$5,300 High Roller | 2025 Merit Poker Carmen Series

03-18-2025 20:18 UTC+2

Plenty of Action Ahead at Merit Poker!

Kai Cocklin

Level 28 : Blinds 60,000/120,000, 120,000 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 event will run from April 8-13, with a buy-in of $10,400 over four starting flights. The champion 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.

Look out for satellites running on GGPoker and win your way to Merit this spring!

Find More Information Here

Level: 28

Blinds: 60,000/120,000

Ante: 120,000

03-18-2025 20:05 UTC+2

Shcherbakov Bluffs into Van Rooij

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Tim Baker

Level 27 : Blinds 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante

Merijn van Rooij raised to 200,000 from early position with Kirill Shcherbakov and Peteris Enders calling out of the blinds.

On the K♣10♦5♥ flop, Shcherbakov check-called a bet of 200,000 from Van Rooij.

The 8♦ landed on the turn and Shcherbakov check-called another bet from Van Rooij, this time for 350,000.

When the A♦ landed on the river, Shcherbakov shoved for Van Rooij's remaining 1,075,000. Van Rooij snap-called.

Shcherbakov showed J♣9♣ for a busted straight draw. Van Rooij earned the double up with A♥K♠ for top two pair.

Player	Chips	Progress
Kirill Shcherbakov	4,900,000 1,600,000	1,600,000
Merijn van Rooij	3,600,000 1,775,000	1,775,000
Peteris Enders	1,900,000 200,000	200,000

Tags: Kirill Shcherbakov Merijn van Rooij

03-18-2025 19:50 UTC+2

Play Begins

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Tim Baker

Level 27 : Blinds 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante

Cards are back in the air and play has started again in the $5,300 high roller.

03-18-2025 19:50 UTC+2

Final Table Payouts

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Tim Baker

Level 27 : Blinds 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante

All of the nine remaining players in the record-breaking 2025 Merit Poker Carmen Series High Roller have locked up a minimum of $26,800 for making it to the final table. However, all now are in reach of the $260,000 first-place prize and the prestige of being a Merit Poker Champion.

Place	Prize
1	$260,000
2	$182,700
3	$131,900
4	$91,400
5	$67,040
6	$53,700
7	$44,700
8	$35,735
9	$26,800

03-18-2025 19:37 UTC+2

Delayed Start

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Tim Baker

Level 27 : Blinds 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante

There is a short delay to the start of the final table as player introductions begin.

03-18-2025 19:14 UTC+2

Final Table Chip Counts

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Tim Baker

Level 27 : Blinds 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante

Position	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Kirill Shcherbakov	Russia	6,500,000	65
2	Dawid Smolka	Poland	4,950,000	50
3	Oleg Svintsov	Russia	4,190,000	42
4	Johnny Lodden	Norway	3,500,000	35
5	Andrey Pateychuk	Russia	2,110,000	21
6	Peteris Enders	Latvia	2,100,000	21
7	Merijn van Rooij	Netherlands	1,825,000	18
8	Cedric Schwaederle	France	1,320,000	13
9	Atanas Malinov	Russia	1,310,000	13

Player	Chips	Progress
Kirill Shcherbakov	6,500,000 500,000	500,000
Dawid Smolka	4,950,000 150,000	150,000

Oleg Svintsov	4,190,000 1,890,000	1,890,000
Johnny Lodden	3,500,000 500,000	500,000
Andrey Pateychuk	2,110,000 860,000	860,000

Peteris Enders	2,100,000 2,700,000	2,700,000
Merijn van Rooij	1,825,000 175,000	175,000
Cedric Schwaederle	1,320,000 170,000	170,000
Atanas Malinov	1,310,000 10,000	10,000

03-18-2025 18:35 UTC+2

Dinner Break

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Tim Baker

Level 27 : Blinds 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante

With the final table set, there will now be a 45-minute dinner break. Play will start again at roughly 7:10 p.m. local time

03-18-2025 18:32 UTC+2

Charbel Salloum Elimianted in 10th Place ($19,650)

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Tim Baker

Level 27 : Blinds 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante

Dawid Smolka min raised to 200,000 from the cutoff and Charbel Salloum defended out of the big blind.

When the flop came down 10♣5♠8♦ Salloum shoved all of his 850,000 into the middle. Smolka thought it over for a while before making the call.

Charbel Salloum: K♦10♠ All in
Dawid Smolka: Q♣J♦

Salloum was ahead with top pair, but Smolka had a lot of outs to send him to the rail just shy of the final table. The 9♠ turn improved Smolka to the nuts with a straight and left Salloum drawing dead. An inconsequential 8♠ landed on the river, and Salloum was the final table bubble boy of the $5,300 High Roller.

Player	Chips	Progress
Dawid Smolka	4,800,000 1,950,000	1,950,000

Charbel Salloum	Busted

Tags: Charbel Salloum Dawid Smolka

03-18-2025 18:29 UTC+2

Shcherbakov Puts the Pressure On

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Kai Cocklin

Level 27 : Blinds 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante

Kirill Shcherbakov is absolutely relentless when he plays a pot and just turned up the aggression a few notches in a hand against Atanas Malinov.

Malinov had opened from the cutoff to 200,000 and Shcherbakov three-bet to 700,000 from the big blind. Malinov called to see a flop of [3cahd], where Shcherbakov bet 200,000 and Malinov called.

An 8♣ on the turn saw another bet from Shcherbakov, this time for 550,000. Once again, Malinov called.

When the 2♠ landed on the river, Shcherbakov committed his stack to the pot and Malinov, with around 1,300,000 behind, went into the tank. After using some extra time, Malinov elected to fold, and Shcherbakov took the pot.

"You like to put on the pressure, huh?" joked Johnny Lodden to Shcherbakov, who responded with a smile.