$3,300 Main Event Day 2 | 2025 Merit Poker Western Series

01-23-2025 20:03 UTC+2

Uzan Slowly Chipping Up

Tim Baker

Level 16 : Blinds 2,000/5,000, 5,000 ante

Ludovic Uzan opened the cutoff to 10,000, which Tamar Kamel and Mircea Flutur called out of the blinds.

The three players checked a board of Q♥5♠K♣3♣9♣ all the way to the river before Uzan bet 35,000. This was enough to get two quick folds from Kamel and Flutur, and the pot went over to Uzan.

Player	Chips	Progress
Tamer Kamel	800,000 30,000	30,000
Ludovic Uzan	390,000 247,000	247,000
Mircea Flutur	140,000 52,500	52,500

Tags: Ludovic Uzan Mircea Flutur Tamar Kamel

01-23-2025 20:07 UTC+2

Break Time

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Tim Baker

Level 16 : Blinds 2,000/5,000, 5,000 ante

The players are now on their last 15-minute break of the day. There will be one more level of play before the surviving players bag up their chips and return for Day 3 tomorrow.

01-23-2025 20:07 UTC+2

Chen's Overbet Gets Paid By Sokolovsky

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Kai Cocklin

Level 16 : Blinds 2,000/5,000, 5,000 ante

Zhen Chen made it 10,000 to go from the cutoff and Alexander Sokolovsky three-bet from the button to 40,000. Once the blinds folded, Zhen asked, "How much are you playing?". Upon seeing that Sokolovsky had around 900,000, Chen called.

They went to a flop of 6♥8♠10♠ where both checked to the 8♦ turn. Chen led out for 30,000, and Sokolovsky called.

When the A♠ dropped on the river, Chen fired an overbet of 225,000. Sokolovsky thought about it for some time before he eventually called.

Chen then showed a full house with A♥8♥, and Sokolovsky mucked.

Player	Chips	Progress
Zhen Chen	1,200,000 250,000	250,000

Alexander Sokolovsky	570,000 196,500	196,500

Tags: Alexander Sokolovsky Zhen Chen

01-23-2025 20:11 UTC+2

Ehsan Amiri

750,000 75,000

Table 21Seat 4

Level: 17

Blinds: 3,000/6,000

Ante: 6,000

01-23-2025 20:22 UTC+2

Selected Chip Counts

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Kai Cocklin

Level 17 : Blinds 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Xiaosheng Zheng	1,350,000 140,000	140,000
Anton Danilov	1,250,000 250,000	250,000
Zhen Chen	1,200,000

Nichan Khorchidian	1,100,000 100,000	100,000
Dan Borlan	1,100,000 750,000	750,000
Edward Quinn	1,050,000 155,000	155,000

Dmitry Gromov	1,050,000 343,500	343,500

Walid Bou Habib	1,040,000 120,000	120,000
Ali Fkih	1,000,000 100,000	100,000
Renars Skanis	1,000,000 855,000	855,000

Motokatsu Uhara	950,000 750,000	750,000
Mario Colavita	850,000 657,000	657,000
Sergei Varnaev	810,000 535,000	535,000
Philip Joyce	810,000 10,000	10,000
Michel Molenaar	755,000 380,000	380,000
Can Miral	750,000 540,000	540,000
Dawid Smolka	700,000 200,000	200,000
Nils Pudel	700,000 655,500	655,500
Mihai Niste	630,000 250,000	250,000
Georgios Skarparis	630,000 140,000	140,000

Aliaksei Boika	600,000 150,000	150,000

Mustafa Biz	600,000 420,000	420,000

01-23-2025 20:30 UTC+2

Flashback: Mohamed Mokrani Ships the 2024 Merit Poker Western Series Main Event

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Tim Baker

Level 16 : Blinds 2,000/5,000, 5,000 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

Read the Full Recap Here

01-23-2025 20:33 UTC+2

Prizepool and Payouts

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Kai Cocklin

Level 17 : Blinds 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante

With a record-setting 791 entries being recorded in the Main Event, a prize pool of $2,183,160 was generated and 103 players will make the money.

A min-cash is worth $4,450, but the top prize of $377,500 is what all the remaining players will have their eyes on! Who will walk away with bags of cash?

Place	Prize	Place	Prize
1	$377,500	19-21	$17,985
2	$251,000	22-24	$16,020
3	$180,300	25-26	$14,055
4	$130,200	27-35	$12,305
5	$94,600	36-44	$10,560
6	$75,900	45-53	$9,030
7	$63,200	54-62	$7,505
8	$50,500	63-71	$6,630
9	$37,950	72-80	$5,760
10-12	$28,900	81-89	$5,105
13-15	$23,440	90-103	$4,450
16-18	$20,170

01-23-2025 20:42 UTC+2

Hirs Gets a Reprieve After Premature Stack Donation

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Kai Cocklin

Level 17 : Blinds 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante

Felipe Ketzer opened from the hijack to 12,000 and Aliaksandr Hirs made it 27,000 from the cutoff. Once it got back to Ketzer, he shoved, and Hirs called for his stack of 133,000.

Aliaksandr Hirs: 9♦9♣ All in
Felipe Ketzer: K♣Q♠

Hirs was flipping for a his tournament life and seemed destined to hit the rail after Ketzer paired his queen on the 4♥Q♥A♠ flop. In preparation for his departure, Hirs pushed his stack into the middle of the table for Ketzer to claim, but drilled a set on the 9♠ turn to lock up the pot. A meaningless J♣ dropped on the river and Hirs doubled to around 275,000.

"Not fair," joked Ketzer after the hand.

"You can only do that once," remarked another player at the table.

Hirs quietly pulled his chips back from the middle, proving that sometimes it pays to prepare... but not too much.