Georgios Skarparis shoved from the cutoff for around 2,500,000 and Renars Skanis quickly called from the big blind.
Georgios Skarparis: A♣7♥
Renars Skanis: A♦A♥
Skarparis had ran right into the bullets of Skanis and needed a lot of help from the runout in order to survive. No such luck arrived as the Q♠K♦5♥6♠J♠ runout left Skarparis dead on the turn, and he was eliminated.
Cagdas Ersoy shoved under the gun for 1,300,000. Renars Skanis called on the button, and Umberto Ruggeri called from the small blind.
With Ersoy all-in the flop came down 2♠9♦6♦ and Ruggeri led out for 650,000. Skanis instantly folded and the cards were flipped over with Ersoy at risk.
Cagdas Ersoy: 3♥3♦
Umberto Ruggeri : A♦10♥
Ersoy was ahead right now with pocket treys and would triple up if he could hold. The 9♣ turn gave Ruggeri some counterfeit outs. The river was the A♠ and Ruggeri won the pot with a pair of aces, eliminating Ersoy in fourteenth place.
Tamer Kamel got his remaining 3,500,000 into the middle preflop from the small blind with Mihai Niste being the player to try and send him home out of the big blind.
Tamer Kamel: K♣K♦
Mihai Niste: A♠10♥
Kamel was in fantastic shape to double through Niste if his pocket kings could hold up. However, a brutal flop of A♣5♦8♣ put Niste firmly in the lead with a pair of aces. The rest of the board ran out J♠6♥ which was clean for Niste and Kamel was out of the Main Event.
Mihai Niste made it 500,000 to go from the cutoff and Pedro Munitis shoved for around 3,000,000 from the big blind, Niste called.
Pedro Munitis: K♣Q♠
Mihai Niste: A♥Q♦
Munitis was dominated and couldn't find any help on the 2♦J♥6♣ flop. A 3♥ on the turn left Munitis needing to find a king on the river, but the J♣ wasn't the right paint he needed.
The action folded to Ionut-Alexandru Moldovan on the button, who shoved into the two shorter stacks in the blinds. Edward Quinn looked down at his cards in the big blind and immediately put his stack of 4,450,000 at risk.
Edward Quinn: A♣K♥
Ionut-Alexandru Moldovan: J♦10♦
Quinn was in the lead, but certainly wouldn't have felt comfortable seeing the hand of his opponent. That level of uncomfortableness was turned up a few notches when the 6♦Q♦5♥ flop gave Moldovan a flush draw to go along with his pair outs.
A 6♠ on the turn put Quinn one step closer to a double-up, and he breathed a massive, massive sigh of relief when the 4♠ hit the river.
Mihai Niste raised the button to 500,000 and Ionut-Alexandru Moldovan defended his big blind.
Moldovan checked when the A♦9♦Q♠ flop came down and Niste put out a continuation-bet of 400,000. Moldovan thought for a while before he check-shoved for roughly 1,800,000. Niste quickly called and the cards were turned over.
Ionut-Alexandru Moldovan: J♥9♠
Mihai Niste: A♠2♠
Moldovan was behind right now with bottom pair against Niste's top pair. The 6♣ turn didn't change anything, and neither did the 7♠ river. Moldovan was out in eleventh and the tournament was one more elimination away from the final table.
Mario Colavita raised the button to 500,000 and Mihai Niste shoved from the big blind. Colavita quickly called for his stack of 4,800,000.
Mario Colavita: 9♣9♦
Mihai Niste: J♣10♣
Niste was certainly pleased to find himself in a flip, but didn't like the 6♠K♣7♠ flop as he didn't improve. A K♥ on the turn changed nothing, and neither did the Q♠ river, which meant Colavita doubled up.
Dmitry Gromov raised to 800,000 under the gun and Umberto Ruggeri three-bet to 1,400,000 from the cutoff. After it folded back to Gromov he burned through two of his time bank cards before making the call with roughly 925,000 behind.
Gromov checked the 4♥J♠9♦ flop and Ruggeri bet enough to put Gromov all in. Gromov thought for a few moments before making the call.
Dmitry Gromov: 8♦8♣
Umberto Ruggeri: Q♥Q♣
Gromov was behind for now with two eights against the pocket queens of Ruggeri. The 2♥ came on the turn and Gromov was one card away from being the final table bubble boy of the Main Event. The 6♦ peeled off on the river to cement Gromov's elimination in tenth, and the final table for the 2025 Western Series Main Event was set.
The penultimate day of the $3,300 Main Event at the 2025 Merit Poker Western Series has wrapped up at the stunning Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino, with only nine players still standing from the record-breaking field of 791.
