Level: 7
Blinds: 1,000/1,500
Ante: 1,500
2025 Merit Poker Western Series
$3,300 Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
2025 Merit Poker Western Series
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1a
Buy-in
$3,300
Prize Pool
$2,183,160
Entries
791
Level
39
Blinds
500,000 / 1,000,000
Ante
1,000,000
Entries
182
Players Left
73
Players Left 1 / 791
Filter
(1)
Level 7
: Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
500,000
500,000
|
500,000 |
|
480,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
450,000
130,000
|
130,000 |
|
||
|
440,000
14,600
|
14,600 |
|
||
|
330,000
330,000
|
330,000 |
|
300,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
|
240,000
90,000
|
90,000 |
|
|
230,000
230,000
|
230,000 |
|
230,000
230,000
|
230,000 |
|
205,000
85,000
|
85,000 |
|
|
||
|
200,000
200,000
|
200,000 |
|
190,000
40,000
|
40,000 |
Level 7
: Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante
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469,000
29,000
Table 3Seat 6
Level 7
: Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante
Last January at the 2024 Merit Poker Western Series, France's Mohamed Mokrani was crowned champion of the $3,300 Main Event, outlasting the 672-entry field and defeating Nichan Khorchidian in a brief heads-up duel to take home the title and top prize of $342,500. The $1,500,000 guarantee was easily eclipsed, with the final prize pool confirmed at $1,854,720.
Mokrani started the final day as the fifth-largest stack and went mostly under the radar before a late-night surge catapulted him ahead of perennial chip leaders Felipe Ketzer and Khorchidian during three-handed play. Mokrani only had $15,211 in recorded lifetime tournament earnings prior to this event, and the win was nearly forty times greater than his previous-best cash of $8,124.
2024 Western Series $3,300 Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mohamed Mokrani | France | $342,500 |
| 2 | Nichan Khorchidian | Lebanon | $252,500 |
| 3 | Felipe Ketzer | Brazil | $155,000 |
| 4 | Christophe Panetti | Switzerland | $114,400 |
| 5 | Damir Zhugralin | Kazakhstan | $85,700 |
| 6 | Mustafa Ercan | Turkey | $69,100 |
| 7 | Antoine Hasbani | Lebanon | $57,300 |
| 8 | Samy Barka | France | $45,600 |
| 9 | Hadi Khordbin | Iran | $34,300 |
Level 7
: Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante
With around 15,000 chips in the middle on a 9♠Q♦8♠6♥ board, Kamil Sokol checked from the big blind and Dawid Smolka fired out 10,000 from the hijack. Sokol then put in a check-raise to 42,000, which Smolka called.
When the A♠ dropped on the river, Sokol wasted no time in moving all in for 125,000, and Smolka quickly folded.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
400,000
80,000
|
80,000 |
|
230,000
40,000
|
40,000 |
Level 7
: Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante
Johan Guilbert's stack has taken a beating and he was down to his last 3,500 chips, which he got in the middle and was put at risk by Ruslan Bakhtiev.
Johan Guilbert: Q♥10♥ 
Ruslan Bakhtiev: A♦9♠
The runout of Q♠3♣10♣8♥4♥ gave Guilbert two pair, and got his stack back to around 10,000. However, there's still a long way to go to get back to the starting stack of 100,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
275,000
275,000
|
275,000 |
|
|
10,000
195,000
|
195,000 |
|
|
||
Level 7
: Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante
A preflop raising war broke out between Dumitru Pora under the gun and Jinlong Hu in the small blind, culminating in Pora’s stack of approximately 180,000 going into the middle.
Dumitru Pora: A♦K♦
Jinlong Hu: A♠K♠
With both players holding Big Slick, the hand seemed destined to end in a chop. The 4♣J♣5♦ flop kept the status quo but offered Pora the chance to scoop with a backdoor flush.
Hu, seemingly confident he was safe, reached for his chips before the turn even arrived, as if attempting to reclaim them. However, he quickly withdrew his hands when the 6♦ hit the felt, giving Pora the flush draw and a shot at salvation.
The poker gods didn’t punish Hu for his premature actions, as the 2♣ on the river blanked, securing the expected chop. Both players split the pot, but perhaps Hu’s chip-grabbing antics narrowly avoided divine retribution.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
270,000
170,000
|
170,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
180,000
40,000
|
40,000 |
Level: 8
Blinds: 1,000/2,000
Ante: 2,000
Level 8
: Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
The full action was missed but Edward Quinn just doubled up through Jinlong Hu to move his stack to almost half a million.
On a board of Kx9♥J♦J♣Xx, all of the chips were in the middle by the time showdown came around and Hu showed A♠K♥ for top pair. However, Quinn had quads with J♠J♥ to scoop the pot and bring his stack up to around 475,000.
Perhaps Hu is being punished by the poker gods after all.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
475,000
305,000
|
305,000 |
|
||
|
|
50,000
220,000
|
220,000 |
|
|
||
