€2,750 High Roller Day 1 | 2026 Merit Poker Montenegro Championship

Player	Chips	Progress
Giorgiy Skhulukhiya	100,000 100,000	100,000
Pablo Redrado	100,000 100,000	100,000
Miroslav Forman	100,000 100,000	100,000
Nikola Radevic	100,000 100,000	100,000
Tommy Mokhtari	100,000 100,000	100,000
Chady Ojeil	100,000
Petr Rudnev	100,000 100,000	100,000
Nikolay Ponomarev	100,000 100,000	100,000
Milos Miskovic	100,000 100,000	100,000
Andrey Golubev	100,000 100,000	100,000
Davor Pistalo	100,000 100,000	100,000

Stojan Vazic	100,000 100,000	100,000
Nazar Buhaiov	100,000 100,000	100,000
Alain Hajj	100,000 100,000	100,000
Blaz Zerjav	100,000 100,000	100,000

Jon Kyte	100,000 100,000	100,000
Alexander Lakhov	100,000 100,000	100,000

Adam Graeser	100,000 100,000	100,000
Illia Petrytsia	100,000 100,000	100,000
Antoine Hasbani	100,000 100,000	100,000
Dmytro Tulin	100,000 100,000	100,000
Stefan Cupic	100,000 100,000	100,000
Bobby James	100,000 100,000	100,000
Paul Esau	100,000 100,000	100,000
Uri Reichenstein	100,000 100,000	100,000

Player

Chips

Progress

100,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

Jon Kyte

100,000

Alexander Lakhov

100,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

The €2,750 High Roller gets underway this evening at 7 p.m. local time inside the Merit Royal Splendid Casino, as the 2026 Merit Poker Montenegro Championship continues in Budva. The three-day tournament is the largest buy-in event of the series, bringing the festival’s high stakes action to the forefront.

One of the flagship events on the schedule, the High Roller is expected to produce a €200,000 prize pool and attract an international field. The tournament will be played with 40-minute blind levels throughout, with late registration remaining open until the end of Level 12.

The most recent Merit Poker High Roller was held during the 2025 Merit Poker Dolce Vita Series, where Cedric Schwaederle topped a 318 entry field to win the largest-ever Merit Poker High Roller for $310,000. Schwaederle defeated Mohamed El-Wely heads up, with Aren Bezhanyan finishing in third place, providing a recent example of what to expect in Merit Poker High Rollers.

2025 Merit Poker Dolce Vita Series Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Cedric Schwaederle	France	$310,000
2	Mohamed El-Wely	Mauritania	$216,500
3	Aren Bezhanyan	Armenia	$155,000
4	Xuming Qi	China	$111,000
5	Adrian State	Romania	$81,000
6	Salah Assi	France	$60,500
7	Mehmet Demirkol	Turkey	$45,700
8	Sakis Adrianopoulos	Greece	$35,000
9	Roman Pshyk	Ukraine	$27,500

The €2,750 High Roller follows a three-day structure with 40-minute blind levels throughout, and players start with 100,000 chips. The official Day 1 schedule will be announced shortly after cards get in the air, but if it follows the same format as previous Merit Poker High Rollers, the opening day is expected to play eight levels before players bag up for the night.

€2,750 High Roller Schedule

Day	Date	Time	Blind Levels
Day 1	January 17	7 p.m.	40 minutes
Day 2	January 18	5 p.m.	40 minutes
Day 3	January 19	1 p.m.	40 minutes

Stay tuned to PokerNews for full live coverage of the €2,750 High Roller, including chip counts and updates throughout the tournament as play unfolds in Budva.

Tags: Adrian State Aren Bezhanyan Cedric Schwaederle Mehmet Demirkol Mohamed El-Wely Roman Pshyk Salah Assi Xuming Qi