$2,200 Warm Up
Day 4 Completed
2024 Merit Poker Gatsby Gala Series
$2,200 Warm Up
Day: 4
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 4
2024 Merit Poker Gatsby Gala Series
Buy-in
$2,200
Prize Pool
$920,000
Entries
463
Level
35
Blinds
250,000 / 500,000
Ante
500,000
Entries
14
Players Left
1
Level 35
: Blinds 250,000/500,000, 500,000 ante
Dawid Smolka made his first Merit Poker final table in the spring of 2022, finishing seventh in the 2022 Retro Series $10,500 High Roller for $31,100. Over the next two years, Smolka established himself as one of the most consistent players in Merit Poker events, making four more final tables in Cyprus, including two third-place finishes. However, a victory had eluded him—until today. Smolka triumphed in the 2024 Gatsby Gala Series $2,200 Warm-Up at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino, overcoming start-of-day chip leader Daniele Grasso heads-up to claim his first Merit Poker title and the top prize of $179,650.
Smolka had a dominant performance from the moment cards were in the air, starting the day second in chips and entering the final table with the chip lead. Smolka only lost the chip lead for a few hands after the final table began, nearly going wire-to-wire en route to his victory.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Coutnry | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dawid Smolka | Poland | $179,650 |
| 2 | Daniele Grasso | Italy | $125,500 |
| 3 | Hadi Khordbin | Iran | $80,300 |
| 4 | Bogdan Munteanu | Romania | $60,300 |
| 5 | Georges Chehade | Lebanon | $45,150 |
| 6 | Ruslan Bakhtiev | Russia | $36,200 |
| 7 | Sandra Cotescu | Romania | $30,150 |
| 8 | Ziad Menhem | Lebanon | $24,100 |
| 9 | Viktor Iarilov | Russia | $18,050 |
Action of the Day
The day began with 14 players from a total field of 463 entrants. Victor Fryda began the day as one of the shorter stacks and was eliminated in one of the first hands of the day after losing a flip with ace-queen to VIktor Iarilov's pocket tens. Fellow start-of-day short stack Sandra Cotescu had a much better start, cracking Zhen Chen's pocket kings in the opening level. Chen couldn't recover and was out next in 13th, followed by Florian Guimond in 12th.
Smolka also found himself in trouble in the first level when he got involved in a colossal preflop confrontation against Julien Rouquet. Smolka held ace-queen and was up against Rouquet's ace-king in a pot worth nearly double the average stack at the time. Smolka would have been left with under five big blinds had he lost, but a miracle queen on the flop sent the pot in his direction while Rouquet was knocked out in brutal fashion. Rouquet was followed by Pouya Ranjehdel, who was eliminated in tenth place, making way for the nine-handed final table.
Bogdan Munteanu, who won this same event two years ago at the Merit Poker Vintage Series, got off to a hot start at the final table after being on the right side of a sickening cooler against Iarilov, who got his chips in good with pocket aces against Munteanu's ace-king. A Broadway straight on the river gave Munteanu the pot while Iarilov became the first to fall at the final table. Iarilov was followed out the door by Ziad Menhem and Cotescu in eight and seventh place respectively, both of whom were eliminated by Smolka who was beginning to pull away from the rest of the field.
Following Ruslan Bakhtiev's elimination in sixth place, the pace of play slowed down considerably. With both Georges Chehade and Grasso nursing short stacks at this point, the other three players tightened up considerably with the hopes of laddering up. Grasso quickly doubled up through Smolka to keep himself in contention, while Munteanu began slowly trending downwards. Chehade became the next to fall nearly two hours after Bakhtiev's elimination, getting his last eight big blinds in with eight-five suited and failing to catch up to Grasso's ace-ten. Munteanu was next to go almost immediately after, getting it in with pocket sevens only for Smolka to flop a full house with queen-jack.
Hadi Khordbin began the day as the shortest stack but very quickly found himself near the top of the counts after picking up aces and nearly tripling up. Khordbin was near the top of the counts for much of the day following that hand, entering the table just behind Smolka for the chip lead. His run finally came to an end in third place after falling to Grasso, with Smolka holding close to a 2:1 chip advantage over him going into heads-up play.
The heads-up duel between Smolka and Grasso was brief, with Grasso quickly being whittled down by Smolka over a series of small pots that saw Smolka extend his lead. In the final hand of the night, Smolka flopped a straight and called two bets from Grasso on the flop and turn. When Grasso checked the river Smolka put him to the test for his tournament life. Grasso called off with second pair only to see the bad news while Smolka took down the final pot of the night, the trophy and the top prize of $179,650.
