The 2025 Merit Poker Western Series resumes today with Day 1b of the $2,200 Warm Up, ready to welcome a fresh batch of hopefuls inside the stunning Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino. With a massive $1,000,000 guarantee up for grabs, the atmosphere is set for another action-packed day as players aim to stack chips and survive another ten 40-minute levels.
Following a fast-paced Day 1a that saw Kazakhstan’s Azamat Tulepbergenov bag the chip lead with a commanding 637,000 chips, expectations are high for today’s flight to bring even more fireworks. The leaderboard is already stacked with top talent, and today’s runners will be looking to outdraw the current leaders to earn their own spot near the top of the counts.
Current Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Azamat Tulepbergenov | Kazakhstan | 637,000 |
| 2 | Adlan Vikayev | Kazakhstan | 472,000 |
| 3 | Arian Kashani | Iran | 421,500 |
| 4 | Nikolay Ponomarev | Russia | 371,000 |
| 5 | Robbie Schiffbauer | United States | 340,000 |
| 6 | Mario Fata | France | 336,500 |
| 7 | Kianoosh Matin | Iran | 326,000 |
| 8 | Andrey Golubev | Russia | 310,500 |
| 9 | Danielle Noja | Lebanon | 251,500 |
| 10 | Tom Verbruggen | Netherlands | 230,500 |
Familiar faces and new challengers alike will saddle up for Day 1b, but they’ll need both patience and precision to make it through this critical stage of the tournament. With two more starting flights — including a turbo Day 1d — still to come, there are plenty of opportunities to build a stack, but the time to strike is now.
There’s still oodles of time for players to join the action, with late registration open until the end of Level 15. But only those who can outmaneuver the competition will have a shot at riding into Day 2 with a chip stack big enough to make a deep run in this massive guaranteed event.
Remaining Schedule
| Date | Day | Time | Blind Levels |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 15 | Day 1b | 12:00 pm | 40 minutes |
| January 15 | Day 1c | 9:00 pm | 25 minutes |
| January 16 | Day 1d | 10:00 am | 15 minutes |
| January 16 | Day 2 | 12:30 pm | 40 minutes |
| January 17 | Day 3 | 12:00 pm | 40 minutes |
| January 18 | Day 4 | 12:00 pm | 40 minutes |
For those who can’t make it into Day 1b, the faster-paced Day 1c kicks off at 9 p.m., featuring a 25-minute blind structure. The final chance to enter the Warm Up will be tomorrow morning with Day 1d, a turbo flight starting at 10 a.m. that wraps up just before Day 2 gets underway.
Stay tuned to PokerNews to find out who will emerge from today’s flight as the series continues to heat up!