2025 Merit Poker Western Series

$3,300 Main Event
Day: 2
Event Info
2025 Merit Poker Western Series
Final Results
Winner
Prize
$377,500
Event Info
Buy-in
$3,300
Prize Pool
$2,183,160
Total Entries
791
Level Info
Level
39
Blinds
500,000 / 1,000,000
Ante
1,000,000
Players Info - Day 2
Entries
437
Players Left
157
Players Left 1 / 791
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Table 21Seat 4
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Hirs Gets a Reprieve After Premature Stack Donation

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

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: 99 All in
Felipe Ketzer: KQ

Hirs was flipping for a his tournament life and seemed destined to hit the rail after Ketzer paired his queen on the 4QA 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.

Tags: Felipe KetzerAliaksandr Hirs

Prizepool and Payouts

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

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?

PlacePrizePlacePrize
1$377,50019-21$17,985
2$251,00022-24$16,020
3$180,30025-26$14,055
4$130,20027-35$12,305
5$94,60036-44$10,560
6$75,90045-53$9,030
7$63,20054-62$7,505
8$50,50063-71$6,630
9$37,95072-80$5,760
10-12$28,90081-89$5,105
13-15$23,44090-103$4,450
16-18$20,170  

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

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

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

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1Mohamed MokraniFrance$342,500
2Nichan KhorchidianLebanon$252,500
3Felipe KetzerBrazil$155,000
4Christophe PanettiSwitzerland$114,400
5Damir ZhugralinKazakhstan$85,700
6Mustafa ErcanTurkey$69,100
7Antoine HasbaniLebanon$57,300
8Samy BarkaFrance$45,600
9Hadi KhordbinIran$34,300

Read the Full Recap Here

Selected Chip Counts

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

Level: 17

Blinds: 3,000/6,000

Ante: 6,000

750,000 75,000
Table 21Seat 4
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Chen's Overbet Gets Paid By Sokolovsky

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

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 6810 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 A8, and Sokolovsky mucked.

Tags: Alexander SokolovskyZhen Chen

Break Time

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.

Uzan Slowly Chipping Up

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

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 Q5K39 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.

Tags: Ludovic UzanMircea FluturTamar Kamel