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$2,200 Warm Up
Day 1bc Completed
2025 Merit Poker Western Series
$2,200 Warm Up
Day: 1bc
Event Info
2025 Merit Poker Western Series
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1bc
Buy-in
$2,200
Prize Pool
$921,840
Total Entries
501
Level
35
Blinds
250,000 / 500,000
Ante
500,000
Entries
223
Players Left
150
Players Left 1 / 501
Filter
Level 10
: Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
After ten levels of play, Day 1b of the $2,200 Warm Up at the 2025 Merit Poker Western Series drew its curtains with 118 players remaining from 230 entries.
The second flight of the event brought the total number of entries to 285, with two more flights still to play out. Late registration remains open until the end of Level 15, which is around the halfway mark of Day 2, giving players plenty of time to take one last shot at building a stack.
When all was said and done, Luke Marsh rocketed to the chip lead, bagging a commanding 971,500 chips, most of which came from a pivotal hand against Xin Yuan in the final moments of the day.
Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luke Marsh | United Kingdom | 971,500 |
| 2 | Ashraf Akeh | Canada | 718,500 |
| 3 | Edward Quinn | United Kingdom | 575,000 |
| 4 | Soraya Estrada | Spain | 440,000 |
| 5 | Danut Chisu | France | 430,000 |
| 6 | Dmitry Gromov | Russia | 420,500 |
| 7 | Tulica Iani | Romania | 414,500 |
| 8 | Sergei Varnaev | Russia | 405,000 |
| 9 | Paul Runcan | Romania | 400,500 |
| 10 | Nicolas Hasbani | Lebanon | 365,500 |
Marsh was in cruise control for most of the day and built his stack to around 400,000 by the mid-way point of the flight. But as the clock wound down, he found himself in a massive pot that sent him soaring to the top of the counts. After a rare six-bet preflop, from Yuan, Marsh called and the two saw a middling board. Yuan, holding Big Slick, made his move on the river, shoving all in, but Marsh snap-called with pocket aces to scoop a pot worth nearly one million chips and vault himself into a commanding position heading into Day 2.
Ashraf Akeh, a Canadian-Jordanian player, took an early lead and was already sitting on 500,000 chips by the first break — nearly five starting stacks. He continued to chip up throughout the day, finishing with 718,500, securing the second-biggest stack of both the day and overall.
Another British player, Edward Quinn, rounded out the top three stacks with 575,000 with Soraya Estrada (440,000), Dmitry Gromov (420,500), Sergei Varnaev (405,000), and Paul Runcan (400,500) all making it in the top ten.
Remaining Schedule
| Date | Day | Time | Blind Levels |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 15 | Day 1c | 9:00 pm | 25 minutes |
| January 16 | Day 1d | 10:00 am | 15 minutes |
| January 16 | Day 2 | 12:30 pm | 40 minutes |
| January 17 | Day 3 | 12:00 pm | 40 minutes |
| January 18 | Day 4 | 12:00 pm | 40 minutes |
Day 1c got underway at 9 p.m. and offers players a faster-paced 25-minute blind structure. For those still hoping to run up a stack, Day 1d — the final starting flight — kicks off tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.. The survivors from all four starting flights will then combine for Day 2, starting at 12:30 p.m., where the real fight for the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool will begin.
Late registration remains open until the end of Level 15, so there’s still plenty of time for the prize pool to swell even further.
Be sure to tune in to PokerNews tomorrow as Day 2 gets underway and the $2,200 Warm Up really starts to heat up!
Level 10
: Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
Level 10
: Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
Level 10
: Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
With no big drama in the last few hands, Day 1b of the Warm Up has come to an end.
Stay tuned for a recap of the day's action plus the chip counts of the survivors.
Level 10
: Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
The floor have announced that five more hands will be played before the survivors bag up.
Level 10
: Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
Drama at the bell!
There was an open before Luke Marsh three-bet to 16,000 from the hijack. Xin Yuan then four-bet to 45,000 out of the big blind before Marsh clickec it to 110,000. A rare six-bet from Yuan to 175,000 then followed, which Marsh called.
The flop came 10♠8♣9♥ and Yuan continued for 35,000. Marsh mulled it over for a while before he stuck in the call to see the 8♠ turn, which went check-check.
When the 2♦ dropped on the river, Yuan went into the tank and then moved all in, only to met with a snap-call from Marsh.
Yuan flipped over A♦K♣ for just ace-high, and Marsh showed A♣A♠ for pocket aces to take the huge pot right at the death!
Level 10
: Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
Level 10
: Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
On a board of 9♠5♣Q♣, Georges Chehade bet 15,000 into a pot of around 20,000, and Xin Yuan made it 45,00 to go. Chehade then shoved for around 100,000, and Yuan quickly called.
Georges Chehade: Q♠10♦ 
Xin Yuan: Q♥J♦
Chehade was out-kicked and needed to find some help from the board in order to escape elimination. An A♠ on the turn did open up some chop possibilities, but the 4♣ river was no good, which meant Chehade was out.
Yuan now sitting with around 550,000!
Level 10
: Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
With the clock just ticking into Level 10, it means just 40 minutes of play remains in the day.
Once this level is over, the surviving players will bag up their chips and come back for Day 2 tomorrow.
