2023 Merit Poker Retro Series

$3,300 Main Event
Day: 3
Event Info

2023 Merit Poker Retro Series

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
kk
Prize
$567,000
Event Info
Buy-in
$3,300
Prize Pool
$3,375,480
Entries
1,223
Level Info
Level
41
Blinds
600,000 / 1,200,000
Ante
1,200,000
Players Info - Day 3
Entries
215
Players Left
28

More Than 10 Millions For Barakat And Hu On Day 3

Level 29 : Blinds 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante
David Hu
David Hu

The teaser for Day 4 of the Merit Poker Retro Series $3,300 Main Event at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino is simple: 28 players for a top prize of $567,000.

Out of the 1,223 entrants registered in this event, 215 qualified for Day 3. Only 143 of them reached the first goal of the day: to finish in the money. Following that, the next step was to bag up their chips for Day 4. That's exactly what 28 players did.

And most of all, that’s what Mousa Barakat did. With 10,250,000 chips, I’ll be the chipleader of the final day. However, he was closely followed by David Hu, who bagged 10,000,000 chips, just two blinds behind.

End Of Day 3 Chip Count

RANKPLAYERCOUNTRYCHIP COUNTBLINDS
1Mousa Barakat 10,250,00085
2David HuNetherlands10,000,00083
3Ruslan VolkovUkraine8,600,00072
4Oleg NetalievRussia8,375,00070
5Ran IlaniIsrael8,025,00067
6Florian GuimondFrance7,125,00059
7Karo NuriSwitzerland5,350,00045
8Ara MelkisetianLebanon5,300,00044
9Nenad DukicSerbia5,250,00044
10Valeriy PakUzbekistan4,900,00041

Chipleader at the beginning of the day, Florian Guimond is still here with 7,125,000 chips. He leads an experienced French trio, composed of 2023 PSPC finalist Thomas Eychenne (4,550,000) and Rachid El Yaacoubi, who lost big pots at the end of the day to finish with 2,250,000 chips. Like him, Dominik Panka (1,600,000 chips) and Dmitry Gromov (825,000 chips) ended Day 3 with small stacks. But they know, maybe better than others, that there is still a long way to go to win.

The fourth and final day of the $3,300 Main Event will start at 1:00 p.m. on Level 30 (60,000/120,000 with a Big Blind Ante of 120,000) and will continue until a winner is crowned. Like on Day 3, there will be 60-minute levels with a break every two levels.

To follow the outcome of the Main Event, there will be a live stream on the Merit Poker social networks. PokerNews will also follow the action all the way until the end!

Tags: Ara MelkisetianChinguun Bolor-ErdeneDavid HuDmitry GromovDominik PankaFlorian GuimondKaro NuriMore ThanMousa BarakatOleg NetalievRachid El YaacoubiRan IlaniRuslan VolkovThomas Eychenne

Lucky Board For Guimond

Level 25 : Blinds 20,000/40,000, 40,000 ante
Florian Guimond
Florian Guimond

From under the gun, Florian Guimond opened to 85,000. Seated on his left, Hady El-Asmar three-bet all-in for 395,000. All the other players folded to Guimond, who put his hood in front of his mouth. He thought about his decision for a few seconds and eventually called.

Hady El-Asmar: 88
Florian Guimond: 98

A nine landed on the table directly on the flop 5A9, giving the best hand to Guimond. A second nine came on the turn 9, securing his win, before the 6 on the river. Quite unhappy about this board, El-Asmar was eliminated.

Player Chips Progress
Florian Guimond fr
Florian Guimond
2,500,000
500,000
500,000
Day 2 Chip Leader
Hady El-Asmar
Hady El-Asmar
Busted

Tags: Florian GuimondHady El-Asmar

Massive Stack For Eychenne

Level 23 : Blinds 10,000/25,000, 25,000 ante
Thomas Eychenne
Thomas Eychenne

Thomas Eychenne is on a crazy run, as he has just eliminated three players in a row.

