The final hand has been dealt in the 2023 Merit Poker Gangster Series $3,300 Main Event here at the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino. It took just over ten hours for a winner to be crowned from 21 hopefuls who made it to the final day. Russia’s Dmitry Yurasov emerged as the last man standing when all was said and done, outlasting a total field of 566 entrants and last defeating fellow Russian Dmitry Gromov heads up to take home the title and top prize of $295,500.
Yurasov began the day with the fifth-largest stack and wasted no time accumulating chips, constantly putting pressure on middling stacks as the payouts grew larger to take down many pots without showdown. Yurasov is no stranger to success in large-field poker tournaments with just over $3,500,000 in career tournament earnings that include two WSOP bracelets. Today’s victory marks his fourth-largest live tournament cash.
Gangster Series $3,300 Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dmitry Yurasov | Russia | $295,500 |
| 2 | Dmitry Gromov | Russia | $217,500 |
| 3 | Fabian Quoss | Germany | $133,000 |
| 4 | Nikolay Fal | Russia | $98,500 |
| 5 | Baurzhan Akimov | Kazakhstan | $74,000 |
| 6 | Parahat Nurmuhammedov | Turkmenistan | $59,200 |
| 7 | Bassel Moussa | Lebanon | $49,300 |
| 8 | Frederic Popot | France | $39,300 |
| 9 | Hadi Khordbin | Iran | $29,500 |
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Winner’s Reaction
When asked about the difficulty of navigating the Main Event final table, during which he had notable crushers Gromov on his left and Fabian Quoss on his right, Yurasov cited his extensive experience running deep in events such as this one.
“For me, it was easy because it’s not my first final table. Dmitry tried to give me trouble, but I still did it.”
“The tournament for me was quite good”, Yurasov continued. There was a moment where I got very short-stacked, but I doubled up, and at the final table, I just tried to take all the chips and got it”.
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Action of the Day
The main event attracted a total field of 566 entrants to generate a total prize pool of $1,562,160. Of those 566 entrants, 21 players began Day 4. Yurasov forced a fold with a three-bet in the very first hand of the day and would continue to win chips with aggressive plays as the day progressed. Meanwhile Daniel Henriques, Can Miral and last woman standing Shuang Luo couldn’t get any momentum early on and would become the first three to be eliminated today, with the latter two being eliminated by Quoss who took the chip lead early on.
Oleg Netaliev came in today looking to avenge his runner up finish in the 2023 Merit Poker Retro Series $3,300 Main Event earlier this year but had to settle for 18th place after running into the pocket aces of Bulut Celik. Netaliev was followed out the door by Nuno Correia and start of day chip leader Maximilian Wieser, the latter of which lost a massive flip against Quoss in a pot for the chip lead of the tournament at that time.
The action slowed down after the eliminations of Hakan Karabalcik in 15th place and Iraklis Manikaros in 14th place as the remaining players attempted to ladder up the significantly increasing pay jumps. Yurasov began to close the gap between himself and Quoss during this period and after flopping a straight against Kenar Zemin to score another knockout he had firmly established himself as the chip leader. Zemin would be followed out the door by Nils Pudel, Celik and Ihar Soika to set up the nine-handed final table.
Hadi Khordbin would become the first final table casualty after making a move at the wrong time against Gromov blind versus blind. Quoss had begun closing the gap between himself and Yurasov at this time until Yurasov turned a set against him and got paid to send Quoss tumbling back down the leaderboard. Not long afterwards, perpetual final table short stacks Frederic Popot and Bassel Moussa would hit the rail in 8th and 7th place respectively.
Parahat Nurmuhammedov came into the day with the second-shortest stack in play but was able to ladder up a few spots after making a straight against Baurzhan Akimov. His run would finally come to an end in sixth place after losing a flip to Yurasov and Akimov would follow him out the door in fifth not long afterwards.
By the time Nikolay Fal was eliminated to set three-handed play Yurasov held more than half the total chips in play. Quoss would be the first of the three to fall after first doubling up Gromov before Yurasov would finish him off to set up heads up play.
Heads Up play between Yurasov and Gromov would last only six hands. Gromov would get the chips in good after trapping with ace-queen but Yurasov would drill a pair of nines on the river to win the final hand of the tournament, the Main Event title and the top prize of $295,500.
