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When the final table of the $3,500 Merit Poker Cup entered its decisive stages at the 2026 Merit Poker Noir Series, eventual champion Ohad Geiger was joined on the rail by five friends. According to the Israeli, their arrival changed the course of his tournament.
“The minute they came, everything started going well,” Geiger said after the victory. “All in, I win. All in, I win. All in, I win — and that was it.”
Whether it was luck, confidence, or the added energy of having familiar faces behind him, Geiger became increasingly difficult to stop. He rose from the middle of the final-table standings to secure the trophy and the $240,000 first-place prize from a total prize pool of $1,260,032.
The result marked Geiger’s first Merit Poker title and the largest live tournament score of his career. Yet his championship run almost never began. Primarily a cash-game player, Geiger entered the tournament simply to try something different.
“I usually play cash, so I said, ‘Okay, I’ll mix it up,’” he explained.
That decision became a three-day journey through a field of 428 entries, ending with a heads-up victory over Dmitrii Kravchenko inside the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa in North Cyprus.
$3,500 Merit Poker Cup Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohad Geiger | Israel | $240,000 |
| 2 | Dmitrii Kravchenko | Ukraine | $168,000 |
| 3 | Dzhavanshyr Omarov | Ukraine | $115,000 |
| 4 | Yilu Yuan | China | $80,300 |
| 5 | Adrian State | Romania | $60,500 |
| 6 | Timur Mukhamedaminov | Uzbekistan | $49,000 |
| 7 | Pedro Ingles | Spain | $40,500 |
| 8 | Vyacheslav Kardash | Russia | $32,400 |
| 9 | Yurii Zabrodotskyi | Ukraine | $24,432 |
A Tournament Filled with Swings
Looking back on his run, Geiger described a tournament that rarely followed a straight path.
“Until the dinner break, I had a very good stack. Then it became smaller,” he said. “At different points I had two or three times the average, then I went back to average. It kept moving up and down.”
The final day began with 64 players remaining, but only 63 places paid. The money bubble burst after just eight hands when Selahaddin Bedir committed his chips with pocket kings in a blind-versus-blind confrontation against Pavel Shchitnikov’s suited ace-queen. Bedir remained ahead until an ace arrived on the river, confirming a payout for the remaining field.
Once the bubble had burst, eliminations followed quickly as players turned their attention toward the final table. Among those eliminated before the final two-table redraw were Simone Andrian, former Merit Poker champion Xiaosheng Zheng, Sukhrat Massimov, Felipe Ketzer, Ali Al-Kubasi, Evgenii Chernyi, and Giorgiy Skhulukhiya.
Geiger secured one of his most important pots with 14 players remaining when his ace-king held against Kravchenko’s ace-queen. The hand restored his stack to around the tournament average, where he remained until the final table was confirmed.
Atilla Saracoglu became the final-table bubble finisher in tenth place after his ace-jack was overtaken by Yurii Zabrodotskyi’s queen-eight.
Geiger Begins His Final-Table Comeback
Vyacheslav Kardash entered the final table as chip leader, with Adrian State, Zabrodotskyi, and Yilu Yuan close behind. Geiger began in the middle of the standings and initially had to watch as several shorter stacks survived repeated all-in confrontations.
Despite the stack distribution, the opening elimination did not arrive for almost two hours. Zabrodotskyi was eventually the first finalist sent to the rail, followed by Kardash, whose pocket queens ran into Yuan’s pocket kings.
After Pedro Ingles and Timur Mukhamedaminov were also eliminated, Yuan controlled more than half of the chips in play with five players remaining and appeared to have taken complete command of the tournament.
Geiger’s comeback began shortly after the final break. He moved all in from the button with ace-ten and was called immediately by Yuan, who held pocket nines. Geiger failed to improve on the flop and turn, but a ten on the river delivered the double-up and prevented Yuan from extending his lead.
“I got lucky in the spots where you need to get lucky,” Geiger admitted. “I won ace-ten against nines, and then a few more spots. It was very nice to be lucky at the final table.”
For Geiger, those moments were also an unavoidable part of winning a tournament.
“In the end, you need it. You have to get those moments to win.”
State lost several all-ins in succession and became the short stack. Geiger delivered the final blow when his ace-five improved to a flush on the turn, eliminating the Romanian in fifth place and moving Geiger closer to Yuan at the top of the leaderboard.
The Pot That Changed Everything
The defining confrontation arrived with four players remaining.
Yuan and Geiger occupied the top two positions when Geiger opened the action and Yuan moved all in, covering every player at the table. Geiger quickly called with pocket tens and found himself ahead of Yuan’s suited ace-six.
With approximately 60% of the tournament’s chips in the middle, Geiger completed a full house on the river to win the enormous pot and take control of the final table.
Kravchenko later eliminated Yuan in fourth place after winning a coin flip. Only a few hands later, Geiger sent Dzhavanshyr Omarov to the rail in third. Omarov limp-shoved from the small blind with queen-jack, but Geiger called with ace-king and held to set up the final heads-up contest.
Geiger Completes the Victory
Geiger entered heads-up play with an advantage of approximately five to one, although Kravchenko had already demonstrated his ability to compete effectively with a short stack. The Ukrainian survived the opening exchanges and gradually reduced the deficit, but Geiger soon found the opportunity he needed.
In the final hand, Geiger limped from the button before Kravchenko raised from the big blind. Geiger called, and Kravchenko continued on a king-queen-deuce flop.
A third spade arrived on the turn, prompting Kravchenko to move all in. Geiger considered the decision before calling with queen-ten for second pair. Kravchenko revealed eight-deuce for bottom pair and a flush draw.
The river brought no improvement for Kravchenko, ending his run in second place and confirming Ohad Geiger as the $3,500 Merit Poker Cup champion.
From an unplanned tournament entry to a career-best victory, Geiger’s decision to step away from the cash tables delivered his first Merit Poker trophy, a $240,000 payday, and an opening-event title at the 2026 Merit Poker Noir Series.
