Fahredin Mustafov raised to 1,600 from middle position with only Vahid Moghaddam calling from the small blind.
Moghaddam knuckled the action over to Mustafov on the K♥Q♠9♥ flop, and Mustafov fired a continuation-bet of 1,500. Moghaddam slid in the call.
The Q♥ turn checked through for the 5♥ to land on the river. Both players were happy to check again and Mustafov flipped over K♠6♠ for a pair of kings to win the pot.
Don’t miss any of the exciting poker action at Merit this spring, as both the Merit Millions and Mediterranean Poker Party are on the way.
The special Merit Millions event will run from April 8-13, with a buy-in of $10,400 over four starting flights. The champion will earn $1,000,000, with the rest of the prize pool distributed between players at the final table.
The Mediterranean Poker Party (MPP) returns to Merit from May 3-13, bringing with it more than $10 million in guaranteed prize pools, including a monster-sized $5,300 buy-in, $5 million guaranteed MPP Main Event.
Featuring four flights, the MPP Main Event runs from May 8-12 and could see the champion reel in a million-dollar score. In 2024, some 1,260 entries resulted in a $6,048,000 prize pool, much more than the advertised $5 million guarantee.
Look out for satellites running on GGPoker and win your way to Merit this spring!
Ran Ilani opened preflop to 1,200 before Petar Andreev shoved his final 5,000 into the middle. When it folded back to Ilani, he called to put Andreev at risk.
Petar Andreev: A♦8♦
Ran Ilani: K♠J♦
Andreev managed to hit a full house on the 10♦10♥10♣A♠9♦ runout, and he doubled through Ilani. A few hands late, Andreev doubled again before he three-bet shoved over Grzegorz Kozieja's button open, which means Andreev has spun his stack up from 5,000 to roughly 35,000 so far.
Konstantin Kvashin raised from the cutoff and Giorgiy Skhulukhiya defended from the big blind.
The flop fell J♠10♣5♠ and Skhulukhiya knuckled the action over to Kvashin, who put out a continuation-bet of 2,000. Skhulukhiya flicked in the call.
The J♦ turn went check-check, and the 5♣ dropped on the river. Skhulukhiya now led out for 5,500, forcing Kvashin to fold.
Skhulukhiya finished eighth in the Warm-Up event earlier this series for $28,015 and will be looking to build up a stack during Day 1b, to have a chance of making his second major final table of the series.
In a battle of the blinds between Meir Batyrkhanov and Tobias Peters, there were already 37,000 chips in the pot, with both players staring at a 10♥10♦10♣ flop. From the small blind, Batyrkhanov fired out a bet of 15,000, which Peters called.
The 8♥ landed on the turn and Batyrkhanov didn't waste too much time before shoving for 38,000. Peters sat back in his chair, did some inventory, and then made the call for about a third of his stack.
Meir Batyrkhanov: K♠K♦
Tobias Peters: A♥K♣
Batyrkhanov had the goods with a full house and just had to fade a ten or an ace on the river to double through Peters. The blank 2♥ hit the river and Batyrkhanov earned the double-up.
Simeon Spasov opened under the gun to 1,300 and only Anton Sergienko called out of the big blind.
The flop came down 9♣K♠Q♦ and Sergienko check-called a bet of 1,200 from Spasov.
Both players were happy to checked the 3♥ through on the turn to see the 6♠ land on the river. Sergienko checked, and Spasov bet 1,200. Sergienko decided to fold his cards and Spasov won the pot.