For the past hands, all three tables have been tanking excessively as the next elimination meant everyone would catch a pay jump.
Kristen Bicknell raised to 175,000 from mid-position and was called by Basil Yaiche in the hijack. Manig Loeser also called in the big blind.
The flop came , Loeser checked, Bicknell continued with a bet of 225,000. Yaiche folded but Loeser made it 765,000 while keeping 5,000 behind. Bicknell called.
The turn was the , 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 the flopped top pair and improved two pair.
The river completed the board with the for Loeser to get eliminated in 19th place.
Daniil Kiselev raised to 1,000,000 from the hijack, leaving himself behind with 340,000. Anton Morgenstern shoved from the big blind. Kiselev tanked until Loeser was eliminated over on the other table and he then called.
Daniil Kiselev:
Anton Morgenstern:
The board ran out for Morgenstern to hold and eliminate Kiselev in 18th place before the remaining players could even be redrawn to the final two tables.
Orhan Ates shoved from mid-position for around 1,000,000 and Ludovic Geilich shoved too in the small blind. Andreas Christoforou quickly folded his big blind.
Orhan Ates:
Ludovic Geilich:
The board ran out for Ates' two pair to get counterfeited on the river and Geilich to win with the higher kicker.
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.
partypoker pro Kristen Bicknell bagged 4,980,000 at the end of the day
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.
Manig Loeser finished in 19th place for $25,415
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!
for Plesuv to not get any help of the board as he was sent to the payout desk in 20th place.
, Loeser checked, Bicknell continued with a bet of 225,000. Yaiche folded but Loeser made it 765,000 while keeping 5,000 behind. Bicknell called.
for the gutshot to the straight. Bicknell held 
for Loeser to get eliminated in 19th place.
for Morgenstern to hold and eliminate Kiselev in 18th place before the remaining players could even be redrawn to the final two tables.
for Ates' two pair to get counterfeited on the river and Geilich to win with the higher kicker.
