$5,300 High Roller Day 3 | 2025 Merit Poker Western Series

01-19-2025 18:14 UTC+2

Updated Chip Counts

Tim Baker

Level 19 : Blinds 8,000/16,000, 16,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Edward Quinn	1,300,000 100,000	100,000
Ozgur Arda	1,250,000 100,000	100,000
Mehmet Demirkol	1,150,000 712,000	712,000
Bogdan Jontulovic	950,000 784,000	784,000
Ludovic Uzan	880,000 207,000	207,000
Nemo Israel	880,000 420,000	420,000
Gregoire Auzoux	820,000 380,000	380,000

Paul Runcan	720,000 370,000	370,000
Lyudmil Ivanov	700,000 343,000	343,000

Maher Achour	700,000 110,000	110,000
Mircea Flutur	600,000 180,000	180,000

Motokatsu Uhara	320,000 107,000	107,000
Arthur Thiriat	270,000 112,000	112,000
Hala Karam	250,000 91,000	91,000
Ihar Soika	225,000 31,000	31,000
Nikolay Ponomarev	170,000 21,000	21,000
Alexander Sokolovsky	150,000 123,000	123,000

Level: 20

Blinds: 10,000/20,000

Ante: 20,000

01-19-2025 18:31 UTC+2

Auzoux Busts Thiriat

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Tim Baker

Level 20 : Blinds 10,000/20,000, 20,000 ante

Arthur Thiriart raised to 40,000 under the gun before Gregoire Auzoux three-bet to 90,000 from the cutoff. When it got back to Thiriart he shoved for roughly 400,000. Auzoux snap-called.

Arthur Thiriart: 10♠10♥ All in
Gregoire Auzoux: J♠J♥

Auzoux had Thiriart pipped by one and looked likely to be sending him to the rail. A clean runout of 7♥3♦5♥K♥8♠ meant Auzoux's jacks would hold up and all of Thiriart's chips were sent over to him.

Player	Chips	Progress
Gregoire Auzoux	1,400,000 580,000	580,000

Arthur Thiriart	Busted

Tags: Arthur Thiriat Gregoire Auzoux

01-19-2025 18:36 UTC+2

Demirkol's Stack Continues to Grow

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Tim Baker

Level 20 : Blinds 10,000/20,000, 20,000 ante

Kirill Shcherbakov shoved from under the gun for 265,000 and Mehmet Demirkol called him from the small blind with the covering stack.

Kirill Shcherbakov: K♣Q♠ All in
Mehmet Demirkol: 9♥9♠

A classic flip that was crucial for Shcherbakov. The board ran out 3♥J♠6♠5♦3♣ and Demirkol won the pot with pocket nines, busting Shcherbakov.

At another table, Nikolay Ponomarev and Michel Molenaar were seen exiting the tournament and were eliminated.

Player	Chips	Progress
Mehmet Demirkol	1,450,000 300,000	300,000
Kirill Shcherbakov	Busted
Nikolay Ponomarev	Busted
Michel Molenaar	Busted

Tags: Kirill Shcherbakov Mehmet Demirkol Nikolay Ponomarev

01-19-2025 18:52 UTC+2

Tang Beats Kings With Kings

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Tim Baker

Level 20 : Blinds 10,000/20,000, 20,000 ante

Alexander Sokolovsky raised to 40,00 under the gun before Mustafa Biz three-bet to 125,000 from the next seat. Xin Tang then four-bet shoved for 325,000 out of the big, which only Biz called.

Xin Tang: K♥K♦ All in
Mustafa Biz: K♠K♣

It looked likely that they were going to chop the pot as both had pocket kings. However, the flop of 9♦9♥7♦ offered Tang a potential backdoor flush draw. The J♦ turn produced that flush draw, and when the 4♦ came on the river Tang had spiked a flush with his Cowboys, earning him the double-up.

Player	Chips	Progress
Mustafa Biz	800,000 20,000	20,000
Xin Tang	710,000 290,000	290,000
Alexander Sokolovsky	270,000 120,000	120,000

Tags: Alexander Sokolovsky Mustafa Biz Xin Tang

Level: 21

Blinds: 10,000/25,000

Ante: 25,000

01-19-2025 19:00 UTC+2

Chilaud Stays Alive

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Kai Cocklin

Level 21 : Blinds 10,000/25,000, 25,000 ante

Maxime Chilaud has his stack of a little under 200,000 in the middle and was put at risk by Gaspare Sposato.

Maxime Chilaud: A♥Q♥ All in
Gaspare Sposato: 6♣6♠

Chilaud would have been relieved to see the A♠ in the window, and it was followed by the 7♣7♠. A J♠ on the turn did give him a sweat though as Sposato picked up a flush draw, but the Q♦ river was clean, and Chilaud doubled up.

Player	Chips	Progress
Gaspare Sposato	950,000 100,000	100,000
Maxime Chilaud	400,000 84,000	84,000

Tags: Gaspare Sposato Maxime Chilaud

01-19-2025 19:04 UTC+2

Sposato Fails to Bust Stoika

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Kai Cocklin

Level 21 : Blinds 10,000/25,000, 25,000 ante

The action folded to Roman Stoika in the small blind, who shoved his stack of 155,000 into the pot. Gaspare Sposato was in the big blind and quickly called.

Roman Stoika: A♦10♠ All in
Gaspare Sposato: Q♦J♦

Stoika managed to hold on as the 3♥4♣8♣7♥10♣ runout meant his hand was best at showdown.

Player	Chips	Progress
Gaspare Sposato	775,000 175,000	175,000
Roman Stoika	335,000 35,000	35,000

Tags: Gaspare Sposato Roman Stoika

01-19-2025 19:08 UTC+2

Jontulovic Rivers a Straight to Crack Aces

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Tim Baker

Level 21 : Blinds 10,000/25,000, 25,000 ante

Aliaksandr Hirs raised to 50,000 from the cutoff and Bogdan Jontulovic called from the button.

The flop came down 9♦8♦4♥ and Hirs check-called a bet of 45,000 from Jontulovic.

The 6♣ rolled off on the turn and Hirs check-called another bet from Jontulovic, this time for 140,000.

The 7♦ hit the river and both players checked. Hirs showed aces with A♥A♦, but was second best to the rivered straight of Jontulovic with Q♥10♥.

Player	Chips	Progress
Bogdan Jontulovic	1,050,000 100,000	100,000
Aliaksandr Hirs	670,000 516,000	516,000

Tags: Aliaksandr Hirs Bogdan Jontulovic

01-19-2025 19:12 UTC+2

Uhara's Elimination Brings Around Redraw and Bubble

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Kai Cocklin

Level 21 : Blinds 10,000/25,000, 25,000 ante

Motokatsu Uhara had his remaining 350,000 in the middle and was put at risk by Ludovic Uzan.

Motokatsu Uhara: 10♥10♣ All in
Ludovic Uzan: A♠K♠

The board was quickly scooped up by the dealer, but an ace on the flop was enough to secure the pot for Uzan, and send Uhara out one away from the money.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ludovic Uzan	1,250,000 370,000	370,000
Motokatsu Uhara	Busted

Tags: Motokatsu Uhara Ludovic Uzan