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

01-23-2026 14:48 UTC+2

Hassan Strikes Back

Kai Cocklin

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

Amir Hassan, who was down to around 15 big blinds not so long ago, is surging back into contention.

The action was picked up with Hassan all in preflop from the big blind for 210,000, which Yevhen Korynetskyi had called from the button.

Amir Hassan: 6♦6♣ All in
Yevhen Korynetskyi: A♥Q♥

Hassan was ahead with pocket sixes, but had a lot of fading to do as the 2♣10♥3♥ flop gave Korynetskyi a flush draw to go along with his two overs.

An 8♦ on the turn was clean for Hassan, as was the 10♦ river, which meant he managed to survive and doubled up to around 450,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Yevhen Korynetskyi	600,000 200,000	200,000
Amir Hassan	450,000 310,000	310,000

Tags: Amir Hassan Yevhen Korynetskyi

01-23-2026 14:42 UTC+2

Hammi Takes All of Cosic's Stack With Aces

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Tim Baker

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

Senadin Cosic was getting up out of his seat and preparing to leave, as all of the chips had gotten into the middle at some point against Mohamed Ameur Hammi.

The board showed Q♦3♠A♠2♣5♣ and Hammi held A♣A♥ for a flopped set, which won him the hand. After the chips were counted, Hammi had slightly more, which meant Cosic was out.

Player	Chips	Progress
Mohamed Ameur Hammi	700,000 374,000	374,000
Senadin Cosic	Busted

Tags: Mohamed Ameur Hammi Senadin Cosic

01-23-2026 14:34 UTC+2

Liu Falls to Liklikadze

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Kai Cocklin

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

Zhengpeng Liu shoved for 121,000 from the cutoff and was called by Grigoli Liklikadze on the button.

Zhengpeng Liu: A♠8♣ All in
Grigoli Liklikadze: A♦K♦

Liu was behind with an inferior kicker, and stayed in the back seat throughout the 5♠6♦10♥10♣J♣ runout, which ended his run in the Main Event.

Player	Chips	Progress
Grigoli Liklikadze	800,000 200,000	200,000
Zhengpeng Liu	Busted

Tags: Grigoli Liklikadze Zhengpeng Liu

01-23-2026 14:32 UTC+2

M'hiri Runs Into Cowboys

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Tim Baker

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

Chakib M'hiri got the remainder of his stack into the middle preflop with Farbod Nazari being the Player to try and bust him.

Chakib M'hiri: 8♦8♥ All in
Farbod Nazari: K♣K♥

M'hiri needed a date with an eight to have a chance of making the money.

Unfortunately for M'hiri, he didn't improve on the 7♠6♥7♥3♠K♦ runout as Nazari rivered an unnecessary full house.

M'hiri hit the rail and the pot headed over to Nazari.

Player	Chips	Progress
Farbod Nazari	850,000 468,000	468,000
Chakib M'hiri	Busted

Tags: Chakib M'hiri Farbod Nazari

01-23-2026 14:26 UTC+2

Golan Cracks Aces; Abudavas Departs

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Tim Baker

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

Rio Nimni Ben raised to 20,000 from under the gun and Basem Abudavas three-bet to 75,000 from the hijack. Navot Golan four-bet ripped it for 422,000 from the button, and after Ben folded, Abudavas called for the majority of his stack.

Navot Golan: K♠K♥ All in
Basem Abudavas: A♦A♣

It was poker's classic preflop cooler, aces versus kings, and Golan looked very likely to be the newest addition to the rail.

A low flop of 8♥4♥2♣ offered Golan no help, and neither did the 7♣ turn. Golan needed to find a two-outer on the river to stay in the tournament.

The dealer burned a card, then peeled off the K♣ on the river to give Golan exactly what he needed. Golan doubled to around 850,000, and Abudavas was left with under ten big blinds.

Abudavas couldn't recover and was eliminated a short while later.

