button in SafariNOIR Poker Series Set to Crown High Roller Champion as Final 16 Return at 1 p.m.
When the doors of the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa swing open later today, the $7,500 High Roller trophy will be waiting on the other side, with 16 players returning to fight for the right to lift it. By the time the final card falls, one of those players will take the trophy, the title, and the $300,000 first-place prize.
Kicking off at 1:00 p.m. local time, the 2026 NOIR Poker Series is set to crown its newest champion, one who will have outlasted a 209-strong field to claim the largest share of the $1,345,960 prize pool.
Holding on to the overnight chip lead, Giorgiy Skhulukhiya returns in pole position, but faces stiff competition from all directions if he is to convert his advantage into the title.
Final Day Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Giorgiy Skhulukhiya | Georgia | 3,115,000 | 104 |
| 2 | Gor Musinyan | Armenia | 2,435,000 | 81 |
| 3 | Julian Pineda Lozano | Colombia | 2,180,000 | 73 |
| 4 | Daniil Kiselev | Russian Federation | 2,085,000 | 70 |
| 5 | Yesset Aimukhanov | Kazakhstan | 1,860,000 | 62 |
| 6 | Illia Hurin | Ukraine | 1,705,000 | 57 |
| 7 | Zorlucan Er | Turkey | 1,585,000 | 53 |
| 8 | Alexey Borovkov | Russian Federation | 1,510,000 | 50 |
| 9 | Chunghau Liao | Tajikistan | 1,205,000 | 40 |
| 10 | Leonid Orman | Russian Federation | 890,000 | 30 |
While Skhulukhiya returns as the only player with more than 100 big blinds, the average stack sits north of 40 big blinds, giving the chasing pack plenty of room to manoeuvre. Only one player has fewer than ten big blinds, but a double-up for anyone in the bottom half of the leaderboard would put them right back in the mix.
Rounding out the lower chip counts of the returning field are EPT Sochi Main Event champion Arsenii Karmatckii (875,000), two-time WSOP bracelet winner Tobias Peters (585,000), accomplished international grinder Geoffrey Mooney (550,000), WPT Main Event champion Dmitry Gromov (420,000), Hungarian Farkas Benedek (340,000) and anonymous player Goofy (260,000).
The action will get underway at 1:00 p.m. local time and will resume with 25 minutes left on the clock for Level 22, with blinds of 15,000/30,000 and a 30,000 big blind ante.
The first elimination of the day will earn the remaining players a pay jump to $18,000, while a six-figure payday awaits each of the top four finishers, who will then battle until the $300,000 top prize is claimed.
$7,500 High Roller Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | 9 | $30,060 |
| 2 | $203,000 | 10-11 | $23,700 |
| 3 | $142,000 | 12-13 | $20,300 |
| 4 | $100,000 | 14-15 | $18,000 |
| 5 | $80,000 | 16 | $16,100 |
| 6 | $64,000 | ||
| 7 | $51,000 | ||
| 8 | $40,000 |
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