Early Winners From Merit Poker Carmen Series In CyprusDmitrii Kopyl and Dawid Smolka Took Down Big Side Events For Six-Figure Paydays |
|
The 2025 Merit Poker Carmen Series at Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino features 22 events, including several big multi-day tournaments. The centerpiece of the whole affair is the ongoing $3,300 buy-in main event, which sports a $1.5 million prize pool. While that event is set to wrap up on Mar. 24, a couple of the larger side events have already played down to a winner.
The first was the $2,200 buy-in no-limit hold’em ‘Warm Up,’ which drew 646 entries to easily surpass the $1 million guarantee. A total of $1,188,640 was paid out in the end, with Dmitrii Kopyl (pictured above, left) securing the trophy and the top prize of $210,000. This was by far the largest recorded score for the Russian player , topping the $20,990 he earned as the third-place finisher in a $500 buy-in event at the Eurasian Poker Tour Snowfest stop.
2011 World Poker Tour Venice main event champion Alessio Isaia finished fourth for $71,030. Daniel Abrahamsson fell just short of a six-figure score, earning $98,575 as the third-place finisher. That left Kopyl heads-up with Bulgaria’s Atanas Malinov, who ultimately secured $142,100 as the runner-up.
Malinov then went on to finish seventh in the $5,300 buy-in $500,000 guaranteed high roller event. The tournament drew 270 entries to more than double the guarantee. The largest chunk of the $1,242,000 final prize pool was ultimately awarded to Dawid Smolka (pictured above, right). The Polish player walked away with $260,000 as the champion, the second-largest score of his career.
In 2021 Smolka placed eighth in the World Series of Poker Online main event for $339,124. He now has nearly $1.7 million in career cashes under his belt.
In addition to Malinov, the final table also included the likes of European Poker Tour and WPT champion Andrey Pateychuk (9th) and Johnny Lodden (2nd), who has live tournament results dating back to 2004. Lodden earned $182,700 as the runner-up, the fourth-highest payday on his résumé.
Merit Poker Carmen Series $2,200 Warm Up
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Dmitrii Kopyl | $210,000 | 840 |
| 2 | Atanas Malinov | $142,100 | 700 |
| 3 | Daniel Abrahamsson | $98,575 | 560 |
| 4 | Alessio Isaia | $71,030 | 420 |
| 5 | Erdal Gulseven | $52,530 | 350 |
| 6 | Atanas Pavlov | $42,020 | 280 |
| 7 | Humberto Galindo | $35,015 | 210 |
| 8 | Giorgiy Skhulukhiya | $28,015 | 140 |
| 9 | Rui Martins | $21,010 | 70 |
Merit Poker Carmen Series $5,300 High Roller
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Dawid Smolka | $260,000 | 864 |
| 2 | Johnny Lodden | $182,700 | 720 |
| 3 | Kirill Shcherbakov | $131,900 | 576 |
| 4 | Oleg Svintsov | $91,400 | 432 |
| 5 | Merijn van Rooij | $67,040 | 360 |
| 6 | Peteris Enders | $53,700 | 288 |
| 7 | Atanas Malinov | $44,700 | 216 |
| 8 | Cedric Schwaederle | $35,735 | 144 |
| 9 | Andrey Pateychuk | $26,800 | 72 |
Photo credits: Merit Poker.
Copyright © 2001-2025
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