At the front of the pack, leading the charge toward the coveted trophy and lion's share of the $2,183,160 prize pool, is Latvia’s Renars Skanis, with a stack of 14,600,000 chips. Skanis is the only player with over 50 big blinds and has already eclipsed his biggest career cash by more than ten-fold. With the chip lead in hand as the final day draws near, he’s in prime position to ride his momentum toward a potentially life-changing six-figure score.
FInal Table Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Renars Skanis
Latvia
14,600,000
58
2
Xiaosheng Zheng
China
12,225,000
49
3
Umberto Ruggeri
Italy
11,000,000
44
4
Mario Colavita
Italy
10,875,000
44
5
Mihai Niste
Romania
9,725,000
39
6
Edward Quinn
Jersey
6,550,000
26
7
Muhtar Taysi
Turkey
6,050,000
24
8
Alexander Sokolovsky
Serbia
4,550,000
18
9
Ryan Mandara
United Kingdom
3,500,000
14
Not far behind Skanis is China’s Xiaosheng Zheng with 12,225,000 chips. The Chinese player has and over $1,100,000 in live earnings, including several six-figure scores, and will be looking to use his experience to navigate his way to another six-figure payday.
Italy’s Umberto Ruggeri rounds out the top three with 11,000,000 chips and has a chance to cross the seven-figure milestone in live tournament cashes with a strong finish tomorrow. Both players are well-positioned to contend for the title.
Umberto Ruggeri
Day 4 Action
The day began with 39 hopefuls eager to grind their way to the final table, where life-changing payouts awaited. The action ignited almost immediately as Candido Cappiello found himself in trouble, running his Big Slick into the pocket aces of Georgios Skarparis. The board offered no help, sending Cappiello to the payout desk.
Zheng then found a bit of luck when his pocket jacks were up against the pocket kings of Ibrahim Ghasan. Zheng had a big chunk of his stack invested in the pot and seemed destined to become one of the short stacks when the flop came king-high. However, running cards to make Broadway gave Zheng the tinder he needed to ignite his run toward the final table.
Defending champion Mohamed Mokrani was unsuccessful in his attempt to defend his crown as during Level 27, he got his pocket tens in against the ace-queen of Ionut-Alexandru Moldovan. A queen on the flop sealed Mokrani's fate, which meant a new Western Series Main Event champion was guaranteed.
Edward Quinn
Gaspare Sposato, Nichan Khorchidian, and Johan Guilbert followed Mokrani to the rail before a pivotal hand unfolded between Edward Quinn and Adrian State. Romania's State shoved the turn with a combo draw, but Quinn made the call with king-jack for two pair. A heart on the river completed State’s flush, but the unfortunate card was a jack, giving Quinn a full house and the sizable pot, sending State out in nineteenth place.
After Can Miral busted in sixteenth, it took two and a half hours of play before the next bustout was recorded, and just like London buses, they came in waves. Skarparis ran his ace-seven into Skanis' pocket aces to finish fifteenth, and almost simultaneously, Cagdas Ersoy lost a flip with pocket threes to the ace-ten of Ruggeri.
At the same time as Ersoy was being eliminated, Tamer Kamel had his chips in the middle with pocket kings and was up against the ace-ten Mihai Niste. An ace on the flop was enough for Niste to take the pot, which left Kamel on the sidelines in thirteenth.
Mihai Niste
The elimination train didn't stop there as just minutes later, Pedro Munitis three-bet shoved king-queen and Niste called with ace-queen. A clean runout later, and only eleven players remained.
A turning point for both Quinn and Moldovan came next as the Romanian player shoved the button with jack-ten suited, and Quinn quickly called for his tournament life in the big blind with ace-king. Moldovan flopped a flush draw, but bricked both the turn and the river, which saw Quinn double up.
Just a couple of hands later, Moldovan had the last of his chips in the middle with jack-nine and couldn't overcome the ace-deuce of Niste, which brought around the final table bubble.
Mario Colavita
With ten remaining, Mario Colavita managed to win a flip with pocket nines against the jack-ten of Niste, which prevented the Romanian player from having a huge final table chip lead.
On the other table, the overnight chip leader Dmitry Gromov put his trust in pocket eights, but unfortunately ran into the pocket queens of Ruggeri. No help came from the board, and Gromov had to settle for tenth.
Final Table Payouts
Place
Prize
1
$377,500
2
$251,000
3
$180,300
4
$130,200
5
$94,600
6
$75,900
7
$63,200
8
$50,500
9
$37,950
The final nine players have all locked up at least $37,950, but all eyes will be on the trophy and top prize of $377,500. Action will pick up at 1:00 p.m. local time with almost 12 minutes left on Level 33, featuring blinds at 125,000/250,000 with a 250,000 big blind ante.
Stay tuned to Pokernews as we bring you all the action tomorrow from the moment cards are in the air until a winner is crowned at the end of the night.
