$3,300 Main Event
Day 3 Started
2025 Merit Poker Western Series
$3,300 Main Event
Day: 3
Event Info
2025 Merit Poker Western Series
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 3
Buy-in
$3,300
Prize Pool
$2,183,160
Entries
791
Level
39
Blinds
500,000 / 1,000,000
Ante
1,000,000
Entries
157
Players Left
39
Players Left 1 / 791
Filter
(1)
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Sergei Varnaev | Russia | 861,000 | 108 |
| 1 | 2 | Ryan Mandara | United Kingdom | 330,000 | 41 |
| 1 | 3 | Umutcan Ipekoglu | Turkey | 250,000 | 31 |
| 1 | 4 | Ludovi Uzan | France | 418,000 | 52 |
| 1 | 5 | Wim Ben Verhaegen | Belgium | 260,000 | 33 |
| 1 | 6 | Renars Skanis | Latvia | 1,250,000 | 156 |
| 1 | 7 | Andrei Matveyeu | Belarus | 444,000 | 56 |
| 1 | 8 | Volodymyr Drokin | Ukraine | 418,000 | 52 |
| 2 | 1 | Simeon Spasov | Bulgaria | 529,000 | 66 |
| 2 | 2 | Ihar Soika | Belarus | 615,000 | 77 |
| 2 | 3 | Darius Neagoe | Romania | 568,000 | 71 |
| 2 | 4 | Michel Atallah | Lebanon | 403,000 | 50 |
| 2 | 5 | Ibrahim Ghasan | Lebanon | 511,000 | 64 |
| 2 | 6 | Ran Ilani | Israel | 622,000 | 78 |
| 2 | 7 | Philipp Wood | Netherlands | 640,000 | 80 |
| 2 | 8 | Eusebiu Jalba | Romania | 722,000 | 90 |
| 3 | 1 | Naryman Yaghmaie | Iran | 580,000 | 73 |
| 3 | 2 | Menikos Panagiotou | Cyprus | 676,000 | 85 |
| 3 | 3 | Cagdas Ersoy | Turkey | 289,000 | 36 |
| 3 | 4 | Mikalai Vaskaboinikau | Belarus | 717,000 | 90 |
| 3 | 5 | Mekan Yusupov | Turkmenistan | 508,000 | 64 |
| 3 | 6 | Suat Egilli | Turkey | 846,000 | 106 |
| 3 | 7 | Aliaksei Boika | Belarus | 597,000 | 75 |
| 3 | 8 | Nikolay Ponomarev | Russia | 1,092,000 | 137 |
| 4 | 1 | Baris Caliskan | Turkey | 189,000 | 24 |
| 4 | 2 | Hakim Zoufri | Netherlands Antillies | 50,000 | 6 |
| 4 | 3 | Justin Steinbrenner | Germany | 295,000 | 37 |
| 4 | 4 | Chady Ojelli | Lebanon | 470,000 | 59 |
| 4 | 5 | Soraya Estrada | Spain | 603,000 | 75 |
| 4 | 6 | Viliyan Petleshkov | Bulgaria | 678,000 | 85 |
| 4 | 7 | Ramzi Karam | Lebanon | 267,000 | 33 |
| 4 | 8 | Jay O'Leary | United Kingdom | 360,000 | 45 |
| 5 | 1 | Aylar Lie | Norway | 75,000 | 9 |
| 5 | 2 | Kemal Aslan | Turkey | 469,000 | 59 |
| 5 | 3 | Musa Genc | Turkey | 84,000 | 11 |
| 5 | 4 | Osman Aksu | Turkey | 423,000 | 53 |
| 5 | 5 | Zhen Chen | China | 1,281,000 | 160 |
| 5 | 6 | Oren Meir | Israel | 215,000 | 27 |
| 5 | 7 | Maroun Jazzar | Lebanon | 150,000 | 19 |
| 5 | 8 | Nils Pudel | Austria | 556,000 | 70 |
| 6 | 1 | Arian Kashani | Iran | 714,000 | 89 |
