Manuel Fritz Among Chasing Pack as 13 Advance to Main Event Final Day

After ten levels of play inside the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa, the start-of-day field of 113 players in the $5,500 Merit Poker Main Event has been reduced to just 13.

The flagship event of the 2026 NOIR Poker Series drew a field of 769 entries, creating a prize pool of $3,608,148. Shortly after play began, the payouts were announced, revealing that the remaining players were now chasing a top prize of $525,000, alongside the coveted Main Event title.

Returning to the final day closest to that target are two players who prefer to remain anonymous. They were also the only two players to end the day with eight-figure stacks. 'Kenar' ended the day holding onto the overnight chip lead with 15,050,000, while 'Tarzan' sits close behind on 12,800,000.

Completing the podium is high-stakes regular Manuel Fritz. Boasting close to $7,000,000 in lifetime earnings, according to The Hendon Mob, the Austrian sits well within striking distance of the two chip leaders, with 8,775,000 chips, worth 44 big blinds, when play resumes.

Main Event Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Kenar	Turkey	15,050,000	75
2	Tarzan	San Marino	12,800,000	64
3	Manuel Fritz	Austria	8,775,000	44
4	Miroslav Rizov	Bulgaria	7,050,000	35
5	Anton Danilov	Russian Federation	6,200,000	31
6	Fabian Gumz	Germany	5,700,000	29
7	Aleksei Gortikov	Russian Federation	4,925,000	25
8	Selahaddin Bedir	Turkey	3,475,000	17
9	Xiaosheng Zheng	China	3,375,000	17
10	Viktor Siegle	Germany	3,300,000	17

Further down the leaderboard, plenty of firepower remains, with Fabian Gumz (5,700,000), Selahaddin Bedir (3,475,000), Xiaosheng Zheng (3,375,000) and High Roller final tablist Leonid Orman (3,125,000) all still in contention.

However, arguably the most accomplished player remaining, Fahredin Mustafov, finds himself at the bottom of the leaderboard heading into the final day with 1,800,000.

The Bulgarian professional boasts more than $12 million in lifetime earnings, according to The Hendon Mob, and currently sits second on Bulgaria’s all-time money list.

Chip Leaders No More

One of the day’s more remarkable storylines was the complete disappearance of the Day 1 starting-flight chip leaders, with none of the four advancing to the final day.

First to fall was Timur Margolin in 68th place. The Day 1a chip leader ran his Broadway straight into a full house, bringing his Main Event dreams to an early end.

Shortly after, Day 1c chip leader Ehsan Amiri joined him on the rail. Earlier in the day, Amiri had collided with another of the starting-flight leaders, Dmitrii Nazarov. After coming off second best in that encounter, his tournament soon unravelled, and he was eliminated in 58th place.

As the field thinned towards the final few tables, Day 1d chip leader Haydar Issa was next to fall, with Nazarov soon following. When Day 1b chip leader Nazarov was eliminated in 30th place, the unlikely fate of all four starting-flight leaders was sealed, with none of them making it to the final day.

Alongside those notable eliminations, a host of big names also saw their Main Event runs come to an end. EPT Main Event champions Nicolas Chouity (22nd), Arsenii Karmatckii (37th) and Gilles Simon (56th) were joined on the rail by high-stakes regulars Aren Bezhanyan (15th), Felipe Ketzer (18th) and Joris Ruijs (59th).

WSOP bracelet winners Ravid Garbi (24th) and Dietrich Fast (78th) also fell, while GGPoker Pro Yuxi Huang was eliminated in 27th place.

Those who did survive will return for Day 3 on Thursday, August 6 at 1 p.m., with the remaining players returning to Level 27. The blinds will recommence at 100,000/200,000, with a 200,000 big blind ante. The schedule for the day has yet to be confirmed and is likely to be determined once play gets underway.

Each returning player is guaranteed a minimum payout of $46,200, but with just 12 players standing between them and Merit Poker Series Main Event glory, the first-place prize of $525,000 is now firmly in sight.