With five levels in the books, the entry counter for Day 1a of the Warm Up has just hit 200—a massive turnout to kick off the series!
With the day coming to its conclusion at the end of Level 10, there’s still plenty of time for that number to climb even higher.
Level: 6
Blinds: 800/1,500
Ante: 1,500
Last year in the 2024 Merit Poker Carmen Series $3,300 Main Event, It took nearly 12 hour-long levels for a winner to emerge from the 41 players who entered the final day at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino.
Elie Farah was the last player standing, scoring five final table knockouts and last defeating Felipe Ketzer in heads-up play to take home the title and top prize of $338,500.
Farah notably was down to his last 125,000 chips on the stone bubble during Day 3 aciton, worth just five big blinds at that time. His previous best score before this comes from an eighth-place finish in the 2022 Merit Poker Retro Series Main Event for $30,255. This victory not only exceeds his previous best more than tenfold, it also triples his total live tournament earnings which before this event stood at just under $150,000.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elie Farah | Lebanon | $338,500 |
| 2 | Felipe Ketzer | Brazil | $249,200 |
| 3 | Dinesh Alt | Switzerland | $153,000 |
| 4 | Bart Lybaert | Belgium | $113,100 |
| 5 | Dmitry Gromov | Russian Federation | $84,700 |
| 6 | Tahsin Cankurtaranli | Turkey | $68,400 |
| 7 | Andrey Litvinov | Russian Federation | $56,600 |
| 8 | Maher Achour | Tunisia | $45,100 |
| 9 | Danut Chisu | Romania | $33,900 |
A huge pot just went Tiberiu Tirca's way, which boosted his stack to around a quarter of a million.
Tirca opened from middle position to 2,500 and Arun Sood called from the next seat. Rui Querido Martins then squeezed to 10,000 on the button and got a call from the big blind. Both Tirca and Sood also came along.
The flop came down 3♠5♦6♠ where the action checked to Sood, who fired out 20,000. Martins called, the big blind folded, then Tirca shoved for around 90,000. Sood snap-called with a slightly smaller stack and then waved his hand to usher Martins out of the pot, who eventually obliged and showed J♦J♠ when he folded.
Arun Sood: 6♣3♣ 
Tiberiu Tirca: 3♥3♦
Sood couldn't believe it when he saw that he only had two outs, and was screaming for a six to come. Instead, the 4♦ dropped on the turn, which put an open-ended straight draw on board. However, despite the extra outs, Sood couldn't survive as the 10♦ completed the board, keeping Tirca's flopped set in the lead.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
250,000
250,000
|
250,000 |
|
110,000
110,000
|
110,000 |
|
Busted |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
230,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
140,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
||
|
130,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
120,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
||
|
110,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
105,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
100,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
|
85,000
85,000
|
85,000 |
|
80,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
30,000
70,000
|
70,000 |
Level: 5
Blinds: 600/1,200
Ante: 1,200
Karl Sandoff can count himself lucky to still be in the tournament as his pocket jacks found a lucky runout to keep him alive.
In a blind-on-blind encounter, Sandoff had his 90,000 chips in from the small blind and had been put at risk by Pavel Ignatov from the big blind.
Karl Sandoff: J♥J♠
Pavel Ignatov: A♠A♦
A flop of 4♠3♦2♥ didn't offer much help to Sandoff, but he did find a little more equity when the 6♠ hit the turn, giving both players a gutshot on board. That draw came in on the river when the 5♥ smacked the felt, which gave both players a straight and saw them both chop the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
95,000
95,000
|
95,000 |
|
90,000
90,000
|
90,000 |
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Yucel Eminoglu, or as he is better known "The Mad Turk", hadn't long been in his seat before he sent one of his opponents packing.
There were around 8,000 chips in the pot on a 9♦Q♠6♦ flop when Daniel Feurle checked from early position and Eminoglu bet 4,000 from the hijack. Feurle then bumped it up to 20,000, which sent Eminoglu into the tank.
"Don't take it out on me, take it out on him" said Eminoglu, probably referring to an earlier hand. "I have a big hand, just don't be annoyed if I out-draw you" he added before he called.
The turn brough a 7♣ and Feurle wasted no time in shoving for just over 45,000. Eminoglu needed just a few seconds to make the call.
Daniel Feurle: Q♦10♦
Yucel Eminoglu: A♦Q♥
Feurle had flopped a flush draw and turned a gutshot that he needed to connect with on the river in order to stay alive. A ten would also do the trick, but instead the K♠ rolled off, which earned Eminogu the pot and sent Feurle packing.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
200,000
200,000
|
200,000 |
|
Busted |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
270,000
270,000
|
270,000 |
|
255,000
255,000
|
255,000 |
|
|
250,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
230,000
230,000
|
230,000 |
|
|
||
|
225,000
225,000
|
225,000 |
|
190,000
190,000
|
190,000 |
|
180,000
180,000
|
180,000 |
|
180,000
180,000
|
180,000 |
