After losing a chunk of chips in the first level, Pavel Nikiforov's stack is heading in the right direction after he just flipped out Nikola Cecaric.
Cecaric had his last chips in the pot preflop, and was put at risk by Nikiforov.
Nikola Cecaric: A♣J♠ 
Pavel Nikiforov: 10♥10♦
It was a classic flip., but Cecaric couldn't find a way to improve as the 7♠4♣Q♣6♥4♥ runout sent him to the rail.
Level: 2
Blinds: 100/300
Ante: 300
After a slow start, Ersen Erdal is back on track.
The action was picked up on the flop of 3♦J♥Q♣ and when it checked to Adam Graeser, he bet 800. Erdal called, as did Giulio Gallo to the 4♠ turn. It checked around again to Graeser on the button, who bet 3,000.
Erdal then shoved 8,100 from the small blind, Gallo folded, and Graeser flicked in the chips.
Ersen Erdal: A♥Q♥
Adam Graeser: Q♠10♦
The bubble boy from Day 1a was in trouble and needed to find a ten to secure an early knockout. However, he didn't find it as the 9♣ river secured the pot for Erdal.
A pot of around 30,000 had already been built between Yevhen Korynetskyi and Pavel Nikiforov on a board of 5♠2♥7♦6♣Q♥.
Nikiforov checked the river from the small blind and Korynetskyi bet 14,800, almost his whole stack. Nikiforov was in the tank and had spent so long thinking that the floor were eventually called to initiate a countdown.
There was no action by the time the clock hit zero, which meant Nikiforov's hand was dead, and Korynetskyi got a nice early boost to his stack.
Andrey Golubev opened the cutoff to 500 and Jamie Nixon three-bet the button to 1,500. Mehmed Cisic called from the big blind, and Golubev also called.
All three checked the J♣J♠8♦ flop and when it got to Nixon on the K♦ turn, he bet 1,800. Cisic called, and Golubev laid it down.
The 5♦ completed the runout and both players slowly tapped the table, prompting them to reveal the same hand. Cisic showed A♣K♥ for top pair, top kicker, and Nixon held A♥K♣ to chop up the pot.
Cards are in the air for Day 1b of the €880 Merit Poker Cup.
Level: 1
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 200
The seat draw is on the big screen and players are currently taking their seats.
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