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Level: 6
Blinds: 800/1,500
Ante: 1,500
2025 Merit Poker Carmen Series
$2,200 Warm Up
Day: 1bc
Event Info
2025 Merit Poker Carmen Series
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1bc
Buy-in
$2,200
Prize Pool
$1,188,640
Total Entries
646
Level
37
Blinds
400,000 / 800,000
Ante
800,000
Entries
251
Players Left
136
Players Left 1 / 646
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Level 5
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Hulusi Bacak played a big pot against Dmitry Gromov in the opening level and his stack has never recovered. After the latest hand, Bacak was left with around 25,000, which is good for 20 big blinds.
There were already around 11,000 chips in the middle on a 7♣6♣K♥5♥ board when Bacak checked from the blinds and Andrii Novak fired 6,000. Bacak called.
An A♣ hit the river and after Bacak checked, Novak bet 35,000, which was more than what Bacak had remaining. Though there didn't see to be much of a decision for the Turkish player as he quickly folded, forfeiting the pot to Novak.
Level 5
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Nikolay Fal has taken his stack up above the 200,000-chip mark as the day nears its halfway mark.
In the latest hand he played, the action was picked up on a 10♠A♣Q♠ flop with around 35,000 in the middle. Fal, in the big blind, checked, as did Arun Sood and the button.
A Q♥ on the turn saw Fal lead out for 11,100, which only the button called to the Q♦ river. With three queens on board, both players elected to check and Fal's J♠J♣ was good at showdown as the button mucked.
Fal is a regular at Merit Poker stops and has seven wins on the tour, including a Main Event victory back in 2022 at the Western Series for a cool $326,153, his career-best cash.
Level 5
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Andrii Novak put in a min-raise and was three-bet by Ali Hassan two seats over. When it got back to Novak, he four-bet to 17,500, and Hassan shoved for just under 40,000. Novak quickly called.
Ali Hassan: 6♥6♦ 
Andrii Novak: A♥K♦
It was a fair fight and one that Hassan needed to win as he was the at-risk player. The flop of 9♠4♠4♣ didn't bring any help to Novak, and neither did the Q♥ turn. A 6♠ on the river improved Hassan to a full house and saw him double up.
Level: 5
Blinds: 600/1,200
Ante: 1,200
Level 4
: Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante
There were already around 11,000 chips in the pot on a flop of 4♥9♣9♠ when both Yuan Xu and Alisa Sibgatova checked to see the 2♥ drop on the turn. Xu checked again then Sibgatova bet out 3,500. Xu called.
A 7♦ completed the board and both checked it down with Xu showing K♠Q♣, but Sibgatova held the winner with A♣K♥ for ace-high.
Xu is no stranger to Northern Cyprus as the Chinese player finished fifth in the Eureka Main Event just a few months ago for a huge score of $101,390 - a career best. A Merit Poker cash still eludes Xu, but with the entire series ahead of him, he will be hoping that the Carmen Series will bring fortune his way.
Level 4
: Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante
With around 10,000 in the middle on a 6♦3♣9♣ flop, Elie Farah bet 5,500 from the small blind and Konstantin Kostadinov called from the cutoff.
A 9♦ dropped on the turn and Farah kept firing with a bet of 18,500, which again Kostadinov called to see the 7♠ land on the river. Farah decided to fire one more bullet at the pot, this time for 25,000, which would be the last he saw of that chip as Kostadinov made the call with 8♣8♦ and beat the bluff of Farah, who held A♥Q♥.
Level 4
: Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante
Level: 4
Blinds: 500/1,000
Ante: 1,000
Level 3
: Blinds 400/800, 800 ante
Players are on their first 20-minute break of the day.
