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The 2026 NOIR Poker Series ended with Selahaddin Bedir winning the $5,500 Merit Poker Main Event for $525,000 at Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa. He beat Konstantin Voronin heads-up after a long final day that stretched for about 12 hours.

According to PokerNews, the flagship event drew 769 entries and built a $3,608,148 prize pool. By the time the final day began, only 13 players were left and everyone still in the hunt had locked up at least $46,200.

Day 2 had already trimmed a field of 113 down to those final 13. The four starting-flight chip leaders were all gone before the final day, and the overnight top of the counts belonged to Kenar on 15,050,000 chips, with Tarzan next on 12,800,000.

Manuel Fritz returned with 8,775,000 chips, while Fahredin Mustafov came back at the bottom of the pack with 1,800,000. The remaining 13 were set to resume at 1 p.m. local time at level 27, with blinds of 100,000/200,000 and a 200,000 big blind ante.

The field quickly thinned on the final day. Xiaosheng Zheng went out in 13th, Tarzan was eliminated after an early clash with Manuel Fritz, and Mustafov busted after running into pocket aces. Miroslav Rizov’s 10th-place exit completed the move to the final table before the second level of the day was finished.

The final table lasted roughly ten hours. Viktor Siegle was the first to go, Manuel Fritz followed when his button aces were no good against Fabian Gumz in the big blind, and Anton Danilov and Leonid Orman were next out before the dinner break.

After the break, the average stack was just 26 big blinds. Kenar and Aleksei Gortikov both fell within the first hour back, leaving three players to battle for the title for about two hours, until a cooler sent Gumz to the rail and set up Bedir against Voronin.

The heads-up match ran for about 90 minutes. Voronin doubled up twice, but Bedir kept taking the smaller pots and finally got the chips in good a third time, holding on through a runout that gave him a “wheel straight and ended Voronin”:https://www.pokernews.com/tours/merit-poker/2026-noir-poker-series/5500-main-event/’s run at $375,000.

Bedir said the event was hard to play because it meant playing every day from the start, but he felt patient and good throughout. He also called poker both his business and his hobby, said he does not think about money, and added that he planned no big celebration, just time with his kids and friends.

Jason Daly led the $5,300 SHRPO Championship’s opening flight at the final break, when Day 1A reached 320 entries and registration closed. Justin Fawcett was second with 320,500 chips, while Daly held 355,500.

The flight had already reached dinner break with 263 entries after Level 6. Tournament staff sent Flight A on a 90-minute pause, and players were due back at 7 pm for two more levels before registration closed and two more before bagging.

A later chip-count update at Level 7, with blinds at 500/1,000 and a 1,000 ante, showed the field at 292 entries. Darren Elias was listed with 240,000, Fawcett had 225,600, Mikhail Chykiliov had 165,000 and Willie Wiggins had 160,000.

By the final break, 153 of the 320 entrants were still in the field, and two stacks were above 300,000. Daly’s 355,500 translated to 237 big blinds, and Fawcett’s 320,500 was good for 214 big blinds.

The event PDF lists the championship as a $5,300 No Limit Hold’em tournament with a $3,000,000 guarantee and 50,000 starting chips. It also allows on-site registration and single re-entry per day until the start of Level 9, shows Level 6 at 400/800 with an 800 ante, and if a player misses today, there is a final flight tomorrow at 11 am plus two more last chance satellites.

Stephen Martines led Day 1a of the RunGood Poker Series Gateway Poker Classic $800 Main Event after bagging 615,000 chips at Hollywood Casino & Hotel in St. Louis. The opening flight drew 105 players, and only 13 made it through with chips.

Cameron Dugan finished just behind him with 611,000. PokerNews reported that Dugan made a quick climb late in the day, helped by a double through Justin Coliny with kings and another big pot against Jeremy Drewery with aces.

