2026 Merit Poker Montenegro Championship
Level: 22
Blinds: 10,000/20,000
Ante: 20,000
The remaining players are now on a 15-minute break.
Rio Nimni Ben was all-in at risk preflop and it was Nikolay Fal with the covering stack who had the chance to send him home.
Rio Nimni Ben: 10♠10♥
Nikolay Fal: A♥K♣
It was a classic flip between Ben's pocket pair and Fal's big slick.
Fal managed to win the 50/50 as the board ran out 9♦7♣6♦K♦ to give him the best hand with a pair of kings on the river.
Fal was up to over a million, and Ben was the newest addition to the rail.
Erdal Gulseven shoved for almost 200,000 from under the gun, and Nikolay Fal called from the next seat.
Erdal Gulseven: A♦9♦
Nikolay Fal: A♠Q♣
Gulseven was behind, but did find a lot more outs on the 2♦4♦10♠ flop when he picked up a flush draw. Unfortunately for Gulseven, that was the last good news he had in the hand as the 6♠10♣ runout sent him to the rail.
Martin Brinkmann got his short stack of around 200,000 into the middle preflop, with Navot Golan trying to bust him.
Martin Brinkmann: 10♥10♦
Navot Golan: Q♦Q♠
Brinkmann was crushed by Golan's higher pocket pair and needed some help on the runout to survive.
It didn't come on the 7♦Q♥8♦ flop as Golan improved to top set. Brinkmann was drawing dead after the 3♣ turn as the J♣ river was just a necessity.
Igor Abelmasov raised to 30,000 from the hijack and Danilo Razic called on the button.
Abelmasov bet 27,000 upon seeing the 3♠4♦8♥ flop, which was called by Razic.
Abelmasov bet again on the 2♠ turn, this time for 95,000. Razic continued in the form of a call.
A K♦ completed the board, and Abelmasov bet for the final time, choosing the amount of 133,000. Razic did some inventory of his stack, pondered for a while, and then decided to call.
Abelmasov flipped over Q♥Q♣ for a pair of queens, resulting in a nod from Razic indicating they were good, and the pot went over to Abelmasov.
Milos Todorovic opened to 30,000 from under the gun and Mikhail Zavoloka shoved around 200,000 from middle position. Sergey Kudryavtsev was in the small blind and called off his stack of around 100,000, and Todorovic ultimately decided to let it go.
Sergey Kudryavtsev: 8♥8♣
Mikhail Zavoloka: 10♠10♦
Kudryavtsev had a lot of work to do with his pocket eights, but no progress was made on the Q♥9♦K♣ flop. A 7♠ on the turn left Kudryavtsev with one shot at two outs, but the river didn't deliver as the K♠ meant he was out.