| 6 | 2 | Stanislav Tishkevich | Israel | 622,000 | 78 |
| 6 | 3 | Luke Kyle Marsh | United Kingdom | 225,000 | 28 |
| 6 | 4 | Gregoire Auzoux | France | 420,000 | 53 |
| 6 | 5 | Sevket Muduroglu | Turkey | 244,000 | 31 |
| 6 | 6 | Avrham Harbon | Israel | 375,000 | 47 |
| 6 | 7 | Themistoklis Themistokleous | Cyprus | 286,000 | 36 |
| 6 | 8 | Xiaosheng Zheng | China | 944,000 | 118 |
| 7 | 1 | Alexandru Cinca | Romania | 685,000 | 86 |
| 7 | 2 | Philippe Souki | France | 302,000 | 38 |
| 7 | 3 | Mehmet Demirkol | Turkey | 354,000 | 44 |
| 7 | 4 | Milad Souderjani | Iran | 345,000 | 43 |
| 7 | 5 | Alexander Sokolovsky | Serbia | 668,000 | 84 |
| 7 | 6 | Boris Kolev | Bulgaria | 253,000 | 32 |
| 7 | 7 | Mario Fata | France | 264,000 | 33 |
| 7 | 8 | Issam Tannouri | Lebanon | 361,000 | 45 |
| 8 | 1 | Marwan Salamoun | Lebanon | 294,000 | 37 |
| 8 | 2 | Nichan Khorchidian | Lebanon | 1,149,000 | 144 |
| 8 | 3 | Hassanin Hashim | Iraq | 591,000 | 74 |
| 8 | 4 | Joseph Chemaly | Lebanon | 780,000 | 98 |
| 8 | 5 | Asher Oz | Israel | 679,000 | 85 |
| 8 | 6 | Grigoli Liklikadze | Georgia | 511,000 | 64 |
| 8 | 7 | Halil Tasyurek | Turkey | 273,000 | 34 |
| 8 | 8 | Rashad Iskandarov | Azerbaijan | 705,000 | 88 |
| 9 | 1 | Joseph Houayek | Lebanon | 691,000 | 86 |
| 9 | 2 | Muhammed Hakim | Morocco | 267,000 | 33 |
| 9 | 3 | Charbel Salloum | Lebanon | 406,000 | 51 |
| 9 | 4 | Kirill Shcherbakov | Russia | 283,000 | 35 |
| 9 | 5 | Adrian State | Romania | 400,000 | 50 |
| 9 | 6 | Dawid Smolka | Poland | 1,000,000 | 125 |
| 9 | 7 | Felipe Ketzer | Brazil | 370,000 | 46 |
| 9 | 8 | Lyudmil Ivanov | Bulgaria | 655,000 | 82 |
| 10 | 1 | Oshri Lahmani | Israel | 184,000 | 23 |
| 10 | 2 | Gaspare Sposato | Italy | 600,000 | 75 |
| 10 | 3 | Jakub Michalak | Poland | 716,000 | 90 |
| 10 | 4 | Fatima Mourchid | Morocco | 542,000 | 68 |
| 10 | 5 | Joseph Sabe | Lebanon | 127,000 | 16 |
| 10 | 6 | Dumitru Pora | Romania | 571,000 | 71 |
| 10 | 7 | Pierre Jreige | Lebanon | 298,000 | 37 |
| 10 | 8 | Ruslan Bakhtiev | Russia | 148,000 | 19 |
| 11 | 1 | Mario Colavita | Italy | 782,000 | 98 |
| 11 | 2 | Marcin Dziubdziela | Poland | 640,000 | 80 |
| 11 | 3 | Merijn Van Rooij | Netherlands Antillies | 261,000 | 33 |
| 11 | 4 | Andras Matrai | Hungary | 518,000 | 65 |
| 11 | 5 | Bogdan Jontulovic | Serbia | 358,000 | 45 |
| 11 | 6 | Anton Danilov | Russia | 1,276,000 | 160 |
| 11 | 7 | Ali El-Siblani | Lebanon | 200,000 | 25 |
| 11 | 8 | Tamazi Skhirtladze | Georgia | 646,000 | 81 |
