$3,300 Main Event Day 2 | 2025 Merit Poker Carmen Series

03-21-2025 18:41 UTC+2

Gromov Can Dodge Bullets Baby

Tim Baker

Level 14 : Blinds 2,000/3,500, 3,500 ante

There was a raise to 7,000 from early position before Dmitry Gromov three-bet to 27,000 from middle position. Osman Aksu cold-bet shoved for 422,000 from the hijack which forced the initial opener to fold. Gromov, however, went deep into the tank. Eventually, Gromov asked Aksu:

"Will you show if I fold?"

Aksu responded by saying: "No, you must pay."

After around two minutes of thinking, Gromov folded and flipped over A♦K♥. Aksu was telling a lie as he was kind enough to show A♣A♠, to let Gromov know he made a good fold.

Player	Chips	Progress
Dmitry Gromov	740,000 160,000	160,000

Osman Aksu	500,000 201,000	201,000

Tags: Dmitry Gromov Osman Aksu

03-21-2025 18:36 UTC+2

Lybaert and Bagocius Clash Again

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Kai Cocklin

Level 14 : Blinds 2,000/3,500, 3,500 ante

Bart Lybaert and Mantas Bagocius just clashed again not long after they last battled it out on the felt.

There were around 40,000 chips in the pot on a 7♣4♣K♣5♦ board when Lybaert fired out 36,000, which Bagocius called.

An 8♦ dropped on the river and both checked it down, with Lybaert showing ace-high with A♣2♠, but Bagocius held the winner with K♥10♣ for a pair of kings.

Player	Chips	Progress
Mantas Bagocius	230,000 120,000	120,000
Bart Lybaert	220,000 55,000	55,000

Tags: Bart Lybaert Mantas Bagocius

03-21-2025 18:29 UTC+2

Chisu Fires Every Street

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Tim Baker

Level 14 : Blinds 2,000/3,500, 3,500 ante

Danut Chisu raised to 7,000 from middle position with only Antonios Poziadis calling out of the big blind.

Poziadis knuckled the action over the Chisu on the J♥5♣4♣ flop and Chisu quickly fired a continuation-bet of 5,000. Poziadis stuck around with a call.

The 8♣ turn got a second check from Poziadis and a second bet from Chisu, this time for 30,000. Poziadis pondered briefly before the call.

After Poziadis checked the 2♠ river, Chisu instantly shoved for 52,000, and Poziadis instantly folded.

Player	Chips	Progress
Antonios Poziadis	550,000 378,000	378,000
Danut Chisu	140,000 140,000	140,000

Tags: Antonios Poziadis Danut Chisu

03-21-2025 18:25 UTC+2

Adomkevicius Puts a Dent in Zavoloka's Stack

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Kai Cocklin

Level 14 : Blinds 2,000/3,500, 3,500 ante

Aneris Adomkevicius just got a big value-raise paid off on the river by Mikhail Zavoloka.

On a flop of J♥7♥6♣, Zavoloka checked from the big blind and Adomkevicius fired out 7,000 in the cutoff. Zavoloka then made it 20,000, and Adomkevicius called.

Both saw the K♦ on the turn and checked to the 6♥ river, where Zavoloka bet 10,000. Adomkevicius then put in a raise to 55,000, which sent Zavoloka into the tank. Some moments passed and eventually he made the call.

Adomkevicius then flipped top pair with K♣Q♦, and Zavoloka mucked.

Player	Chips	Progress
Mikhail Zavoloka	950,000 100,000	100,000
Aneris Adomkevicius	210,000 154,000	154,000

Tags: Aneris Adomkevicius Mikhail Zavoloka

03-21-2025 18:16 UTC+2

Nashar Misses Every Out

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Tim Baker

Level 14 : Blinds 2,000/3,500, 3,500 ante

Hassan Nashar got his fresh stack of 100,000 chips into the middle preflop with Gurcan Gungoren trying to bust him.

Hassan Nashar: A♠Q♠ All in
Gurcan Gungoren: J♣J♦

Nashar found himself in a race with ace-queen against the pocket jacks of Gungoren. The 8♦3♠4♠ flop gave Nashar a flush draw. The 6♥ turn didn't change anything, and neither did the 2♥. Nashar was out and the pot was sent to Gungoren.

