Nazarov Leads 113-Player Merit Main Event Day 2
The field reached 769 entries, and all survivors are already in the money as play resumes in Northern Cyprus.
Day 2 of the $5,500 Merit Poker Main Event gets underway with 113 players returning to the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa in Northern Cyprus. The four starting flights drew 769 entries, and every survivor is already guaranteed a piece of the $3,000,000 prize pool.
According to PokerNews, the tournament is part of the 2026 NOIR Poker Series and Day 2 resumes at 1 p.m. local time. The remaining players come back in Level 17 with blinds at 10,000/20,000 and a 20,000 big blind ante, and the official payout structure is expected shortly after play begins.
Dmitrii Nazarov returns as the chip leader after topping Day 1b. He starts Day 2 with 101 big blinds, and the leaderboard is tightly packed, with only 20 big blinds separating the top seven stacks.
Haydar Issa is among the players returning with 1,780,000 chips. Gilles Simon follows on 1,490,000, Merijn van Rooij has 1,355,000, and Fahredin Mustafov sits on 1,100,000. Martins Adeniya has 870,000, Ali Al-Kubasi 790,000, Adrian State 665,000, Patrick Brooks 505,000, Nicolas Chouity 450,000, Dietrich Fast 360,000, and Arsenii Karmatckii 275,000.
Day 1c also produced a strong set of stacks before the final flight closed. Ehsan Amiri finished that day with 1,705,000, Farkas Benedek bagged 1,650,000, Alexey Borovkov ended on 1,365,000, and Fabian Gumz finished on 1,275,000 and Bogdan Jontulovic on 1,175,000.