| 12 | 1 | Roman Gadzhiev | Russia | 491,000 | 61 |
| 12 | 2 | Koen Roelofsen | Netherlands Antillies | 444,000 | 56 |
| 12 | 3 | Ehsan Amiri | Iran | 585,000 | 73 |
| 12 | 4 | Ori Elul | Israel | 497,000 | 62 |
| 12 | 5 | Jacques Der Megreditchian | France | 213,000 | 27 |
| 12 | 6 | Nemo Koering | France | 334,000 | 42 |
| 12 | 7 | Stanuslau Charvinski | Belarus | 672,000 | 84 |
| 12 | 8 | Maxime Chilaud | France | 271,000 | 34 |
| 13 | 1 | Motokatsu Uhara | Japan | 1,014,000 | 127 |
| 13 | 2 | Mohamed Mokrani | Algeria | 700,000 | 88 |
| 13 | 3 | Damir Zhugralin | Kazakhstan | 409,000 | 51 |
| 13 | 4 | Tobias Peters | Netherlands | 253,000 | 32 |
| 13 | 5 | Muhtar Taysi | Turkey | 791,000 | 99 |
| 13 | 6 | Hassan Halil | Cyprus | 315,000 | 39 |
| 13 | 7 | Govert Meetaal | Netherlands Antillies | 325,000 | 41 |
| 13 | 8 | Mohamad El-Sayed | Lebanon | 141,000 | 18 |
| 14 | 1 | Andreas Mavromoustakis | Cyprus | 425,000 | 53 |
| 14 | 2 | Mustafa Biz | Turkey | 624,000 | 78 |
| 14 | 3 | Hassan Sey | Philippines | 762,000 | 95 |
| 14 | 4 | Mustafa Ercan | Turkey | 265,000 | 33 |
| 14 | 5 | Ali Fkih | Tunisia | 1,128,000 | 141 |
| 14 | 6 | Stojan Vazic | Serbia | 487,000 | 61 |
| 14 | 7 | Can Miral | Turkey | 895,000 | 112 |
| 14 | 8 | Roland Rahme | Lebanon | 569,000 | 71 |
| 15 | 1 | Sandra Cotescu | Romania | 99,000 | 12 |
| 15 | 2 | Johan Guilbert | France | 481,000 | 60 |
| 15 | 3 | Marco Leonzio | Italy | 200,000 | 25 |
| 15 | 4 | Fabio Peluso | Italy | 293,000 | 37 |
| 15 | 5 | Giorgii Shkulukhiia | Russia | 304,000 | 38 |
| 15 | 6 | Walid Bou Habib | Lebanon | 880,000 | 110 |
| 15 | 7 | Nicolae Paunescu | Romania | 553,000 | 69 |
| 15 | 8 | Irina Zheleznyak | Russia | 137,000 | 17 |
| 16 | 1 | Bugra Karsli | Turkey | 1,184,000 | 148 |
| 16 | 2 | Yaniv Shushan | Israel | 468,000 | 59 |
| 16 | 3 | Edward Quinn | United Kingdom | 865,000 | 108 |
| 16 | 4 | Dmitry Gromov | Russia | 1,154,000 | 144 |
| 16 | 5 | Cristian David | Romania | 652,000 | 82 |
| 16 | 6 | Michel Molenaar | Netherlands Antillies | 757,000 | 95 |
| 16 | 7 | Mihai Niste | Romania | 882,000 | 110 |
| 16 | 8 | Michel Habib | Lebanon | 190,000 | 24 |
| 17 | 1 | Georgios Skarparis | Cyprus | 1,133,000 | 142 |
| 17 | 2 | Kamil Sokol | Poland | 616,000 | 77 |
| 17 | 3 | Vadzim Godzdanker | Belarus | 111,000 | 14 |
| 17 | 4 | Roman Kolotiuk | Russia | 365,000 | 46 |
| 17 | 5 | Natan Chauskin | Belarus | 215,000 | 27 |
| 17 | 6 | Candido Cappiello | Italy | 433,000 | 54 |
