$5,300 High Roller Day 2 | 2025 Merit Poker Western Series

01-18-2025 20:55 UTC+2

Matrai Gets Value With Cowboys

Tim Baker

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Roman Stoika opened to 4,000 under the gun before Andras Matrai three-bet to 12,000 from the button. Stoika put in the call.

Stoika checked after the dealer laid out a flop of A♣J♣7♥. Matrai bet 10,000 and Stoika called.

Stoika check-called another bet from Matrai when the 3♠ came on the turn, this time for 16,000.

The two players checked the 8♠ river and Stoika flipped over 7♣6♣ for a pair of sevens with a busted flush draw. Matrai had that beat with K♥K♠ for a pair of kings.

Player	Chips	Progress
Andras Matrai	130,000 39,500	39,500
Roman Stoika	115,000 30,500	30,500

Tags: Andras Matrai Roman Stoika

01-18-2025 21:07 UTC+2

Sibgatova Wins the Pot With a River Lead

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Tim Baker

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Ozgur Arda raised to 4,500 from early position with only Alisa Sibgatova defending her big blind.

A flop of 4♣Q♠A♠ came down and Sibgatova checked it over to Arda and he put out a continuation-bet of 3,000. Sibgatova carved out the call.

A board-pairing A♦ came on the turn and Sibgatova check-called a bet of 9,000 by Arda.

When the J♣ came on the river Sibgatova opted to lead out for a bet of 25,000. Arda pondered for a few moments before tossing his cards into the muck and forfeiting the pot to Sibgatova.

Player	Chips	Progress
Alisa Sibgatova	170,000 10,000	10,000
Ozgur Arda	150,000 74,000	74,000

Tags: Alisa Sibgatova Ozgur Arda

01-18-2025 21:14 UTC+2

Flutur's Double Barrel Gets the Fold

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Tim Baker

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Day 1 chip leader Mircea Flutur opened with a raised to 4,000 from early position and only Alexander Sokolovsky called him for the button.

The flop came down K♠7♦2♣ and Flutur continued with a bet of 3,000. Sokolovsky quickly called.

A 3♣ dropped on the turn and Flutur fired another bet, this time for 15,000. Sokolovsky decided to fold and surrender the pot to Flutur.

Player	Chips	Progress
Mircea Flutur	430,000 110,000	110,000

Alexander Sokolovsky	270,000 103,000	103,000

Tags: Alexander Sokolovsky Mircea Flutur

01-18-2025 21:22 UTC+2

Break Time

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Tim Baker

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Players are now on their first 15-minute break of the day.

01-18-2025 21:35 UTC+2

Add PokerNews to Your Mobile Home Screen

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Tim Baker

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

The PokerNews desktop and mobile browser websites are as feature-rich as ever, so our tech gurus have decided to call time on the PokerNews mobile app.

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Level: 11

Blinds: 1,000/2,500

Ante: 2,500

01-18-2025 21:38 UTC+2

Some Updated Chip Counts

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Tim Baker

Level 11 : Blinds 1,000/2,500, 2,500 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Mircea Flutur	825,000 395,000	395,000

Andrey Pateychuk	380,000 83,500	83,500

Motokatsu Uhara	370,000 88,500	88,500
Bogdan Jontulovic	330,000 37,000	37,000
Ludovic Uzan	320,000 100,000	100,000
Nemo Israel	310,000 23,000	23,000
Nikolay Ponomarev	300,000 143,500	143,500
Marcin Dziubdziela	290,000 61,500	61,500
Sachin Joshi	285,000 50,500	50,500
Mihai Niste	280,000 50,500	50,500
Mario Colavita	270,000 91,500	91,500
Hala Karam	265,000 177,000	177,000
Gaspare Sposato	260,000 95,500	95,500
Atilla Saracoglu	260,000 46,500	46,500
Suat Egilli	225,000 80,000	80,000
Jianfeng Sun	210,000 96,000	96,000
Tom Verbruggen	200,000 7,000	7,000

01-18-2025 21:51 UTC+2

Soika Takes From Runcan

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Tim Baker

Level 11 : Blinds 1,000/2,500, 2,500 ante

Paul Runcan raised to 5,000 from the jack and Ihar Soika three-bet to 22,000 out of the big blind. Runcan called to a flop.

Soika put out a continuation-bet of 22,500 on the 2♦2♥3♣ flop and Runcan called.

The turn came the 4♥ and Soika fired a bet of 38,000. Runcan didn't take long to fold and Soika dragged in the pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ihar Soika	190,000 190,000	190,000
Paul Runcan	185,000 111,500	111,500

Tags: Ihar Soika Paul Runcan

01-18-2025 22:03 UTC+2

Israel Continues to Chip Up

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Tim Baker

Level 11 : Blinds 1,000/2,500, 2,500 ante

Florian Duta defended his big blind to an early position raise from Nemo Israel. The two players saw a flop of J♦10♣3♣ come out and Duta check-called a bet of 7,500 from Israel.

The 4♣ turn got checked through for the 9♣ to hit the river, bringing in the fourth club on board. Duta put out a min-bet of 2,500 and Israel reluctantly called.

Duta showed second pair with A♥10♥, which couldn't beat the J♠9♠ of Israel for top pair.

Player	Chips	Progress
Nemo Israel	370,000 60,000	60,000
Florian Duta	160,000 90,000	90,000

Tags: Florian Duta Nemo Israel

01-18-2025 22:16 UTC+2

Jontulovic Gains Some Momentum

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Tim Baker

Level 11 : Blinds 1,000/2,500, 2,500 ante

Heads-up to the turn with the board showing 5♣9♦J♦6♦. Bogdan Jontulovic was first to act from the big blind and chose to put out a bet of 15,500. His opponent, in the cutoff thought for a few moments before making the call.

The two players saw the 7♥ land on the river and Jontulovic bet again, this time for 11,000. The cutoff player thought it over for quite some time before he eventually, opted to fold his cards and forfeit the pot to Jontulovic.

Player	Chips	Progress
Bogdan Jontulovic	500,000 170,000	170,000

Tags: Bogdan Jontulovic