Nashar has since rebought and is now sitting with a new starting stack at another table.

Player	Chips	Progress
Gurcan Gungoren	450,000 234,000	234,000
Hassan Nashar	100,000 485,000	485,000

Tags: Gurcan Gungoren Hassan Nashar

03-21-2025 18:09 UTC+2

Voronin Drags in Another Pot

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Tim Baker

Level 14 : Blinds 2,000/3,500, 3,500 ante

Andrii Novak raised to 8,000 from early position with Konstantin Voronin calling from middle position, and both blinds coming along.

Four players saw the flop come down 7♥4♣3♠ and the action checked to Voronin. Voronin bet 11,000, which was only called by both blinds.

The small blind player led out for 32,000 upon seeing the Q♠ roll off on the turn. Only Voronin called.

Both players quickly checked the 5♣ river and the small lblind player flipped over A♣Q♣ for a pair of queens. Voronin had that beat with 4♦4♠ for a set of fours.

Player	Chips	Progress
Konstantin Voronin	1,200,000 50,000	50,000

Andrii Novak	1,050,000 100,000	100,000

Tags: Andrii Novak Konstantin Voronin

03-21-2025 18:05 UTC+2

Bagocius Gets Short as Lybaert Fires Twice

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Kai Cocklin

Level 14 : Blinds 2,000/3,500, 3,500 ante

Mantas Bagocius had 14,000 in front of him in middle position and Bart Lybaert had made it 50,000 to go from the cutoff. With the action back on Bagocius, he called.

The flop came A♥8♠3♦ and after Bagocius checked, Lybaert fired out a small continuation-bet of 18,000. Bagocius called.

When the A♦ paired the board on the turn, Bagocius checked once again and Lybaert continued to fire with a sizing of 31,000. That was too much for Bagocius as he folded to the pressure, leaving him with a stack of around 110,000.

Qiang Xu is seated at the same table and has a stack of around 800,000 at the moment. At the opposite end of the counts is Florian Duta, who has around 80,000 to work with.

Player	Chips	Progress
Qiang Xu	800,000 25,000	25,000

Bart Lybaert	275,000 184,000	184,000
Mantas Bagocius	110,000 172,000	172,000
Florian Duta	80,000 45,500	45,500

Tags: Bart Lybaert Florian Duta Mantas Bagocius Qiang Xu

03-21-2025 17:55 UTC+2

Zainescu Has Seven Figures; Mustafov 300,000

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Kai Cocklin

Level 14 : Blinds 2,000/3,500, 3,500 ante

Carmen Zainescu, who took through the chip lead from Day 1b, has just breached the seven-figure mark and has around 1,050,000 in her stack.

On the same table is Fahredin Mustafov, who grew his stack to around 300,000 after getting a pot-sized bet through on a 6♦10♣6♠9♣ board with around 45,000 in the middle.

Player	Chips	Progress
Carmen Zainescu	1,050,000 270,000	270,000

Fahredin Mustafov	300,000 70,000	70,000

Tags: Carmen Zainescu Fahredin Mustafov

Level: 14

Blinds: 2,000/3,500

Ante: 3,500

03-21-2025 17:54 UTC+2

Sibgatova Knows the Trick to Survive

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Tim Baker

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

A big hand just got reported back to PokerNews.

Alisa Sibgatova had raised under the gun with Dmitry Zakharov calling from middle position.

Heads-up to a rainbow flop of Jx9x5x. Sibgatova put out a continuation-bet on the flop and Zakharov raised. Sibgatova shoved for roughly 120,000 and Zakharov called to put her at risk.

Alisa Sibgatova: AxAx All in
Dmitry Zakharov: 5x5x

Zakharov had out-flopped Sibgatova by hitting a set of fives. The 4x turn meant only an ace on the river could save Sibgatova. Sibgatova began to get out of her chair as the dealer dropped the Ax on the river to improve her to top set and keep her in the tournament.

Sibgatova commented after the hand: "That really works!" referring to the act of standing up from your chair to bring in the miracle river.