Dawid Smolka Shines Brightest on Day 1 of the Merit Poker Carmen Series High Roller
Four players rode big pocket pairs to the top of the chip counts on Day 1 of the Merit Poker Carmen Series High Roller.
Marcin Dziubdziela (314,000) hit a set of queens to bust Roman Gadzhiev on one of the last hands of the night. Toni Kaukua (308,000), who won the High Roller at the Merit Poker Western Series in 2023, doubled up off Mustafa Biz with pocket tens then knocked him out a few hands later in a preflop coin flip. Darko Svesko, meanwhile, who earlier had doubled up with aces against ace-king, took out Jovan Kenjic and Milos Skrbic with pocket queens late in the night as last year’s Merit Poker Retro Series champion ended the day with 344,000.
But they and the rest of the 42 players who survived the day are all looking up at Dawid Smolka. Smolka’s pocket aces busted Saro Tekyildiz earlier in the day as he ended up as chip leader with 423,000.
Day 1 Top 10 Chip Stacks
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dawid Smolka | Poland | 423,000 | 282 |
| 2 | Darko Svesko | Serbia | 344,500 | 230 |
| 3 | Marcin Dziubdziela | Poland | 314,000 | 209 |
| 4 | Toni Kaukua | Finland | 308,000 | 205 |
| 5 | Daniel Kyosev | Bulgaria | 300,000 | 200 |
| 6 | Behrooz Sheibani | Iran | 278,500 | 186 |
| 7 | Roman Stoica | Romania | 263,000 | 175 |
| 8 | Daniel Henriques | Portugal | 262,500 | 175 |
| 9 | Lyudmil Ivanov | Bulgaria | 207,000 | 138 |
| 10 | Andrei Spataru | Romania | 206,500 | 138 |
Other top stacks to make it through Day 1 include Daniel Henriques (262,500), Boris Angelov (190,500), and Kacper Pyzara (180,000), while Aylar Lie (137,000), Renan Bruschi (118,000), and Alexandru Papazian (113,000) will also be back for Day 2 at 8 p.m. tomorrow.
Day 1 attracted 65 total entries, but that number will surely grow substantially as late registration remains open until the end of Level 12 on Day 2. With blinds picking up at 1,000-1,500 and a 1,500 big blind ante to start the day, a starting stack is still worth more than 60 big blinds. Play on Day 2 is scheduled to go down to the money, with the champion being crowned on March 27.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the live updates throughout the remainder of the tournament.