That concludes the PokerNews coverage for this event but be sure to stay tuned to our continuing coverage of the $5,300 Gatsby Gala Series High Roller as well as the $3,300 Main Event which is set to begin on November 25.
Level 35
: Blinds 250,000/500,000, 500,000 ante
Dawid Smolka opened to 1,250,000 from the butto nand Daniele Grasso defended from the big blind.
The flop came 7♦5♠4♣. Grasso led out with a 1,300,000 bet that Smolka called.
Grasso continued for 2,800,000 on the J♠ turn and was again called by Smolka.
On the K♠ river Grasso checked and Smolka moved all in with a covering stack. Grasso, who had just under 9,000,000 behind, made the call, showing J♥8♦ for second pair. Smolka had flopped a straight with 6♠3♦ to score the final elimination of the night and take home the title and top prize of $179,650.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
46,300,000
13,000,000
|
13,000,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
||
Level 35
: Blinds 250,000/500,000, 500,000 ante
Dawid Smolka opened to 1,250,000 from the button and Daniele Grasso defended from the big blind.
Both players checked the flop and turn leading to a final board of 10♥6♠8♣J♥J♣. Grasso checked, Smolka bet 2,000,000 and Grasso called.
Smolka turned over two pair with 9♥8♠ which was enough to take the pot and extend his lead over Grasso.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
33,300,000
6,300,000
|
6,300,000 |
|
|
13,000,000
-3,300,000
|
-3,300,000 |
|
|
||
Level 35
: 250,000/500,000, 500,000 ante
Hadi Khordbin shoved for 4,100,000 from the button and was looked up by Daniele Grasso who covered him from the big blind.
Hadi Khordbin: Q♥3♥ 
Daniele Grasso: A♠4♣
The board ran out 4♦9♠10♦2♣2♥ giving Grasso two pair to send Khordbin to the rail in third place.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
27,000,000
500,000
|
500,000 |
|
|
16,300,000
1,800,000
|
1,800,000 |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
Level 35
: 250,000/500,000, 500,000 ante
Dawid Smolka opened from the button, Hadi Khordbin shoved for 1,800,000 from the big blind and Smolka called with a covering stack to put Khordbin at risk.
Hadi Khordbin: 10♠5♥
Dawid Smolka: 4♦3♦
The board ran out 2♥5♣J♦J♣4♥ giving Khordbin two pair, jacks and fives to double up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
26,500,000
-500,000
|
-500,000 |
|
|
14,500,000
-400,000
|
-400,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
4,100,000
1,800,000
|
1,800,000 |
Level 35
: 250,000/500,000, 500,000 ante
Hadi Khordbin opened to 1,000,000 from the button, Daniele Grasso three-bet shoved for 7,100,000 from the big blind and Khordbin called with a covering stack to put the start-of-day chip leader at risk.
Daniele Grasso: A♦K♠
Hadi Khordbin: A♠10♣
Grasso had a dominating ace and held on the 5♥3♣6♥3♦8♣ runout to double through Khordbin.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
14,900,000
8,400,000
|
8,400,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
2,300,000
-7,300,000
|
-7,300,000 |
Level: 35
Blinds: 250,000/500,000
Ante: 500,000
Level 34
: Blinds 200,000/400,000, 400,000 ante
Daniele Grasso shoved from the small blind, covering Hadi Khordbin who had 4,600,000 in the big blind. Khordbin made the call for his tournament life.
Daniele Grasso: J♥9♣
Hadi Khordbin: K♠9♥
Khordbin was well ahead with a dominating nine and held on the 8♠9♠5♣7♥Q♣ runout to double up through Grasso.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
27,000,000
3,500,000
|
3,500,000 |
|
|
9,600,000
3,300,000
|
3,300,000 |
|
|
6,500,000
-7,200,000
|
-7,200,000 |
|
|
||
Level 34
: Blinds 200,000/400,000, 400,000 ante
Dawid Smolka opened to 800,000 from the button and Hadi Khordbin defended from the big blind.
Both players checked the 8♣7♥10♦ flop leading to the 5♦ turn. Khordbin bet 1,000,000 and Smolka called.
Khordbin continued for 2,000,000 on the 2♥ river. Smolka shoved and Khordbin, who had just under 6,500,000 behind, opted to fold after using a single time extension.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
23,500,000
2,500,000
|
2,500,000 |
|
|
13,700,000
200,000
|
200,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
6,300,000
-4,900,000
|
-4,900,000 |