€1,650 Main Event Day 3 | 2026 Merit Poker Montenegro Championship

01-23-2026 17:58 UTC+2

Updated Chip Counts

Tim Baker

Level 22 : Blinds 10,000/20,000, 20,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Giorgiy Skhulukhiya	2,130,000 630,000	630,000
Nikolay Fal	2,060,000 740,000	740,000

Aleksandar Tomovic	2,000,000 500,000	500,000
Anton Markachev	1,850,000 400,000	400,000
Nazar Buhaiov	1,700,000 100,000	100,000
Jon Kyte	1,600,000 100,000	100,000

Navot Golan	1,500,000 50,000	50,000
Eric Sands	1,350,000 650,000	650,000
Ruslan Kulibaba	1,350,000 250,000	250,000
Ori Kain	1,300,000 300,000	300,000
Milos Miskovic	1,300,000 200,000	200,000
Paul Esau	1,200,000 480,000	480,000

Igor Abelmasov	1,200,000 200,000	200,000
Timur Margolin	1,000,000 200,000	200,000

Aleksandar Tot	975,000 225,000	225,000
Bogdan Jontulovic	900,000 40,000	40,000
Bljerim Imeri	900,000 515,000	515,000
Vladimir Lappo	900,000 100,000	100,000
Antoine Hasbani	850,000
Mohamed Ameur Hammi	840,000 290,000	290,000
Ufuk Erkmen	825,000 400,000	400,000
Grigoli Liklikadze	790,000 40,000	40,000
Oleksii Shchukin	770,000 110,000	110,000
Milos Todorovic	750,000 200,000	200,000
Andrey Litvinov	740,000 80,000	80,000

Read full

Level: 22

Blinds: 10,000/20,000

Ante: 20,000

01-23-2026 17:36 UTC+2

Break Time

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Tim Baker

Level 21 : Blinds 10,000/15,000, 15,000 ante

The remaining players are now on a 15-minute break.

01-23-2026 17:27 UTC+2

Ben is the Next to Fall

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Tim Baker

Level 21 : Blinds 10,000/15,000, 15,000 ante

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♥ All in
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.

Player	Chips	Progress
Nikolay Fal	1,320,000 420,000	420,000

Pasquale Di Ceglie	1,100,000 300,000	300,000
Bogdan Jontulovic	940,000 260,000	260,000
Paul Esau	720,000 280,000	280,000

Rio Nimni Ben	Busted

Tags: Nikolay Fal Rio Nimni Ben

01-23-2026 17:22 UTC+2

Player	Chips	Progress
Sadik Alibeyoglu	Busted
Salim Usmanov	Busted
Vladas Burneikis	Busted
Jean-Baptiste Pano	Busted
Besiana Antoni	Busted
Evgeny Ivanov	Busted
Alisa Sibgatova	Busted
Yaniv Peretz	Busted
Amir Hassan	Busted
Gabi Livshitz	Busted

Paul Grummitt	Busted

Gulseven Gone as Fal Chips Up

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Kai Cocklin

Level 21 : Blinds 10,000/15,000, 15,000 ante

Erdal Gulseven shoved for almost 200,000 from under the gun, and Nikolay Fal called from the next seat.

Erdal Gulseven: A♦9♦ All in
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.

Player	Chips	Progress
Nikolay Fal	900,000 200,000	200,000

Erdal Gulseven	Busted

Tags: Erdal Gulseven Nikolay Fal

01-23-2026 17:14 UTC+2

Brinkmann's Main Event Comes to an End

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Tim Baker

Level 21 : Blinds 10,000/15,000, 15,000 ante

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♦ All in
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.

Player	Chips	Progress
Navot Golan	1,550,000 860,000	860,000
Martin Brinkmann	Busted

Tags: Martin Brinkmann Navot Golan

01-23-2026 17:02 UTC+2

A Round of Counts

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Kai Cocklin

Level 21 : Blinds 10,000/15,000, 15,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Nazar Buhaiov	1,600,000 475,000	475,000
Ruslan Kulibaba	1,600,000 610,000	610,000
Jon Kyte	1,500,000 50,000	50,000

Giorgiy Skhulukhiya	1,500,000 555,000	555,000
Nikolai Isaev	1,350,000 50,000	50,000

Bogdan Jontulovic	1,200,000 200,000	200,000
Timur Margolin	1,200,000 620,000	620,000

Milos Miskovic	1,100,000 150,000	150,000
Paul Esau	1,000,000 100,000	100,000

Ori Kain	1,000,000
Igor Abelmasov	1,000,000
Farbod Nazari	900,000 50,000	50,000
Nikolay Fal	700,000 100,000	100,000

Andrey Litvinov	660,000 230,000	230,000
Martin Brinkmann	230,000 70,000	70,000

01-23-2026 17:02 UTC+2

Abelmasov Gets Three Streets of Value From Razic

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Tim Baker

Level 21 : Blinds 10,000/15,000, 15,000 ante

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.

Player	Chips	Progress
Igor Abelmasov	1,000,000 440,000	440,000
Dani Rashed	490,000 150,000	150,000
Mikhail Zavoloka	400,000 25,000	25,000
Danilo Razic	300,000 90,000	90,000

Tags: Danilo Razic Igor Abelmasov

01-23-2026 16:52 UTC+2

Kudryavtsev Felted by Zavoloka

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Kai Cocklin

Level 21 : Blinds 10,000/15,000, 15,000 ante

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♣ All in
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.