2019 Merit Poker Classic

The penultimate day of the Merit Poker Classic $5,300 Main Event has come to an end after six levels of 75 minutes have been played and sixteen players have found a bag to tag. partypoker pro Ludovic Geilich claimed the Day 4 chip lead when he bagged 8,080,000 in chips.

The Scottish player scored a huge double-up when he found pocket kings and five-bet shoved for over 4 million and was called by Basil Yaiche who had pocket queens. Geilich is followed by Israel's Liran Twito who claimed oodles of bust-outs to his name including Pavel Plesuv and Kacper Pyzara. Rounding out the podium is Shahar Levi (7,255,000), who also hails from Israel. After going up and down the chip counts throughout the day, he found a double-up through Twito among other things in the last level of the day to soar to third.

Also bagging an above average stack are Basil Yaiche, partypoker pro Kristen Bicknell, and the day 1c chip leader Anton Morgenstern. Other more familiar faces who have made it through to the final day include Mustafa Biz, Day 3 chip leader Pavel Kovalenko, Dori Yacoub, Florian Duta, and Andreas Christoforou.

Day 4 started with 66 players, although not everyone showed up in time. The eliminations were coming in at a rapid pace, and by the first break only 37 players were left. Albert Daher, birthday boy Milad Oghabian, Stoyan Abreshkov, Lachezar Petkov, Uri Reichenstein, day 2 chip leader Sergey Baburin, Vladimir Troyanovskiy, Vlad Darie, and Joey Weissman were some of the bigger names who didn’t get through the first two levels of the day.

Things started slowing down afterward, and in the next two levels Andrey Pateychuk, Boris Kolev, Elvin Sarkarov, Joep Raemaekers, and Kenny Hallaert were among those to fall. Hallaert managed to catch his flight in time as his pocket eights got beaten by the ace-queen of Daniel Braude, who ended up with the better kicker on a seven-seven-seven-seven-deuce board.

Twenty-five players went into the last break of the day and things started slowing down even more. The likes of Dragos Trofimov, Ben Farrell and Manig Loeser, who lost his stack to Bicknell, fell along the way. Daniil Kiselev busted with ace-jack against the eights of Morgenstern, followed by Orhan Ates who was the final elimination of the night. Fittingly, it was Geilich who did him in to bag the overall chip lead.

The final sixteen players will return at noon local time on Sunday, May 12, to play down to a winner. The eventual champion will walk away with the first-place prize of a staggering $565,157. Action resumes in level 25, with a small blind of 50,000, a big blind of 100,000, and big blind ante of 100,000. Make sure to come back to see who will be victorious here in the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino in Cyprus!

Final Day Seat Draw

A full recap of today's action is to follow.

Anton Morgenstern raised to 195,000 from under the gun and was called by Selahaddin Bedir in the big blind.

The flop came , Bedir check-called the 250,000 continuation-bet of Morgenstern.

The turn was the , Bedir now check-called the 650,000 continuation-bet of Morgenstern.

The river completed the board with the . Bedir checked for the last time and Morgenstern shoved for Bedit to snap-fold.

The board read with around 2,000,000 in the middle already.

Shahar Levi had checked in the big blind and "John Three" bet 775,000 from under the gun. Levi leaped into the tank for about three minutes before making the call and sighed of relief when he picked up the pot with .

Ludovic Geilich raised to 185,000 from under the gun and Shahar Levi called in the small blind. "John Three" three-bet to 680,000 in the big blind. Geilich folded and Levi shoved for 2,295,000 which Three called.

Shahar Levi:
John Three:

The board ran out for Levi to hold with the pocket kings to double up.

"John Three" raised to 185,000 from mid-positon and Ludovic Geilich three-bet to 610,000 from the hijack. Basil Yaiche four-bet to 1,300,000 from the big blind and Three folded. Geilich shoved for 4,250,000 and Yaiche called.

Ludovic Geilich:
Basil Yaiche:

The board ran out for Geilich to stay ahead and double up.

Basil Yaiche opened from under the gun to 175,000 and Anton Morgenstern three-bet to 525,000 from mid-position. Yaiche called.

The flop came , Yaiche check-called the 650,000 continuation-bet of Morgenstern.

The turn was the on which both players checked to see the on the river complete the board. Yaiche checked again. Morgenstern shoved and Yaiche called for the 3,330,000 he had behind.

Basil Yaiche:
Anton Morgenstern:

They had both hit a set but Yaiche doubled up with the bigger one.

Orhan Ates shoved from mid-position for around 1,000,000 and Ludovic Geilich shoved too in the small blind. Andreas Christoforou quickly folded his big blind.

Orhan Ates:
Ludovic Geilich:

The board ran out for Ates' two pair to get counterfeited on the river and Geilich to win with the higher kicker.