Timur Margolin Refuses to Quit, Wins Merit Championship in Montenegro

A thrilling final day of action in Montenegro saw Timur Margolin win his latest major poker title and a top prize of $130,700. European heavyweights, passionate qualifiers and local heroes were all in action at the nine-handed final table as deep runs by Russian Nikolay Fai and German player Paul Esau fell short of the ultimate glory.

Day 1 Leaders Fall Short of Final

With 414 in the field, only 63 players managed to cash for at least €2,400 ($2,875). Among those to claim a min-cash were the Israeli WSOP bracelet winner Gabi Livschitz, Turkish Day 1c chip leader Atilla Saracoglu and British hopeful Martin Brinkmann. By the time the final table of nine was reached, both the Day 1d leader Nikolay Ponomarev (18^th for $6,100) and Day 1b leader Nikolai Isaev (17^th for $6,930) had been eliminated.

It was Jon Kyte who led the final table with 94 big blinds, the Norwegian tournament specialist holding 11.7 million chips, more than double anyone’s chips other than the German player Paul Esau on 69 bigs. At that stage, the eventual winner Margolin was on just 42 big blinds in the middle of the pack.

It was a double elimination that started the final table exodus. Jon Kyte had started well but dropped back a little before he got his leading stack over the line pre-flop against both the Ukrainian player Oleksii Shchukin and Russian hopeful Andrei Daniliuk. Both of Kyte’s opponents held ace-queen but Kyte had pocket kings and through the ten-high board, they held to reduce the field to seven players, sending Shchukin home with $13,100 and Daniliuk with $17,500.

The Sands of Time

“Queen-ten never wins on this final table.”

Soon, the final table was down to six players. On a flop of Q-8-5, Turkish player Ufuk Erkmen shoved for his last five big blinds total with queen-five. It was a dream flop against his caller, Paul Esau, the German holding pocket kings, but after a four on the turn, another eight landed on the river to counterfeit Erkmen’s two-pair and send him to the rail with $22,100.

With seven players left, Turkey had two players gunning for glory. With five left, none remained. It was Yaser Sakarya who busted next, earning $26,700 in sixth place, as once again, the player with the better hand couldn’t hold. Al-in pre-flop for just six big blinds with queen-ten, Sakarya loved life when Margolin called with a suited queen-four.

“You know queen-ten never wins on this final table,” Jon Kyte remarked, and the Norwegian was spot on, as two clubs joined those in Margolin’s hand on the flop, another coming on the turn flush Sakarya’s hopes away.

Five-handed play lasted a little longer but soon produced another victim, as the San Marino player Eric Sands saw the last grain fall into the hourglass bulb. Moving all-in for seven bigs with seven-six of spades on a flop of 9-9-6, Sands watched in horror as Jon Kyte called with jack-nine in the same suit. All but drawing dead, Sands was on his feet long before the jack on the turn signalled his demise and he went off to collect $33,250 for coming fifth.

Margolin Makes His Move

“We all make mistakes sometimes, but I was happy that I stayed present.”

With four players left, an extended period where no-one busted was good for the champion-in-waiting but a disaster for the overnight leader. Luck abandoned Jon Kyte and he ended up finishing fourth for $43,700 as his shortest stack was committed with pocket fours only for Nikolay Fal to turn over pocket queens. A jack-high flop with no fours saw play reach the podium places as Kyte realised that he would not be king.

German player Paul Esau had played more than his part in the action but bowed out in third place for $61,200. Calling off his stack pre-flop with ace-ten, he started ahead of Fal’s queen-seven but ended behind it as the Russian hit both his cards to send Esau to the rail.

Heads-up, Timur Margolin had a small lead, holding 23 million chips to Fal’s 18m. That lead soon changed hands, however, as the Israeli fell 2:1 behind. A paired king gave him the lead back in a bloated pot before Margolin eventually got lucky, calling off a shove with jack-ten and overtaking Fal’s king-queen on a board of A-Q-6-K-8 as a Broadway straight finally produced a winner.

For Fal, it was a cruel way to end the event, as he won $89,100 as runner-up. Margolin, so often behind, couldn’t seem to lose and celebrated winning the top prize of $130,700.

“I managed to stay focused and just try to play the next hand as best as I could,” he said of constantly dropping to the role of underdog. “We all make mistakes sometimes, but I was happy that I stayed present and kept executing. Merit has been like a second home to me over the years. The staff takes care of everything, and you can just focus on playing. This place didn’t disappoint at all.”