Roman Kolotiuk Crushes Day 1b While Hassan Nashar Fires Again
Day 1b of the $2,200 IPO Master has come to a close, and another 258 entries were added to the growing field at the 2025 Merit Poker Dolce Vita Series. After ten levels of play, 124 players made it through to Day 2, bringing the combined total to 483 entries with 223 players still in contention inside the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino.
Topping the Day 1b leaderboard was Roman Kolotiuk, who bagged an impressive 875,500 to put himself among the overall frontrunners heading into Day 2. He was followed by Kirill Burtin (534,000), Osman Ihlamur (513,500), and Maciej Toma (497,000), all of whom built strong stacks throughout the flight.
Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roman Kolotiuk | Russian Federation | 875,500 | 350 |
| 2 | Kirill Burtin | Russian Federation | 534,000 | 214 |
| 3 | Osman Ihlamur | Turkey | 513,500 | 205 |
| 4 | Petar Manic | Serbia | 505,500 | 202 |
| 5 | Joris Ruijs | Netherlands | 501,500 | 201 |
| 6 | Maciej Toma | Poland | 497,000 | 199 |
| 7 | Mark Saad | Egypt | 454,000 | 182 |
| 8 | Timur Margolin | Israel | 453,000 | 181 |
| 9 | Danielle Noja | Australia | 452,500 | 181 |
| 10 | Guoliang Wei | China | 449,000 | 180 |
Other notables advancing from the second starting flight include Danielle Noja (452,500), Aleksei Savenkov (444,000), and Ivan Banovic (443,000).
Also in the mix again was Hassan Nashar, who topped the Day 1a counts with 699,500 but decided to jump into Day 1b for another spin. Playing under the name “El Patron” to avoid overwriting his already-qualified stack, Nashar built up over 600,000 during the day before being eliminated late in the final level. Only his Day 1a stack will carry forward, but for Nashar, it was all about the fun...and the flex.
With two more Day 1 flights still to come, the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool continues to inch upward. Day 1c gets underway later tonight at 9:00 p.m. local time, followed by the final turbo flight, Day 1d, on July 30 at 10:00 a.m.
Stay locked in to PokerNews for full chip counts, seat draws, and continued coverage from the floor as the IPO Master rolls on.