Martines built his stack early and kept growing it. He doubled in the first level by hitting trip tens a few minutes into Day 1a, then later won a large pot from Jeffrey Copeland when he rivered a set of aces to beat two pair.

Drewery also ended well, bagging 462,000. Casey Blakeley finished with 413,000, Muharem Dulic with 399,000, Copeland with 260,000, and Coliny with 130,000.

The flight ended with 25 minutes left in Level 18, with blinds at 8,000/16,000 and a 16,000 big blind ante. Among those to fall short of the money on Day 1a were Chris Audrain and Mark Lafata.

Any of those Day 1a survivors can still enter later flights, but if a player bags twice only the best stack moves on to Day 2. The official schedule has Flight 1B at 5 p.m. Friday, Flight 1C at 11 a.m. Saturday, and Flight 1D at 5 p.m. Saturday, before Day 2 at noon Sunday.

The Main Event takes place Aug. 4-9 and carries a $200,000 guarantee. In March, Gabriel Attoun won the St. Louis $800 Main Event for $83,141 by beating a field of 647.

The fifth annual San Diego Poker Classic Main Event is underway at Jamul Casino Resort, with a $600 buy-in and a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool. The tournament will award the SDPC trophy to the winner.

According to PokerNews, the event is spread across four starting flights. Day 1a is set for 11 a.m. local time, Day 1b for 6 p.m. later the same day, Day 1c for 11 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 8, and the final flight is scheduled for 6 p.m. that evening.

Players start with 30,000 chips. Day 1 levels run 30 minutes, then stretch to 40 minutes on Day 2, with a 15-minute break every four levels on Day 1, a 10-minute break after Level 14, and breaks after every three levels on Day 2.

Registration closes at the start of Level 9. Players can enter as many times as they want, and they are allowed to play all Day 1 flights. If they qualify more than once, they move on with their highest stack, give up the smaller ones, and receive the lowest Day 2 payout for each stack they remove.

The tournament advances the top 12.5% of each flight, rounded down, to Day 2. That second day begins at the lowest level reached during the opening flights.

Day 1a has already closed registration and drew 91 entries. Eleven players will advance from that flight, with 36 still left in action and a break in progress before play resumes at 1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante.

Last year’s champion was Sebastian Acevedo, who outlasted 375 entries and earned $33,216 after agreeing to an ICM chop with James Kozono and David Fernandez Sanchez. He entered this year’s event as the defending winner.

Mexico-based Fakhish won PokerStars’ $1,050 No-Limit Hold’em Progressive Knockout Thursday Thrill in WCOOP Boot Camp, beating Bruno “bbernadinho” Bernadinho heads-up for $18,287. The event drew 64 entries and finished with a nine-handed final table.

PokerNews noted that both finalists locked up $7,319 from the regular prize pool before the last duel began, while more than $10,000 in bounties were still in play.

Mario “t4t0PAGAU” Navarro was the first player out of the nine-handed final table, collecting $995 after failing to pick up any bounties. Finland’s “Stonedream” exited in eighth, then Angola’s “Oneway1988” and Argentina’s “nicolasb” fell next.

Rodrigo “peceli” Peceli Presutti bowed out in fifth. The report also recalled that Peceli won this same event during the 2025 WCOOP for $86,000, giving his deep run a bit of history.

Pavel “silentm0de” Plesuv of Moldova finished fourth for $5,720 including bounties, and British pro Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane banked $7,253. Fakhish’s run then closed out the event against Bernadinho, leaving the runner-up with $13,256.

Fakhish already had a much bigger score on his record, winning the 2024 SCOOP $10,300 Main Event for $948,434 after defeating Mark “AceSpades11” Radoja heads-up. The report framed this latest win as a useful confidence and bankroll boost ahead of WCOOP in September.

WCOOP Boot Camp on PokerStars runs through August 17 and includes 65 events across multiple formats and buy-in levels, with more than $6.5 million in combined guaranteed prize pools. The final events begin on August 16 and include a pair of Main Events.