2025 Merit Poker Western Series
Xiaosheng Zheng from middle position had Roman Stoika, who was on the button, at risk preflop for a pot worth around 145,000.
Roman Stoika: A♦Q♥
Xiaosheng Zheng: K♥Q♠
Stoika was poised to double up and took a big leap towards doing so on the A♠J♦K♣ flop as he made top pair, Both players picked up a gutshot and a ten would result in a split pot, but that never happened as the 3♠7♠ runout secured Stoika a double.
On a board of 3♦8♦4♣, there were around 16,000 chips in the pot when Daniel Charlton led out for 7,200 from the small blind. Ran Ilani called from the hijack.
A K♣ landed on the turn and after Charlton tapped the table, Ilani fired out 14,500. Charlton quickly folded.
Level: 4
Blinds: 500/1,000
Ante: 1,000
After a slow start with only 28 players being seated at the beginning of play, the number of entries has swiftly grown to 161 as the end of Level 3 approaches.
There were 182 entries in Day 1a, which means the current total stands at 343.
Vedat Yilmaz just earned himself a double-up while holding the second nuts.
The full board read 9♦10♥4♦5♥9♥ and Yilmaz's opponent fired out 27,000 on the river into a pot of around 30,000. Yilmaz then shoved for around 85,000, and eventually his opponent called.
Yilmaz flipped 10♣9♠ for a full house, which earned him the pot as his opponent tabled 7♥4♥ for a flush and pair blocker.
Roman Stoika had a chunky reraise of 10,400 in front of him from the small blind, which both Fares Sahyoun in middle position and Xiaosheng Zheng in the hijack called.
The trio saw a flop of 9♦4♣6♦ where Stoika bet 11,000, Sahyoun folded, and Zheng called.
When the 2♥ landed on the turn, Stoika eyed up Zheng's stack and saw he had around 80,000 remaining, then he bet 115,000. Zheng had a decision for the rest of his stack and after thinking for some time, he made the call.
Xiaosheng Zheng: 10♠10♥
Roman Stoika: A♥9♣
Stoika had top pair, but it was no good against the overpair of Zheng. Only an ace or a nine on the river would see the Chinese player eliminated, but instead the 4♦ rolled off, which earned Zheng a double-up.
On a board of 10♦3♣2♣6♣, Tobias Peters bet a pot-sized 5,000 from the big blind and Daniel Gavish called from middle position.
When the 2♥ dropped on the river, Peters, shoved, which gave Gavish a decision for his stack of around 30,000. After a few seconds, Gavish called.
Peters then showed a flush with 7♣4♣, and Gavish's K♠K♥ went down in flames.