Nivel 6
: Blinds 800/1,500, 1,500 ante
Players are heading on a second 20-minute break.
2025 Merit Poker Carmen Series
$2,200 Warm Up
Día 1a
Top Recuento de Fichas
1
270,000
5
225,000
Nivel 6
: Blinds 800/1,500, 1,500 ante
With 12,000 chips in the pot on a 9♠4♦5♦4♣ board, Leonid Bozhkov checked from the big blind and Daniel Abrahamsson fired out 3,700 from middle position. Edgard Raffoul then raised to 11,500 in the cutoff, and Bozhkov called before Abrahamsson got out of the way.
A 6♠ dropped on the river and Bozhkov checked again, only for Raffoul to check back after thinking for some time.
Bozhkov then showed trips with K♥4♥, and Raffoul mucked his hand.
| Jugador | Fichas | Progreso |
|---|---|---|
|
200,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
120,000
120,000
|
120,000 |
|
110,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
Nivel 6
: Blinds 800/1,500, 1,500 ante
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Nivel 6
: Blinds 800/1,500, 1,500 ante
Yucel Eminoglu is not a happy bunny after missing out on a pot worth over 200,000 after an unfortunate runout.
There had been a raise to 3,500 from the hijack and Kadir Altinbasak called called from the cutoff before Eminoglu made it 27,000 from the small blind. The initial raiser quickly folded, then Altinbasak said call and put in 7,000.
"It's 27,000," remarked Eminoglu. "You can fold and leave the 7,000 in there if you like, I know you didn't want to call," he added. Despite that, Altinbasak did call.
The flop came 3♦3♥9♦ and Eminoglu fired out 16,000. Almost immediately, Altinbasak shoved for around 80,000, which prompted Eminoglu to ask for a count. After getting the information he needed, Eminoglu called.
Kadir Altinbasak: A♠10♦ 
Yucel Eminoglu: A♣K♠
Altinbasak was drawing slim, but managed to find a 9♣ on the turn to give both players two pair with an ace-kicker. The 2♥ on the river changed nothing, and the dup chopped up the pot.
"You play good," said Eminoglu. "You thought it was seven but called anyway," he added.
Despite not winning the pot, no damage was done to Eminoglu's stack and the two continued to discuss the hand as the next was being dealt.
| Jugador | Fichas | Progreso |
|---|---|---|
|
140,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
|
|
110,000
110,000
|
110,000 |
Nivel 6
: Blinds 800/1,500, 1,500 ante
With five levels in the books, the entry counter for Day 1a of the Warm Up has just hit 200—a massive turnout to kick off the series!
With the day coming to its conclusion at the end of Level 10, there’s still plenty of time for that number to climb even higher.
Nivel: 6
Ciegas: 800/1,500
Ante: 1,500
Nivel 5
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Last year in the 2024 Merit Poker Carmen Series $3,300 Main Event, It took nearly 12 hour-long levels for a winner to emerge from the 41 players who entered the final day at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino.
Elie Farah was the last player standing, scoring five final table knockouts and last defeating Felipe Ketzer in heads-up play to take home the title and top prize of $338,500.
Farah notably was down to his last 125,000 chips on the stone bubble during Day 3 aciton, worth just five big blinds at that time. His previous best score before this comes from an eighth-place finish in the 2022 Merit Poker Retro Series Main Event for $30,255. This victory not only exceeds his previous best more than tenfold, it also triples his total live tournament earnings which before this event stood at just under $150,000.
2024 Carmen Series Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elie Farah | Lebanon | $338,500 |
| 2 | Felipe Ketzer | Brazil | $249,200 |
| 3 | Dinesh Alt | Switzerland | $153,000 |
| 4 | Bart Lybaert | Belgium | $113,100 |
| 5 | Dmitry Gromov | Russian Federation | $84,700 |
| 6 | Tahsin Cankurtaranli | Turkey | $68,400 |
| 7 | Andrey Litvinov | Russian Federation | $56,600 |
| 8 | Maher Achour | Tunisia | $45,100 |
| 9 | Danut Chisu | Romania | $33,900 |
Nivel 5
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
A huge pot just went Tiberiu Tirca's way, which boosted his stack to around a quarter of a million.
Tirca opened from middle position to 2,500 and Arun Sood called from the next seat. Rui Querido Martins then squeezed to 10,000 on the button and got a call from the big blind. Both Tirca and Sood also came along.
The flop came down 3♠5♦6♠ where the action checked to Sood, who fired out 20,000. Martins called, the big blind folded, then Tirca shoved for around 90,000. Sood snap-called with a slightly smaller stack and then waved his hand to usher Martins out of the pot, who eventually obliged and showed J♦J♠ when he folded.
Arun Sood: 6♣3♣
Tiberiu Tirca: 3♥3♦
Sood couldn't believe it when he saw that he only had two outs, and was screaming for a six to come. Instead, the 4♦ dropped on the turn, which put an open-ended straight draw on board. However, despite the extra outs, Sood couldn't survive as the 10♦ completed the board, keeping Tirca's flopped set in the lead.
| Jugador | Fichas | Progreso |
|---|---|---|
|
250,000
250,000
|
250,000 |
|
|
110,000
110,000
|
110,000 |
|
Eliminado |
Nivel 5
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
| Jugador | Fichas | Progreso |
|---|---|---|
|
|
230,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
140,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
||
|
130,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
120,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
||
|
|
110,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
105,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
100,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
|
85,000
85,000
|
85,000 |
|
80,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
30,000
70,000
|
70,000 |
Nivel: 5
Ciegas: 600/1,200
Ante: 1,200
