Renars Skanis Leads Record-Breaking Merit Poker Main Event Final Table
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.