button in Safari
€2,750 High Roller
Day 1 Completed
2026 Merit Poker Montenegro Championship
€2,750 High Roller
Day: 1
Event Info
2026 Merit Poker Montenegro Championship
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1
Buy-in
€2,750
Prize Pool
€294,400
Total Entries
128
Level
27
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
100,000
Entries
86
Players Left
51
Players Left 1 / 128
Filter
Level 8
: Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante
Day 1 of the €2,750 High Roller, featuring an expected prize pool of €200,000, played out today at the Merit Royal Splendid Casino in Budva as part of the 2026 Merit Poker Montenegro Championship. So far, the event has attracted 86 entries, where only 51 managed to find a bag at the of the night.
After eight 40-minute levels, Montenegro's own Nemanja Tatar ended atop of the chip counts, after he bagged 628,500. Sitting close behind as the only other player to surpass the 600,000 mark is IIlia Petrytsia, who finished the day with 615,500. Nazar Buhaiov rounds out the top three with 471,000, and all three players are well-positioned heading into Day 2.
Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nemanja Tatar | Montenegro | 628,500 | 419 |
| 2 | Illia Petrytsia | Ukraine | 615,500 | 410 |
| 3 | Nazar Buhaiov | Ukraine | 471,000 | 314 |
| 4 | Sadik Alibeyoglu | Turkey | 364,500 | 243 |
| 5 | Bobby James | United Kingdom | 355,000 | 237 |
| 6 | Nikolay Ivanov | Bulgaria | 351,000 | 234 |
| 7 | Sergey Kudryavtsev | Russia | 303,500 | 202 |
| 8 | Alain Hajj | Lebanon | 286,500 | 191 |
| 9 | Tommy Mokhtari | Sweden | 278,000 | 185 |
| 10 | Nikolay Ponomarev | United Kingdom | 271,000 | 181 |
A lot of Petrytsia’s stack was gained during the penultimate level of the night when he sent Antoine Hasbani home. Hasbani moved all in for roughly the size of the pot on the river, and Petrytsia called. While Hasbani tabled top pair top kicker, Petrytsia revealed pocket aces. With that pot sent his way, Petrytsia moved up the chip counts and remained there until the end of the day.
Also making it through with a top ten stack is Bobby James of the United Kingdom, who has enjoyed a strong start to the festival. After finishing 14th in the Merit Poker Cup, James wasted little time jumping into the High Roller. He built his stack early after getting paid off with top two pair, then navigated the rest of the day comfortably, bagging 355,000 chips.
The end of the day proved profitable for Russia’s Sergey Kudryavtsev, who found himself on the right side of a classic cooler. Kudryavtsev held pocket aces against the pocket kings of Stojan Vazic, and after a clean runout, his stack climbed to more than 200 big blinds with only a few hands remaining in the day. Also finishing inside the top ten were Alain Hajj (286,500) and Nikolay Ponomarev (271,000).
Some other notables who survived the Day 1 field include three-time bracelet winner Timur Margolin (257,000), Sebastian Szychulski (234,000), Merit Poker regular Chady Ojeil (177,000), Alexander Lakhov (172,500), two-time bracelet winner Blaz Zerjav (153,500), Uri Reichenstein (135,000), Jon Kyte (78,000), and Alisa Sibgatova (48,000).
Day 2 resumes at 5 p.m. local time on Sunday, January 18, with blinds at 1,000/1,500 and a 1,500 big blind ante. Players may reenter an unlimited number of times until the end of Level 12, giving them more chances to join the growing field. The schedule for Day 2 will be confirmed shortly after play begins.
Remaining €2,750 High Roller Schedule
| Day | Date | Time | Blind Levels |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 2 | January 18 | 5 p.m. | 40 minutes |
| Day 3 | January 19 | 1 p.m. | 40 minutes |
Be sure to follow PokerNews as Day 2 gets underway to see who continues their run toward one of the biggest prizes of the series.
