2026 Merit Poker Montenegro Championship
Suddenly, the bubble is almost here!
A few quick eliminations saw Tommy Mokhtari, Dmitriy Reznichenko, Tommy Mokhtari, and Sebastian Szychulski all hit the rail. The latter two were knocked out in one hand by Ughur Giyasi, whose big slick held against ace-three and king-queen.
With over 30,000 in the middle on a 6♦Q♥5♠ flop, Nikolai Isaev checked the big blind and Tommy Mokhtari bet 12,000 from the cutoff. Isaev then shoved 32,000, and Mokhtari reluctantly called.
Nikolai Isaev: Q♣2♦
Tommy Mokhtari: A♣J♥
Isaev was ahead with his queen, but needed to dodge a few more outs as the J♠ hit the turn. Luckily for him, the 2♣ river improved him to two pair, earning him the double-up.
Tarik Ugural was just eliminated, and Mikhail Zavoloka is up to around 400,000!
Alexander Sokolovsky opened to 10,000 from middle position and Ali Moein three-bet to 30,000 from the cutoff. When the action got back to Sokolovsky, he called.
The flop came 6♦5♣2♦ and Sokolovsky decided to lead out for 15,000, which drew a quick fold from Moein.
On another table, Uri Reichenstein just hit the rail, bringing the field down to the final 21 players.
Level: 15
Blinds: 2,000/5,000
Ante: 5,000
Mikhail Zavoloka's stack was riding high a few levels ago, but recently his stack has been heading on a downward trajectory. However, that just changed as he eliminated Viktoria Shalneva.
The chips piled in preflop, with Shalneva at risk for her stack of around 100,000.
Viktoria Shalneva: A♦Q♥
Mikhail Zavoloka: K♦K♣
It was looking good for Zavoloka, and he took full advantage of the situation as the 8♥8♦10♠J♥6♠ runout contained no aces, which meant Shalneva hit the rail.
Christoforos Chrysochoidis opened to 8,000 from the cutoff and Yaniv Peretz defended his big blind.
They went to a flop of 5♣8♥5♥, where Peretz checked and Chrysochoidis bet 6,000. Peretz then check-raised to 21,000, which Chrysochoidis called.
A 7♣ on the turn saw Peretz shove around 40,000, and Chrysochoidis snap-called.
Yaniv Peretz: A♠8♦
Christoforos Chrysochoidis: 7♠7♦
Chrysochoidis had turned a boat, which left Peretz drawing to just two outs. Unfortunately for Peretz, the A♥ river wasn't enough to save him from the rail.
Ohad Gelerenter had his stack of around 52,000 in the middle from the button and was put at risk by Alisa Sibgatova in the big blind.
Ohad Gelerenter: A♣J♠
Alisa Sibgatova: 8♠8♥
Gelerenter had to win a flip to stay alive, but that seemed to be too much of an ask as the 10♣4♦5♦2♣2♦ runout meant he was eliminated to the pocket eights of Sibgatova.