$2,200 Warm Up Day 2 | 2025 Merit Poker Carmen Series

03-15-2025 13:49 UTC+2

Jontulovic Survives

Tim Baker

Level 12 : Blinds 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante

Bogdan Jontulovic got his last 35,000 into the middle preflop with Andrey Litvinov being the player trying to send him to the rebuy desk.

Bogdan Jontulovic: A♥8♥ All in
Andrey Litvinov: A♠4♠

Jontulovic was ahead with the better kicker, but the 10♠K♠3♠ flop gave Litvinov a flush draw. The rest of the board ran out 6♣7♣, which was clean for Jontulovic and he doubled up at the expense of Litvinov.

Player	Chips	Progress
Andrey Litvinov	150,000 42,000	42,000
Bogdan Jontulovic	70,000

Tags: Andrey Litvinov Bogdan Jontulovic

03-15-2025 13:56 UTC+2

Plenty of Action Ahead at Merit Poker!

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Tim Baker

Level 12 : Blinds 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante

Don’t miss any of the exciting poker action at Merit this spring, as both the Merit Millions and Mediterranean Poker Party are on the way.

The special Merit Millions series will run from April 7-15, with a buy-in of $10,400 over four starting flights. The champion in the MIllions event will earn $1,000,000, with the rest of the prize pool distributed between players at the final table.

The Mediterranean Poker Party (MPP) returns to Merit from May 3-13, bringing with it more than $10 million in guaranteed prize pools, including a monster-sized $5,300 buy-in, $5 million guaranteed MPP Main Event.

Featuring four flights, the MPP Main Event runs from May 8-12 and could see the champion reel in a million-dollar score. In 2024, some 1,260 entries resulted in a $6,048,000 prize pool, much more than the advertised $5 million guarantee.

Satellites have already started running on GGPoker, so don't miss out and win your way to Merit this spring!

Find More Information Here

03-15-2025 13:59 UTC+2

Break Time

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Tim Baker

Level 12 : Blinds 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante

Players are now on a 20-minute break.

Level: 13

Blinds: 1,500/3,000

Ante: 3,000

03-15-2025 14:22 UTC+2

Some of the Current Big Stacks

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Tim Baker

Level 13 : Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Ludovic Geilich	910,000 297,000	297,000

Hassan Nashar	900,000 300,000	300,000
Michel Molenaar	750,000 504,000	504,000
Aren Bezhanyan	680,000 33,000	33,000

Bart Lybaert	640,000 640,000	640,000
Giorgiy Skhulukhiya	630,000 3,000	3,000

Erdal Gulseven	620,000 1,500	1,500
Humberto Galindo	580,000 105,000	105,000
Razvan Nicolae Sabau	575,000 575,000	575,000
Eimantas Adomavicius	550,000 179,000	179,000
Alexandru Lupuleac	520,000 378,500	378,500
Loukas Nikolaou	480,000 193,500	193,500

03-15-2025 14:33 UTC+2

Skhulukhiya Sends Two to the Rail

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Tim Baker

Level 13 : Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante

Elena Yasyuchenya raised to 6,000 from early position before Akin Tuna shoved from the next seat for roughly 40,000. Giorgiy Skhulukhiya called and then snap-called when Yasyuchenya shoved all in for 220,000. The cards were flipped over with Skhulukhiya having the chance to bust two players.

Akin Tuna: J♥J♣ All in
Elena Yasyuchenya: A♠Q♦ All in
Giorgiy Skhulukhiya: K♦K♥

Skhulukhiya was ahead with his cowboys and that didn't change on the 9♦10♦2♠ flop. The Q♥ turn improved every player in some way, but the board-pairing 9♠ on the river meant Skhulukhiya scored the double knockout.

Player	Chips	Progress
Giorgiy Skhulukhiya	820,000 190,000	190,000

Akin Tuna	Busted
Elena Yasyuchenya	Busted

Tags: Akin Tuna Elena Yasyuchenya Giorgiy Skhulukhiya

03-15-2025 14:49 UTC+2

Guimond Takes From Lukovic

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Tim Baker

Level 13 : Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante

On a flop of 5♥4♠A♦, Florian Guimond checked from early position and faced a bet of 10,000 from Nemanja Lukovic in the hijack. After a few moments, Guimond put in the call.

The Q♣ landed on the turn and Guimond opted to check again to Lukovic. Lukovic bet 20,000, which Guimond called.

The 9♦ dropped on the river and Guimond checked again. Lukovic reluctantly checked back and was shown A♥Q♠ by Guimond for a turned two pair. Lukovic couldn't beat that as he revealed just the A♣ while the pot was being pushed over to Guimond.

Player	Chips	Progress
Florian Guimond	300,000 217,000	217,000
Nemanja Lukovic	45,000 129,500	129,500

Tags: Florian Guimond Nemanja Lukovic

03-15-2025 14:58 UTC+2

Become a Bigger Part of the Action With MyStack by PokerNews

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Tim Baker

Level 13 : Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante

Have you heard about MyStack by PokerNews? It is a free-to-use tool built into the PokerNews website that puts you in control of your chip counts on our live reporting pages. MyStack directly connects you to PokerNews' live reporting pages, making you an even bigger part of the action in the events you play.

MyStack is a free poker tool and PokerNews activates MyStack for every event it is live reporting from, regardless of that tournament's buy-in. Once you have created a free PokerNews account, you can use MyStack to update your chip counts in real time; hopefully, your stack will continue increasing throughout the event!

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Level: 14

Blinds: 1,500/3,500

Ante: 3,500

03-15-2025 15:03 UTC+2

Straight From Triton to the Warm Up

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Tim Baker

Level 14 : Blinds 1,500/3,500, 3,500 ante

German poker pro Samuel Ju took his seat in the Warm-Up during the first break, fresh off playing against the best poker minds in the world at a Triton Poker Series Event in Jeju, South Korea.

With over $3,500,000 in live tournament earnings and seven six-figure scores on his resume, Ju is no stranger to high-stakes competition. While he's accustomed to battling in $100,000 buy-in events against the best in the world, he’ll be bringing the same intensity to this $2,200 buy-in tournament, looking to add yet another big score to his growing list of accomplishments.

Zhen Chen, Damir Zhugralin, and Boris Angelov are also participating in the warm-up, perhaps arriving on the same flight as Ju, who took part in the Triton series in Jeju as well. Zhugralin and Angelov were also unable to walk away with any silverware from South Korea, so will be more determined than ever to get their hands on some here at the 2025 Merit Poker Carmen Series. However, although Chen didn't get his hands on a trophy, he did manage to finish 3rd in a $15,000 event for a career-best score of $497,000.

Chen has had a lot of success at Merit Poker events having come 4th in the Warm-Up Event at the 2025 Merit Poker Western Series just a few months ago. Chen also took down the 2024 Merit Poker Gatsby Gala Series High Roller for $132,300.

Player	Chips	Progress
Samuel Ju	100,000 100,000	100,000
Damir Zhugralin	100,000 100,000	100,000

Tags: Samuel Ju