$5,300 High Roller
Day 2 Completed
2025 Merit Poker Western Series
$5,300 High Roller
Day: 2
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 2
2025 Merit Poker Western Series
Buy-in
$5,300
Prize Pool
$800,400
Entries
174
Level
30
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
200,000
Entries
174
Players Left
46
Level 16
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Day 2 of the $5,300 High Roller at the 2025 Merit Poker Western Series is officially in the books, with 46 players remaining from the 174-entry field that flooded the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino today.
After all the bags were collected, France's Gregoire Auzoux topped the chip counts with an impressive stack of 892,000. The only other player to cross the eight-hundred-thousand chip mark is Turkey's Mustafa Biz, who enters tomorrow with 820,000 chips. Rounding out the podium positions is Romania's Mircea Flutur, who continued his strong showing from Day 1 to end with 780,000.
Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gregoire Auzoux | France | 892,000 | 89 |
| 2 | Mustafa Biz | Turkey | 820,000 | 82 |
| 3 | Mircea Flutur | Romania | 780,000 | 78 |
| 4 | Maher Achour | Tunisia | 731,000 | 73 |
| 5 | Yiannis Liperis | Cyprus | 724,000 | 72 |
| 6 | Ludovic Uzan | France | 673,000 | 67 |
| 7 | Suat Egilli | Turkey | 645,000 | 65 |
| 8 | Adrian State | Romania | 601,000 | 60 |
| 9 | Kirill Shcherbakov | Russia | 548,000 | 55 |
| 10 | Sergei Varnaev | Russia | 534,000 | 53 |
Tunisia's Maher Achour ranked fourth with 731,000 chips. A significant portion of his stack came from a pivotal hand in the penultimate level, where he won a four-bet pot by jamming over Luke Marsh's continuation-bet. Marsh folded, helping Achour climb higher on the leaderboard.
Eighth place going into tomorrow is Romania's Adrian State with 601,000, good for 60 big blinds. State’s day almost ended early when he shoved into Jianfeng Sun's pocket aces. However, a miraculous flop delivered quads, propelling State up the chip counts while Sun was unable to recover.
Among the remaining field, Hala Karam (341,000) and Alisa Sibgatova (120,000) are the last two women still in contention for the title come Monday, January 20. Karam gained momentum midway through the day when she flopped a set against Boris Kolev’s bottom two pair, securing her survival while sending Kolev to the rail.
Other notables returning to the baize for Day 3 include Paul Runcan (508,000) after he flopped a wheel to stack Jakub Michalak during one the last hands of the evening. A few more coming back tomorrow are Michel Molenaar (401,000), Uri Reichenstein (385,000), Aliaksei Boika (349,000), Marsh (338,000), Dmitry Gromov (250,000), Bogdan Jontulovic (166,000), and the eleventh place Warm Up finisher Nicolae Paunescu (150,000).
On Day 2, 79 new entries joined the 95 from the first day to create a total field of 174. This generated a prize pool of $800,400, smashing the $500,000 that this tournament advertised. The top 23 will finish in the money, and the champion will walk away with $200,000.
Payouts
Day 3 begins at 4:00 p.m. local time on Sunday, January 19, with blinds resuming at Level 17 (5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante). Shortly after play starts, the floor staff will announce the plan for the day.
$5,300 High Roller Remaining Schedule
| Date | Day | Time | Blind Levels |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 19 | Day 3 | 4 p.m. | 40 minutes |
| January 20 | Day 4 | 1 p.m. | 40 minutes |
As always, PokerNews will provide live updates from the tournament floor as players battle it out to secure a spot at the final table and beyond. Stay tuned for all the action!
Level 16
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
892,000
112,000
|
112,000 |
|
||
|
820,000
200,000
|
200,000 |
|
780,000
120,000
|
120,000 |
|
||
|
731,000
16,000
|
16,000 |
|
724,000
344,000
|
344,000 |
|
673,000
143,000
|
143,000 |
|
645,000
145,000
|
145,000 |
|
601,000
81,000
|
81,000 |
|
548,000
548,000
|
548,000 |
|
534,000
134,000
|
134,000 |
|
508,000
92,000
|
92,000 |
|
501,000
1,000
|
1,000 |
|
460,000
90,000
|
90,000 |
|
453,000
113,000
|
113,000 |
|
452,000
162,000
|
162,000 |
|
438,000
22,000
|
22,000 |
|
427,000
27,000
|
27,000 |
|
401,000
296,000
|
296,000 |
|
385,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
373,000
258,000
|
258,000 |
|
357,000
357,000
|
357,000 |
|
||
|
355,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
|
349,000
291,000
|
291,000 |
|
||
|
341,000
49,000
|
49,000 |
|
339,000
71,000
|
71,000 |
Level 16
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Day 2 has come to a close and the survivors are currently bagging up their chips.
Stay tuned for a recap of the day's action.
Level 16
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
On a flop of 5♥2♣4♠, Jakub Michalak checked from under the gun and Paul Runcan bet 18,000 from the hijack. Michalak check-raised to 60,000 and Runcan carved out the call.
The two players checked the 4♦ turn to see the J♠ come on the river. Michalak bet 140,000 with just 30,000 behind. Runcan shoved and Michalak begrudgingly called for the last of his chips.
Jakub Michalak: KxJx 
Paul Runcan: A♠3♠
Michalak had just a pair of jacks and was second best to flopped wheel for Runcan, meaning Michalak busted just before the end of the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
600,000
300,000
|
300,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 16
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
The floor have announced that three more hands will be played before the survivors bag up for the evening.
Level 16
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Heads-up on a flop of 9♥3♦7♥ with Mircea Flutur betting 15,000 from under the gun. Xin Tang was seated in the next position and made the call to see a turn.
The turn came the 7♦ and Flutur continued with a bet of 41,000. Tang thought about it briefly but chose to fold his cards and the pot went over to Flutur.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
900,000
190,000
|
190,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
340,000
455,000
|
455,000 |
Level 16
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Umberto Ruggeri raised to 16,000 under the gun and was called by the player in the next seat before Tom Verbruggen squeezed to 40,000 from the cutoff. Ozgur Arda then cold four-bet to 90,000 and the action was back on Ruggeri. Ruggeri did a bit of inventory before he five-bet shoved for 226,000. Everyone folded, apart from Arda, who made the call to put Ruggeri at risk.
Umberto Ruggeri: A♠A♦
Ozgur Arda: Q♣Q♠
Ruggeri was a dream spot to more than double up if he could fade a queen. A safe runout of 4♠6♠5♦4♣10♥ gave Ruggeri the winner, and a large portion of Arda's chips were sent over to him.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
520,000
520,000
|
520,000 |
|
|
390,000
125,000
|
125,000 |
|
185,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
Level 16
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Luke Marsh opened from middle position before Maher Achour three-bet him from the hijack. When it folded back to Marsh he four-bet to roughly 100,000, which Achour called.
WIth around 220,000 in the middle, Marsh continued with a bet of 75,000 on the 10♥5♥4♣ flop. Achour shoved for Marsh's remaining 250,000 and deliberating over the decision for quite some time, Marsh reluctantly tossed his cards into the muck.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
715,000
195,000
|
195,000 |
|
250,000
40,000
|
40,000 |
Level 16
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Level 16 has just begun, which is the final level the players will play tonight.
When this level is over, the survivors will bag up their chips ready for Day 3 tomorrow.
