Atilla Saracoglu Bags Day 1c Chip Lead as Main Event Grows to 327 in Montenegro

Day 1c of the €1,650 Main Event at the Merit Poker Montenegro Championship wrapped up after another busy day inside the Merit Royal Splendid Casino, as familiar faces and fresh newcomers looked to lock up a seat for tomorrow's Day 2.

The third starting flight brought in 91 more entries, taking the overall turnout to 327 entries across three flights. After nine 40-minute levels, the field was trimmed down to 50 survivors, each bagging chips and moving one step closer to the title

Turkey’s Atilla Saracoglu came out as the Day 1c chip leader, bagging 569,500 by the end of the night and was the only player to breach the half a million chip barrier. Second in the counts is Rio Nimni Ben with 438,000, some of which came near the end of the night when he backed into a wheel in a multi-way pot. Ben's value bet got paid, and this helped him surge up the counts and finish in the top three.

Day 1c Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Atilla Saracoglu	Turkey	569,500	228
2	Rio Nimni Ben	Israel	438,000	175
3	Bogdan Jontulovic	Serbia	419,500	168
4	Milos Miskovic	Serbia	382,500	153
5	Edmond Jahjaga	Kosovo	335,000	134
6	Adam Graeser	Hungary	324,000	130
7	Senadin Cosic	Bosnia and Herzegovina	292,000	117
8	Predrag Premovic	Serbia	284,500	114
9	Aleksandar Tomovic	Serbia	270,000	108
10	Dalibor Bua	Canada	262,000	105

Coming in third on the leaderboard and well worth a mention is Bogdan Jontulovic of Serbia with 438,000. Jontulovic came close to capturing a Main Event title back in 2024 during the Gatsby Series in Northern Cyprus, where he finished runner-up for a career-best score of $211,400.

He added to his stack late in the day after picking up pocket aces to eliminate Amir Saeid in the penultimate level of the night, a significant pot that helped him bag a healthy amount heading into Day 2.

The day got off to an action-packed start after Nemanja Tatar got his fresh starting stack into the middle with a royal flush draw against Bulent Sahin’s top pair. Tatar bricked the rest of the runout and was the first player to head to the rail, prompting Sahin to confess his love to the dealer, stand up, and give the poker room a brief celebratory dance.

Tatar would get his revenge a few hours later, however, when he picked up pocket aces and sent Sahin packing after Sahin woke up with queens. Milos Miskovic also enjoyed a successful session, making it through the day with a top-four stack of 382,500. Miskovic correctly called Vedat Yilmaz down over two streets with just third pair in a huge pot, leaving Yilmaz shaking his head in disbelief.

Some other notables who bagged chips for Day 2 include bracelet winner Edmond Jahjaga (335,000), Tatar (235,500), Giulio Gallo (224,000), and Jean-Baptiste Pano (163,500). Also advancing were Merit Poker Cup fifth-place finisher Mikhail Zavoloka (117,000), Merit serial casher Chady Ojeil (96,500), and Zhicheng Miao (38,000), who, despite doubling up in the final level of the day, returns near the bottom of the chip counts.

With Day 1c complete, the focus now shifts to Day 1d, which is already underway and is the final opportunity for players to build a stack before Day 2 begins. Late registration remains open until the end of Level 14 on Day 2, giving latecomers a chance to take their shot before the field size and prize pool are finalized.

The remaining players from all four opening flights will converge for the first time on Thursday, January 22, at noon local time. Play will resume at Level 10, with blinds expected to be 1,000/2,500 and a 2,500 big blind ante. The plan for the day will be announced shortly after cards are in the air.