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

01-23-2026 15:58 UTC+2

Kyte's Relentless Aggression Earns Him the Pot

Tim Baker

Level 20 : Blinds 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante

Vladas Burneikis raised to 26,000 from the cutoff and Jon Kyte three-bet to roughly 86,000 from the small blind. Burneikis called to see a flop.

Kyte continued for 80,000 on the 10♠9♠3♣ flop, and was instantly called by Burneikis.

A 10♥ on the turn saw Kyte fire a second barrel on 180,000. Again, Burneikis quickly called.

The Q♦ fell on the river, and Kyte unloaded the chamber, firing the third and final barrel, putting Burneikis to the test for his remaining 246,000.

For the first time in the hand, Burneikis didn't act so quickly. After over a minute, Burneikis folded Q♠J♠ for a flopped straight flush draw that rivered top pair.

Kyte returned his cards to the dealer and scooped in the pot, increasing his stack to over 1,500,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jon Kyte	1,550,000 450,000	450,000

Vladas Burneikis	246,000 194,000	194,000

Tags: Jon Kyte Vladas Burneikis

01-23-2026 15:51 UTC+2

Isaev Damages Miao

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Kai Cocklin

Level 20 : Blinds 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante

Nikolai Isaev opened from early position and Zhicheng Miao defended his big blind.

The flop came Q♥5♥A♦ and Miao check-called a bet of 26,000 from Isaev to the 7♦ turn. Again Miao checked, and again he called a bet after Isaev bet 80,000.

The 8♥ on the river brought in the front door flush draw, and both players quickly tapped the table. Miao showed Q♦3♦ for a pair of queens that missed a flush draw, but that was no good against the A♠K♥ of Isaev, who had top pair.

Player	Chips	Progress
Nikolai Isaev	1,400,000 300,000	300,000

Zhicheng Miao	285,000 105,000	105,000

Tags: Nikolai Isaev Zhicheng Miao

01-23-2026 15:44 UTC+2

Markachev Backdoors a Flush on Ushe

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Tim Baker

Level 20 : Blinds 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante

Heads-up to a flop of 7♠2♦10♣ and with around 65,000 in the pot. Dorjan Ushe checked from the big blind, and Anton Markachev bet 36,000 from under the gun. Ushe check-raised to 106,000, and Markachev called.

A J♦ came on the turn and both players checked to see the 10♦ complete the board. Ushe bet 56,000 and was met by a raise to 150,000 from Markachev.

Ushe deliberated for quite some time before opting to make the call. Markachev turned over a backdoor flush with A♦3♦, and Ushe was forced to muck.

Player	Chips	Progress
Anton Markachev	1,450,000
Dorjan Ushe	350,000

Tags: Anton Markachev Dorjan Ushe

01-23-2026 15:37 UTC+2

Shchukin Pressures Mokhtari

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Kai Cocklin

Level 20 : Blinds 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante

Tommy Mokhtari opened middle position to 25,000 and Oleksii Shchukin three-bet the big blind to 80,000. Mokhtari called,

The flop came 10♥J♣4♦ and Shchukin wasted no time in putting out a continuation-bet of 75,000, which Mokhtari called pretty quickly.

When the 7♣ landed on the turn, Shchukin shoved, putting Mokhtari to the test for his remaining stack of just under 400,000. After around thirty seconds, Mokhtari let it go.

Player	Chips	Progress
Oleksii Shchukin	875,000 175,000	175,000
Tommy Mokhtari	375,000 150,000	150,000

Tags: Oleksii Shchukin Tommy Mokhtari

Level: 20

Blinds: 6,000/12,000

Ante: 12,000

01-23-2026 15:22 UTC+2

Updated Chip Counts

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Tim Baker

Level 19 : Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Ruslan Kulibaba	2,210,000 210,000	210,000
Aleksandar Tomovic	1,500,000 967,000	967,000
Anton Markachev	1,200,000 184,000	184,000
Aleksandar Tot	1,200,000 380,000	380,000
Nazar Buhaiov	1,125,000 25,000	25,000
Paul Esau	1,100,000 300,000	300,000

Jon Kyte	1,100,000

Nikolai Isaev	1,100,000 50,000	50,000

Milos Miskovic	1,000,000 100,000	100,000
Bogdan Jontulovic	1,000,000 400,000	400,000
Vladimir Lappo	1,000,000 130,000	130,000
Ori Kain	1,000,000 404,000	404,000
Grigoli Liklikadze	975,000 175,000	175,000
Farbod Nazari	950,000 100,000	100,000
Giorgiy Skhulukhiya	945,000 5,000	5,000
Valentin Ghioca	890,000 601,000	601,000
Andrey Litvinov	890,000 116,000	116,000
Pasquale Di Ceglie	800,000 220,000	220,000
Rio Nimni Ben	725,000 445,000	445,000
Eric Sands	700,000 511,000	511,000
Oleksii Shchukin	700,000 125,000	125,000
Navot Golan	690,000 160,000	160,000
Dani Rashed	640,000 65,000	65,000
Mazalahedwa Bako	625,000 75,000	75,000
Nver Maryanyan	615,000 345,000	345,000

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01-23-2026 15:09 UTC+2

Break Time

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Kai Cocklin

Level 19 : Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante

Players are on a 15-minute break.

01-23-2026 15:05 UTC+2

Pano Sends Kyte a Friendly Warning

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Tim Baker

Level 19 : Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante

From under the gun, Jean-Baptiste Pano made it 20,000 to go and was three-bet to 65,000 by Jon Kyte in the next position. Pano elected to call when it folded back to him.

Pano started with a check on the 4♥7♥9♥ flop, and Kyte bet 50,000. Pano decided to check-raise to 140,000, which didn't scare off Kyte as he three-bet to 250,000. After thinking it over, Pano reluctantly folded and joked to Kyte,

"Don't mess around too much with me, my friend. That was close."

Kyte smiled and said, "I wish it were closer."

Player	Chips	Progress
Jon Kyte	1,100,000

Jean-Baptiste Pano	570,000
Paul Grummitt	125,000

Tags: Jean-Baptiste Pano Jon Kyte

01-23-2026 15:00 UTC+2

Sibgatova Smacks a Seven to Survive

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Kai Cocklin

Level 19 : Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante

Alisa Sibgatova was up on her feet ready to walk out the door, but the deck saved her from elimination.

Evgeny Ivanov raised to 20,000 from the hijack and then called the button shove of Alisa Sibgatova. who moved all in for 134,000.

Alisa Sibgatova: 7♦7♣ All in
Evgeny Ivanov: Q♠Q♣

Sibgatova stood up in preparation for her departure, but stopped in her tracks when the 7♠10♠J♥ flop gave her a set. Ivanov needed a queen to spoil the party, but the 2♥A♠ runout meant Sibgatova secured the pot to stay alive.