2025 Merit Poker Western Series

$3,300 Main Event
Day: 3
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Event Info
2025 Merit Poker Western Series
Final Results
Winner
Prize
$377,500
Event Info
Buy-in
$3,300
Prize Pool
$2,183,160
Entries
791
Level Info
Level
39
Blinds
500,000 / 1,000,000
Ante
1,000,000
Players Info - Day 3
Entries
157
Players Left
39
Players Left 1 / 791
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Miste Five-Bet Shoves

Kai Cocklin
Kai Cocklin
Level 24 : Blinds 15,000/30,000, 30,000 ante

Philip Joyce opened from the hijack to 60,000 and Mihai Niste made it 230,000 from the small blind. When it got back to Joyce, he put out a four-bet of 385,000. Just as quickly, Miste shoved for around 1,800,000, and Joyce immediately folded.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Mihai Niste ro
Mihai Niste 		2,200,000
700,000
 700,000
Profile photo of Philip Joyce gb
Philip Joyce 		2,150,000
350,000
 350,000

Tags: Mihai NistePhilip Joyce

Big Slick Helps Cappiello to Double

Tim Baker
Tim Baker
Level 24 : Blinds 15,000/30,000, 30,000 ante
Candido Cappiello
Candido Cappiello

Candido Cappiello opened to 60,000 from the hijack with Renars Skanis calling on the button. Mihai Niste squeezed to 290,000 from the big blind, and Cappiell four-bet shoved for 1,250,000. Skanis folded, but Niste called for roughly half his stack.

Candido Cappiello: A♥K♠ All in
Mihai Niste: A♦Q♣

Cappiello's Big Slick had Niste dominated. The flop came 6♥7♥8♠ and Cappiello stayed in front. The 9♠ turn offered Niste some chop outs. However, the J♠ wasn't one of them and Cappiello doubled up through Nitse.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Renars Skanis lv
Renars Skanis 		3,200,000
2,000,000
 2,000,000
Day 4 Chip Leader
Profile photo of Candido Cappiello it
Candido Cappiello 		2,700,000
2,000,000
 2,000,000
Profile photo of Mihai Niste ro
Mihai Niste 		1,800,000
1,100,000
 1,100,000

Tags: Candido CappielloMihai NisteRenars Skanis

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

Kai Cocklin
Kai Cocklin
Level 24 : Blinds 15,000/30,000, 30,000 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

Kamel Breaches Three Million

Kai Cocklin
Kai Cocklin
Level 24 : Blinds 15,000/30,000, 30,000 ante

There were already around 200,000 chips in the pot on a 2♦6♠Q♥A♠ board when Umberto Ruggeri fired out 85,000 from under the gun. Tamer Kamel then put in a raise to 190,000 from middle position, and Ruggeri called.

When the K♦ dropped on the river, Ruggeri tapped the table and after a short tank, Kamel knuckled back.

Ruggeri then showed a pair of queens with Q♠J♦, but Kamel had turned an ace with A♣3♣ to scoop the pot, which brought his stack to over three million!

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Tamer Kamel gb
Tamer Kamel 		3,100,000
500,000
 500,000
Profile photo of Umberto Ruggeri it
Umberto Ruggeri 		700,000
300,000
 300,000

Tags: Tamer KamelUmberto Ruggeri

Harbon Runs Into Aces

Kai Cocklin
Kai Cocklin
Level 24 : Blinds 15,000/30,000, 30,000 ante

Avrham Harbon was on the button and shoved around 300,000, then Arian Kashani snap-called from the big blind.

Avrham Harbon: QxQx All in
Arian Kashani: A♦A♥

Harbon was in a world of pain, and it didn't get any better as the J♥7♣6♣7♠K♥ runout meant he was eliminated just after the break,

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Arian Kashani gb
Arian Kashani 		2,050,000
250,000
 250,000
Profile photo of Avrham Harbon il
Avrham Harbon 		Busted

Tags: Arian KashaniAvrham Harbon

Selected Chip Counts

Kai Cocklin
Kai Cocklin
Level 24 : Blinds 15,000/30,000, 30,000 ante
Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Dmitry Gromov ru
Dmitry Gromov 		5,300,000
100,000
 100,000
Day 3 Chip Leader
WPT 1X Winner
Profile photo of Ryan Mandara gb
Ryan Mandara 		3,400,000
2,200,000
 2,200,000
Day 1D Chip Leader
Profile photo of Mihai Niste ro
Mihai Niste 		2,900,000
900,000
 900,000
Profile photo of Adrian State ro
Adrian State 		2,900,000
300,000
 300,000
Profile photo of Can Miral tr
Can Miral 		2,600,000
800,000
 800,000
Profile photo of Tamer Kamel gb
Tamer Kamel 		2,600,000
400,000
 400,000
Profile photo of Philip Joyce gb
Philip Joyce 		2,500,000
800,000
 800,000
Profile photo of Nils Pudel de
Nils Pudel 		2,300,000
750,000
 750,000
Profile photo of Andrey Litvinov ru
Andrey Litvinov 		2,300,000
500,000
 500,000
Profile photo of Gaspare Sposato it
Gaspare Sposato 		2,100,000
100,000
 100,000
Profile photo of Georgios Skarparis cy
Georgios Skarparis 		2,000,000
250,000
 250,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Johan Guilbert fr
Johan Guilbert 		1,650,000
300,000
 300,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Mario Colavita it
Mario Colavita 		1,400,000
600,000
 600,000
Profile photo of Alexander Sokolovsky rs
Alexander Sokolovsky 		950,000
350,000
 350,000

Level: 24

Blinds: 15,000/30,000

Ante: 30,000

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