The 2025 Western Poker Series at Merit Crystal Cove Hotel options quite a lot of large tournaments, together with the continuing $1.5 million assured $3,300 buy-in major occasion. While that occasion has but to crown a champion, the $5,000 excessive curler wrapped up earlier this week with Russia’s Sergei Varnaev popping out on high for $200,000.
This was the most important rating but for Varnaev, besting the $156,808 he earned because the third-place finisher within the 2024 World Series of Poker Online $1,500 monster stack occasion. He now has practically $509,000 in recorded scores to his identify.
The win additionally got here with 624 Card Player Player of the Year factors, which had been sufficient to maneuver Varnaev inside the highest 50 within the 2025 POY standings offered by Global Poker.
This occasion drew 174 complete entries, surpassing the $500,000 assure to create a closing prize pool of $800,400.
Merit Poker common Maxime Chilaud additionally made a deep run on this occasion. The Frenchman, who has secured 4 of his 5 largest match paydays at this venue, completed third for $89,900. As a outcome, he now has practically $1.9 million in complete cashes on his résumé.
Check out a video from Merit Poker highlighting the ultimate desk of this excessive curler occasion:
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Sergei Varnaev | $200,000 | 624 |
| 2 | Lyudmil Ivanov | $134,000 | 520 |
| 3 | Maxime Chilaud | $89,900 | 416 |
| 4 | Maher Achour | $65,000 | 312 |
| 5 | Bogdan Jontulovic | $50,000 | 260 |
| 6 | Mehmet Demirkol | $39,000 | 208 |
| 7 | Ludovic Uzan | $30,000 | 156 |
| 8 | Sachin Joshi | $23,000 | 104 |
| 9 | Xin Tang | $18,000 | 52 |
Photo: Merit Poker