First, on a 1094K3 board, he knocked out Luca Guglielmoni with K10, which gave him two pairs. "I bet small on the flop, then half pot on the turn, and I moved all in on the river and he called," Eychenne explained later. Guglielmoni had KxJx. After this hand, Eychenne took the chiplead with 4,000,000 chips.

A few hands later, Eychenne revealed his cards again, but this time it was preflop, against a short stack.

Opponent: AJ
Thomas Eychenne: AA

With the best possible hand, Eychenne won an additional 450,000 chips after the 85J74 board.

On the next hand, he was, once again, involved in a hand where he called Farid Hobeiche's stack of 450,000 chips.

Farid Hobeiche: 22
Thomas Eychenne: 77

"This is crazy," said Eychenne, who claimed the pot again on 5KQ410. He now has 5,200,000 chips.

Player Chips Progress
Thomas Eychenne fr
Thomas Eychenne
5,200,000
3,050,000
3,050,000
Farid Hobeich
Farid Hobeich
Busted
Luca Guglielmoni it
Luca Guglielmoni
Busted

Tags: Farid HobeicheLuca GuglielmoniThomas Eychenne

Samuel Kabelitz Eliminated On The Bubble

Level 22 : Blinds 10,000/20,000, 20,000 ante
Samuel Kabelitz
Samuel Kabelitz

The hand after Yiannakis Papapetrou's double up, Samuel Kabelitz moved all in from middle position, and he was called by Bernard Boutboul in the small blind.

Samuel Kabelitz: 1010
Bernard Boutboul: QQ

Kabelitz still had outs thanks to the flop 784, which gave him a flush draw. But the 7 turn didn't complete it, nor did the Q river.

Samuel Kabelitz is the bubble boy of the 2023 Merit Poker Retro Series $3,300 Main Event. The other 143 players are in the money, with a minimum cash prize of $4,390.

Player Chips Progress
Bernard Boutboul fr
Bernard Boutboul
1,100,000
-50,000
-50,000
Samuel Kabelitz at
Samuel Kabelitz
Busted

Tags: Bernard BoutboulSamuel Kabelitz

Day 3 Of The Merit Poker Retro Series $3,300 Main Event Kicks Off At Noon

Merit Poker
Merit Poker

After successfully completing Day 2, the 215 players remaining in the Merit Poker Retro Series $3,300 Main Event will return at noon for Day 3 at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino. They are the last players from a field of 1,223 entrants, which generated a total prize pool of $3,375,480.

Out of these 215 remaining players, 143 of them will achieve the main goal for today: to reach the money bubble. Because only 143 players will be in the money, with a minimum cash prize of $4,390. However, it should be easy for Florian Guimond, who ended Day 2 as the chipleader with a massive stack of 1,705,000 chips. Mustafa Biz (1,671,000) and Daniel Rezaei (1,645,000), who are second and third, also qualified with big stacks.

End of Day 2 Top 10

RANKPLAYERCOUNTRYCHIP COUNTBLINDS
1Florian GuimondFrance1,705,000171
2Mustafa BizTurkey1,671,000167
3Daniel RezaeiAustria1,645,000165
4Geo 1,500,000150
5Zulfiya KolguKazakhstan1,494,000149
6Ruslan VolkovUkraine1,461,000146
7Milad Oghabian LangarIran1,433,000143
8Razvan SabauRomania1,352,000135
9Roman NovoselovRussia1,328,000133
10Kanan TaherkhaniTurkey1,310,000131

To be in the money, players will have to go through 60-minute levels, starting with Level 19 (5,000/10,000 blinds and a 10,000 big blind ante). There will be 10-minute breaks every two levels. But for those who want to make it to Day 4, they will have to bag their chips after the end of Level 29.

PokerNews will be following the action the entire way, providing live updates.

Tags: Daniel RezaeiFlorian GuimondGeorges El-HachemKanan TaherkhaniMilad Oghabian LangarMustafa BizRazvan SabauRoman NovoselovRuslan VolkovZulfiya Kolgu