Aliaksandr Hirs Takes Control of $7,500 High Roller as 78 Advance to Day 2

A quick-fire Day 1 of the $7,500 High Roller has come to an end inside the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa in Northern Cyprus. Just eight 40-minute levels were played, with 78 players navigating the day and advancing to Day 2.

The highest-buy-in event of the 2026 Merit Poker NOIR Series drew 114 players to the grand hall, with the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool helping attract a strong field when play kicked off at 6 p.m. local time.

Standing head and shoulders above the rest of the field, Aliaksandr Hirs enjoyed a remarkable opening day, bagging 562,000 chips to take a commanding overnight lead. His stack will be worth 281 big blinds when play resumes, putting him more than 100 big blinds clear of his nearest challenger heading into Day 2.

Behind him, it is Caner Gunes who finished the day closest to the chip leader, bagging 343,000 to sit second on the leaderboard. Gilles Simon and Ivan Ilichev share the final spot on the podium, with both players ending the day on 340,000.

Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Aliaksandr Hirs	Belarus	562,000	281
2	Caner Gunes	Turkey	343,000	172
3	Gilles Simon	Netherlands	340,000	170
4	Ivan Ilichev	Russian Federation	340,000	170
5	Yesset Aimukhanov	Kazakhstan	316,000	158
6	Farkas Benedek	Hungary	309,500	155
7	Aleksandr Razinkov	Russian Federation	297,500	149
8	Martins Adeniya	United Kingdom	292,000	146
9	John Doe	n/a	288,500	144
10	Rayan Aljawhari	Lebanon	279,000	140

The strength of the field extends well beyond the top of the leaderboard, with plenty of quality still lurking further down the counts. Merijn van Rooij (263,500), Martins Adeniya (292,000), Ryan Mandara (256,000), Natalia Nikitina (212,000), Alexander Lakhov (185,000), Tobias Peters (173,500) and Simone Andrian (113,500) are among those returning for Day 2.

Not everybody enjoyed such a prosperous day, with Joris Ruijs, Paul Esau, Manig Loeser, Raoul Kanme, Mihai Niste, Arsenii Karmatckii, Bogdan Jontulovic, Ali Al-Kubasi and Andras Matrai among those unable to find a way through the field.

Their tournament is not necessarily over, however, with unlimited reentries available and late registration remaining open until the end of Level 12.

The action resumes tomorrow, Saturday, August 1, at 1:00 p.m. local time, with play recommencing on Level 9 with blinds of 1,000/2,000 and a 2,000 big blind ante. The schedule for Day 2 has yet to be confirmed but is expected to be announced shortly after play gets underway.