| 17 | 7 | Ionut Moldovan | Romania | 990,000 | 124 |
| 17 | 8 | Lachezar Petkov | Slovenia | 594,000 | 74 |
| 18 | 1 | Mounim Kaddouri | France | 301,000 | 38 |
| 18 | 2 | Philip Joyce | United Kingdom | 868,000 | 109 |
| 18 | 3 | Volkan Karacocuk | Turkey | 241,000 | 30 |
| 18 | 4 | Jenya Gavrilovich | Belarus | 65,000 | 8 |
| 18 | 5 | Max Deveson | United Kingdom | 181,000 | 23 |
| 18 | 6 | Ahmad Abdelhadi | Canada | 329,000 | 41 |
| 18 | 7 | Andreas Christoforou | Cyprus | 382,000 | 48 |
| 19 | 1 | Navot Golan | Israel | 262,000 | 33 |
| 19 | 2 | Aliaksandr Hirs | Belarus | 267,000 | 33 |
| 19 | 3 | Ihar Narushevich | Belarus | 458,000 | 57 |
| 19 | 4 | Andrey Litvinov | Russia | 356,000 | 45 |
| 19 | 5 | Umberto Ruggeri | Italy | 498,000 | 62 |
| 19 | 6 | Maksim Shornikau | Belarus | 618,000 | 77 |
| 19 | 7 | Traian Stanciu | Romania | 303,000 | 38 |
| 20 | 1 | Dan Borlan | Romania | 887,000 | 111 |
| 20 | 2 | Andreas Mavrikioy | Cyprus | 356,000 | 45 |
| 20 | 3 | Aleksandr Kirichenko | Russia | 79,000 | 10 |
| 20 | 4 | Tamer Kamel | United Kingdom | 1,013,000 | 127 |
| 20 | 5 | Bogdan Munteanu | Romania | 519,000 | 65 |
| 20 | 6 | Hadi Khordbin | Iran | 414,000 | 52 |
| 20 | 7 | Hugo De La Fouchardiere | France | 309,000 | 39 |
The $3,300 Main Event at the 2025 Merit Poker Western Series rides into Day 3 with the stakes higher than ever and the dream of a massive payday drawing closer. A record-breaking 791 entries were confirmed, and the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino has been buzzing with excitement as the remaining 157 players prepare to battle it out.
Leading the charge is China's Zhen Chen, who wrangled an impressive 1,281,000 chips on Day 2 to take the top spot on the leaderboard. Chen, who captured the $5,300 High Roller title just months ago, will look to extend his dominance and add another coveted Merit Poker trophy to his collection.
Dmitry Gromov has once again proven why Cyprus is his poker playground, finishing Day 2 with a formidable stack of 1,154,000 chips. The Russian pro boasts an impressive résumé with over 100 career cashes, including no less than ten in Merit Poker Main Events. Gromov, who recently placed third in the Gatsby Gala Main Event, has consistently showcased his dominance at the tables in North Cyprus. With his sights set on yet another deep run, Gromov is poised to add an eleventh Merit Main Event cash to his growing list of achievements and further solidify his legacy in the region.
Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zhen Chen | China | 1,281,000 | 160 |
| 2 | Anton Danilov | Russia | 1,276,000 | 160 |
| 3 | Renars Skanis | Latvia | 1,250,000 | 156 |
| 4 | Bugra Karsli | Turkey | 1,184,000 | 148 |
| 5 | Dmitry Gromov | Russia | 1,154,000 | 144 |
| 6 | Nichan Khorchidian | Lebanon | 1,149,000 | 144 |
| 7 | Georgios Skarparis | Cyprus | 1,133,000 | 142 |
| 8 | Ali Fkih | Tunisia | 1,128,000 | 141 |
| 9 | Nikolay Ponomarev | Russia | 1,092,000 | 137 |
| 10 | Motokatsu Uhara | Japan | 1,014,000 | 127 |
The field is stacked with talent as Anton Danilov (1,276,000), Renars Skanis (1,250,000), and Bugra Karsli (1,184,000) all start Day 3 with over a million chips. Notable names like Georgios Skarparis (1,133,000), Dan Borlan (887,000), and Philip Joyce (660,000) also find themselves in prime positions to make a run at the $377,500 top prize.
Play kicks off today at 12:00 p.m. local time, with blinds starting at 4,000/8,000 and an 8,000 big blind ante. The remaining players will be battling it out for a place in the money, with the bubble bursting at 103 players.
Payouts
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the action, as the field narrows, and the journey to crowning the next Western Series champion continues!
Level: 18
Blinds: 4,000/8,000
Ante: 8,000
Level 18
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Cards are in the air for Day 3 of the Main Event.
Level 18
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Tamazi Skhirtladze raised to 18,000 under the gun and only Anton Danilov defended out of the small blind.
The flop came down 3♦4♥Q♥ and Danilov check-called a bet of 24,000 from Skhirtladze.
When the 3♣ landed on the turn, Danilov chose to lead out for 40,000. Skhirtladze tank-folded, and Danilov scooped in the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,330,000
54,000
|
54,000 |
|
590,000
56,000
|
56,000 |
Level 18
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Eusebiu Jalba opened from early position to 16,000 and Ibrahim Ghasan called out of the small blind. Ran Ilani was in the big blind and squeezed it up to 92,000, which sent Jalba into the tank. After some time, Jalba announced a min four-bet and made it 168,000. Ghasan didn't immediately fold and took some time before he eventually passed.
With the action back on Ilani, he announced a five-bet to 475,000 and slid forward the chips, and Jalba quickly got out of the way.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
800,000
178,000
|
178,000 |
|
560,000
162,000
|
162,000 |
|
495,000
16,000
|
16,000 |
Level 18
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
After just being involved in a pot together, Eusebiu Jalba and Ibrahim Ghasan were tangling again, which resulted in them both getting their chips in preflop.
Ghasan had opened from the cutoff and Jalba three-bet the big blind to 71,000. Ghasan then four-bet to 181,000, and Jalba shoved! Ghasan had almost 500,0000 to start the hand and immediately called.
Ibrahim Ghasan: A♣A♥ 
Eusebiu Jalba: Q♥Q♠
Unfortunate timing for Jalba, who ran into aces in the early stages of the day. However, there was still a runout to sweat where anything could happen.
However, not much did happen on the K♠3♦9♦6♣K♦ runout as neither player improved, which meant Ghasan doubled up to around a million, and Jalba's stack plummeted to 70,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,000,000
505,000
|
505,000 |
|
|
70,000
490,000
|
490,000 |
Level 18
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Roman Gadzhiev opened under the gun to 16,000 and was immediately three-bet to 48,000 by Koen Roelofsen in the next seat. After the rest of the table folded, Gadzhiev called.
Gadzhiev checked the A♠3♦7♣ flop and Roelofsen put out a continuation-bet of 30,000. Gadzhiev stuck around with a call.
The K♣ landed on the turn, which caused Gadzhiev to check again. Roelofsen put out a bet of roughly 125,000 and Gadzhiev snap-folded.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
540,000
49,000
|
49,000 |
|
520,000
76,000
|
76,000 |
Level 18
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted |
