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!
