaining players could even be redrawn to the final two tables.
, Loeser decided to also tank until the clock was called on him and the floor gave Loeser 30 seconds to take a decision. When time was running down, Loeser decided to check. Bicknell put in the 5,000 but the dealer instructed her to put in at least 80,000. Loeser tanked again and then made the call eventually with 
for the gutshot to the straight. Bicknell held 
for Plesuv to not get any help of the board as he was sent to the payout desk in 20th place.
, Geilich check-called the 400,000 continuation-bet of Bicknell.
on which they both checked to see the 
.
through Basil Yaiche who also held 