Player	Chips	Progress
Navot Golan	850,000 460,000	460,000
Rio Nimni Ben	280,000 88,000	88,000
Basem Abudavas	Busted

Tags: Basem Abudavas Navot Golan Rio Nimni Ben

01-23-2026 14:25 UTC+2

Selected Chip Counts

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Kai Cocklin

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

Player	Chips	Progress
Ruslan Kulibaba	2,000,000 375,000	375,000
Paul Esau	1,400,000 100,000	100,000

Nazar Buhaiov	1,100,000
Milos Miskovic	1,100,000 259,000	259,000
Giorgiy Skhulukhiya	940,000 137,000	137,000
Vladimir Lappo	870,000 205,000	205,000
Jean-Baptiste Pano	850,000 61,000	61,000
Aleksandar Tot	820,000 285,000	285,000
Yevhen Korynetskyi	800,000 258,000	258,000
Antoine Hasbani	800,000 12,000	12,000
Jon Kyte	700,000

Mazalahedwa Bako	700,000 208,000	208,000
Martin Brinkmann	600,000 149,000	149,000
Bogdan Jontulovic	600,000 300,000	300,000
Atilla Saracoglu	500,000 79,000	79,000

Andrei Daniliuk	500,000 104,000	104,000
Pablo Redrado	400,000 50,000	50,000
Yaniv Peretz	350,000 46,000	46,000
Mikhail Zavoloka	200,000 65,000	65,000
Lennart Beumelburg	180,000 40,000	40,000

Level: 19

Blinds: 5,000/10,000

Ante: 10,000

01-23-2026 14:10 UTC+2

Premovic Flops Kings Full; Hassan Down Heaps

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Kai Cocklin

Level 18 : Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante

It's not been a great start to Day 3 for Amir Hassan.

Predrag Premovic opened from middle position and Oleksii Shchukin called in the cutoff. Hassan called on the button, and Davor Mudric also came along from the big blind.

On the 10♠K♠10♦ flop, it checked to Hassan, who bet 37,000. Only Premovic called to the A♠ turn, where both players checked.

A J♠ on the river put four to a royal flush on board, and Premovic bet 33,000. Hassan raised to 105,000, and Premovic snap-called.

Premovic then showed 10♥9♣ for trips, but that was no good as Premovic had a full house with K♥K♦ to win the pot.

No royal flush...yet!

Player	Chips	Progress
Davor Mudric	600,000 27,000	27,000
Predrag Premovic	600,000 85,000	85,000
Oleksii Shchukin	575,000 33,000	33,000
Tommy Mokhtari	375,000 39,000	39,000
Amir Hassan	140,000 417,000	417,000

Tags: Amir Hassan Davor Mudric Oleksii Shchukin Predrag Premovic

01-23-2026 14:06 UTC+2

Some Day 3 Eliminations

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Tim Baker

Level 18 : Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Bobby James	Busted
Christoforos Chrysochoidis	Busted
Oleg Bystrenin	Busted
Nemanja Tatar	Busted
Nataliya Iakovleva	Busted
Cihan Abdurrezzak	Busted

01-23-2026 14:03 UTC+2

Fal Folds to Di Ceglie's Aggression

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Tim Baker

Level 18 : Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante

Nikolay Fal made it 16,000 from the hijack and Pasquale Di Ceglie defended his big blind.

Di Ceglie checked on the A♥Q♦10♣ flop, and Fal quickly bet 18,000. Di Ceglie didn't take long to check-raise to 52,000, sending Fal into the tank.

After around a minute, Fal folded and allowed Di Ceglie to pull in the pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Paul Esau	1,500,000 223,000	223,000

Nazar Buhaiov	1,100,000 282,000	282,000
Pasquale Di Ceglie	580,000 80,000	80,000
Erdal Gulseven	570,000 70,000	70,000
Nikolay Fal	455,000 169,000	169,000

Tags: Nikolay Fal Pasquale Di Ceglie