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

01-24-2025 19:05 UTC+2

Zheng's Stack is Climbing

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Tim Baker

Level 23 : Blinds 15,000/25,000, 25,000 ante

Xiaosheng Zheng raised the button to 50,000 and Lachezar Petkov defended out of the big blind.

The flop came down 7♣3♥4♥ and Petkov led out for 40,000. Zheng made the call.

The 3♣ turn checked through for the K♥ to land on the river. Petkov checked, and Zheng bet 160,000. Petkov rechecked his cards before tossing them in the muck, surrendering the pot to Zheng.

Player	Chips	Progress
Lachezar Petkov	1,300,000 706,000	706,000

Xiaosheng Zheng	1,200,000 200,000	200,000

Tags: Lachezar Petkov Xiaosheng Zheng

01-24-2025 19:13 UTC+2

Niste Ends Uzan's Main Event

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Tim Baker

Level 23 : Blinds 15,000/25,000, 25,000 ante

Ludovic Uzan got the last of his chips into the middle preflop from early position with Mihai Niste making the call from the button to try and bust him.

Ludovic Uzan: 6♦6♥ All in
Mihai Niste: A♠J♥

Since the bubble burst, Uzan had been in survival mode. Now, he was in a race for his tournament life.

The runout of 5♦2♠J♠8♦Q♣ was great for Niste as he flopped a pair of jacks to secure the pot, and sent Uzan to the cashier's desk.

Player	Chips	Progress
Mihai Niste	3,800,000 1,150,000	1,150,000
Ludovic Uzan	Busted

Tags: Ludovic Uzan Mihai Niste

01-24-2025 19:18 UTC+2

Break Time

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Kai Cocklin

Level 23 : Blinds 15,000/25,000, 25,000 ante

Players are on their final 15-minute break.

01-24-2025 19:20 UTC+2

Recent Eliminations

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Tim Baker

Level 23 : Blinds 15,000/25,000, 25,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Navot Golan	Busted
Marcin Dziubdziela	Busted
Sergei Varnaev	Busted
Motokatsu Uhara	Busted
Mehmet Demirkol	Busted
Dumitru Pora	Busted
Issam Tannouri	Busted
Pierre Jreige	Busted
Charbel Salloum	Busted
Themistoklis Themistokleous	Busted
Chady El Ojeil	Busted

Level: 24

Blinds: 15,000/30,000

Ante: 30,000

01-24-2025 19:32 UTC+2

Player	Chips	Progress
Dmitry Gromov	5,300,000 100,000	100,000

Ryan Mandara	3,400,000 2,200,000	2,200,000

Mihai Niste	2,900,000 900,000	900,000
Adrian State	2,900,000 300,000	300,000
Can Miral	2,600,000 800,000	800,000
Tamer Kamel	2,600,000 400,000	400,000
Philip Joyce	2,500,000 800,000	800,000
Nils Pudel	2,300,000 750,000	750,000
Andrey Litvinov	2,300,000 500,000	500,000
Gaspare Sposato	2,100,000 100,000	100,000
Georgios Skarparis	2,000,000 250,000	250,000

Johan Guilbert	1,650,000 300,000	300,000

Mario Colavita	1,400,000 600,000	600,000
Alexander Sokolovsky	950,000 350,000	350,000

Harbon Runs Into Aces

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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
Arian Kashani	2,050,000 250,000	250,000
Avrham Harbon	Busted

Tags: Arian Kashani Avrham Harbon

01-24-2025 19:46 UTC+2

Kamel Breaches Three Million

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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
Tamer Kamel	3,100,000 500,000	500,000
Umberto Ruggeri	700,000 300,000	300,000

Tags: Tamer Kamel Umberto Ruggeri

01-24-2025 19:53 UTC+2

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

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Kai Cocklin

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

01-24-2025 20:09 UTC+2

Ponomarev Bleeding Chips

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Kai Cocklin

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

Not so long ago, Nikolay Ponomarev had around 2,000,000 chips, but his stack has dwindled down to around 250,000 after he just lost a flip with Q♣Q♠ against the A♣K♦ of his opponent, who had around 400,000.