Seeing three limps ahead of him, Farkas Benedek checked in the big blind.
The dealer spread a K♥3♦4♥ flop, on which the under-the-gun limper Geoffrey Mooney bet 40,000. The small blind and button folded, but Benedek check-raised to 105,000, leaving 250,000 behind. Mooney moved all in, and Benedek called off his remaining chips.
Farkas Benedek: K♣9♣
Geoffrey Mooney: K♠Q♠
The K♦ turn offered Benedek some extra outs for survival, now able to chop the pot. However, the 6♠ river was unforthcoming, and Benedek was eliminated in 15th place.
When the doors of the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa swing open later today, the $7,500 High Roller trophy will be waiting on the other side, with 16 players returning to fight for the right to lift it. By the time the final card falls, one of those players will take the trophy, the title, and the $300,000 first-place prize.
Kicking off at 1:00 p.m. local time, the 2026 NOIR Poker Series is set to crown its newest champion, one who will have outlasted a 209-strong field to claim the largest share of the $1,345,960 prize pool.
Holding on to the overnight chip lead, Giorgiy Skhulukhiya returns in pole position, but faces stiff competition from all directions if he is to convert his advantage into the title.
Final Day Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Giorgiy Skhulukhiya
Georgia
3,115,000
104
2
Gor Musinyan
Armenia
2,435,000
81
3
Julian Pineda Lozano
Colombia
2,180,000
73
4
Daniil Kiselev
Russian Federation
2,085,000
70
5
Yesset Aimukhanov
Kazakhstan
1,860,000
62
6
Illia Hurin
Ukraine
1,705,000
57
7
Zorlucan Er
Turkey
1,585,000
53
8
Alexey Borovkov
Russian Federation
1,510,000
50
9
Chunghau Liao
Tajikistan
1,205,000
40
10
Leonid Orman
Russian Federation
890,000
30
While Skhulukhiya returns as the only player with more than 100 big blinds, the average stack sits north of 40 big blinds, giving the chasing pack plenty of room to manoeuvre. Only one player has fewer than ten big blinds, but a double-up for anyone in the bottom half of the leaderboard would put them right back in the mix.
Rounding out the lower chip counts of the returning field are EPT Sochi Main Event champion Arsenii Karmatckii (875,000), two-time WSOP bracelet winner Tobias Peters (585,000), accomplished international grinder Geoffrey Mooney (550,000), WPT Main Event champion Dmitry Gromov (420,000), Hungarian Farkas Benedek (340,000) and anonymous player Goofy (260,000).
The action will get underway at 1:00 p.m. local time and will resume with 25 minutes left on the clock for Level 22, with blinds of 15,000/30,000 and a 30,000 big blind ante.
The first elimination of the day will earn the remaining players a pay jump to $18,000, while a six-figure payday awaits each of the top four finishers, who will then battle until the $300,000 top prize is claimed.
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