Level 8
: Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
628,500
328,500
|
328,500 |
|
||
|
615,500
155,500
|
155,500 |
|
471,000
351,000
|
351,000 |
|
364,500
364,500
|
364,500 |
|
355,000
125,000
|
125,000 |
|
351,000
351,000
|
351,000 |
|
303,500
31,500
|
31,500 |
|
286,500
3,500
|
3,500 |
|
278,000
178,000
|
178,000 |
|
271,000
21,000
|
21,000 |
|
257,000
107,000
|
107,000 |
|
||
|
254,000
164,000
|
164,000 |
|
234,000
46,000
|
46,000 |
|
233,500
33,500
|
33,500 |
|
230,000
230,000
|
230,000 |
|
220,000
220,000
|
220,000 |
|
||
|
214,000
214,000
|
214,000 |
|
186,500
186,500
|
186,500 |
|
180,500
180,500
|
180,500 |
|
178,000
178,000
|
178,000 |
|
177,000
42,000
|
42,000 |
|
172,500
22,500
|
22,500 |
|
||
|
153,500
16,500
|
16,500 |
|
||
|
150,000
150,000
|
150,000 |
|
147,000
57,000
|
57,000 |
Level 8
: Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante
The remaining 51 players are bagging up their chips as play has been completed for Day 1.
Stay tuned for full chip counts and a recap of the day's action.
Level 8
: Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante
On one of the last hands of the evening, Sergey Kudryavtsev and Stojan Vazic just got all of their chips into the middle preflop with Kudryavtsev being the one at risk for his stack of 165,700.
Sergey Kudryavtsev: A♠A♥ 
Stojan Vazic: K♣K♠
Kudryavtsev was the right end of poker's most classic cooler, and just needed to fade a king on the runout to have the perfect ending to his Day 1.
A clean runout of 9♥8♥6♥10♣2♣ came out for Kudryavtsev's bullets and he scored the massive double-up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
335,000 | |
|
130,000
80,000
|
80,000 |
Level 8
: Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante
The floor staff have announced that there will be four more hands before the players bag up their chips for Day 1.
Level 8
: Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante
Heads-up to a flop of Q♥4♠9♠ where Stojan Vazic decided to fire out a bet of 10,000 from the small blind. Bora Kurtulus made the call from the hijack.
A 9♥ on the turn didn't slow Vazic down as he led out again, this time for 30,000. Kurtulus took a few moments before making the call.
Check, check came after the 3♦ river and Vazic took down the pot with K♣Q♦ for a pair of queens.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
210,000
90,000
|
90,000 |
|
60,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Level 8
: Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante
IIlia Petrytsia raised to 3,000 on the button before Alain Hajj three-bet to 15,000 out of the small blind. The big blind cold-called and Petrytsia folded.
The two players checked the 9♣8♠J♣ flop to see the J♦ roll off on the turn. Hajj decided to make a delayed continuation-bet of 15,000, which his opponent called.
A 5♦ completed the runout and Hajj threw out a bet of 52,000. After over two minutes of tanking, the big blind player made the call for the majority of his stack.
Hajj showed the goods with A♦J♥ for trips, and his opponent mucked his cards.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
460,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
|
290,000
70,000
|
70,000 |
Level 8
: Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante
Life Outside Poker is a podcast for PokerNews hosted by Connor Richards that seeks to pull back the curtain on poker players and allow viewers and listeners to get to know them on a personal level.
In the 35th episode, Connor talks with No Filter Poker Series founder Mounir Tajiou about growing up in Sweden, working as a high court judge, playing professional soccer, making a deep run in the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, and the new No Filter Poker Series, which values fun at the table over poker strategy.
We also hear from 1998 Main Event champion Scotty Nguyen, reigning WSOP champ Michael Mizrachi and Finnish poker legend Juha Helppi about their involvement with the No Filter Poker tour.
Level: 8
Blinds: 1,000/1,500
Ante: 1,500
