When it folded to Johnny Lodden on the button, he raised to 250,000. Oleg Svintsov three-bet to 710,000 out of the small blind. After the big blind folded, Lodden four-bet shoved to put Svintsov all in. Svintsov snap-folded and Lodden pulled in 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!
All of the nine remaining players in the record-breaking 2025 Merit Poker Carmen Series High Roller have locked up a minimum of $26,800 for making it to the final table. However, all now are in reach of the $260,000 first-place prize and the prestige of being a Merit Poker Champion.
Dawid Smolka min raised to 200,000 from the cutoff and Charbel Salloum defended out of the big blind.
When the flop came down 10♣5♠8♦ Salloum shoved all of his 850,000 into the middle. Smolka thought it over for a while before making the call.
Charbel Salloum: K♦10♠
Dawid Smolka: Q♣J♦
Salloum was ahead with top pair, but Smolka had a lot of outs to send him to the rail just shy of the final table. The 9♠ turn improved Smolka to the nuts with a straight and left Salloum drawing dead. An inconsequential 8♠ landed on the river, and Salloum was the final table bubble boy of the $5,300 High Roller.