NOIR Poker Series Main Event | Selahaddin Bedir wins after 12 hours of intense competition, taking home $525,000 from 769 entries.

On August 7, 2026, the NOIR Poker Series concluded its main event at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa in Northern Cyprus. Turkish player Selahaddin Bedir battled through a grueling 12-hour final day, emerging victorious from the bottom 13 to defeat Konstantin Voronin and claim the $5,500 Merit Poker Main Event title and a $525,000 prize pool.

The main event attracted 769 entries, creating a total prize pool of $3,608,148. The nine-player final table itself lasted about 10 hours, and the final heads-up match for the champion lasted nearly two hours, with Bedir's match not truly ending until his third major all-in duel with Voronin.

NOIR Poker Series Main Event Data

Bedir also won the tournament with A♣3♥, bringing the NOIR Poker Series to a close.

NOIR Main Event Final Table Results

The prize money for the nine-player final table increased from a minimum of $57,048 to a champion's $525,000, with the top six all receiving at least a six-figure dollar prize.

The final day of the competition quickly shrank from 13 to nine.

At the start of the final day, only 13 players remained, just four eliminations away from the final table.

Xiaosheng Zheng was the first to leave the competition in 13th place, followed by the player who competed as "Tarzan". Tarzan originally entered the final day with the second-highest score, but was seriously injured after a major collision with Manuel Fritz early in the day and was unable to recover.

Fahredin Mustafov was then eliminated after hitting pocket aces, and Miroslav Rizov left in 10th place, officially setting up the nine-player final table. From the dealing of the final day to the formation of the final table, the second blind level of the day had not even been completed.

The nine-player final table lasted approximately 10 hours.

Although the elimination process from the final 13 to nine players was rapid, the pace of the tournament changed completely once the final table was formed.

Less than 30 minutes later, Viktor Siegle became the first player eliminated at the final table. He initially held a stronger hand when he entered the chip stack, but ultimately failed to hold on, finishing in ninth place with $57,048.

About an hour later, Manuel Fritz got pocket aces in the BTN position, but when the flop came and he went all in, he was already behind Fabian Gumz in the big blind. In the end, he couldn't turn the tide and was eliminated in eighth place.

Anton Danilov finished in seventh place about an hour later, while Leonid Orman left about 20 minutes later. Two more players were eliminated before the dinner break, reducing the field to five.

With an average of only 26 large blinds, the pressure on short codes is increasing.

After the dinner break, the average chip count at the five-player table was only about 26 big blinds, and the blinds began to significantly compress the players' post-flop options.

Turkish player Kenar and Russian player Aleksei Gortikov were eliminated within an hour of returning to the ring, finishing fifth and fourth respectively. The competition then entered a three-way battle between Bedir, Voronin and Fabian Gumz.

The next three-player game lasted about two hours, during which all three players held the chip lead, but none of them were able to establish a large enough lead to take over the game.

Ultimately, a head-to-head match between strong hands is necessary to officially determine the champion's heads-up pairing.

Gumz gets a flush with Pocket Q, Bedir advances to the championship heads-up.

In a crucial hand during the three-way stage, Fabian Gumz raised to 2,000,000 from the BTN position, and Bedir called from the big blind.

Flip the card:

9♠ 8♠ 10♦

Bedir checked, and Gumz bet 4,200,000. Bedir immediately checked all-in, and Gumz, holding 14,700,000, called immediately.

Fabian Gumz：Q♦Q♣
Selahaddin Bedir: 10♠5♠

Gumz led Bedir with pocket queens, a pair of tens, and a flush draw, but the turn card, the K♠, immediately gave Bedir a flush. The river card, the 4♦, couldn't change the outcome, and Gumz finished in third place, earning $257,000.

Bedir thus entered into a final duel with Konstantin Voronin.

In a nearly two-hour one-on-one match, Bedir maintained control of the pace throughout.

The heads-up match lasted nearly two hours. PokerNews noted that Bedir appeared to be in control for most of the time, steadily chipping away at Voronin's chips through small pots.

But Voronin's resilience prevented Bedir from landing the final blow. In the two previous big all-in situations, Voronin won both times, doubling up to save the match whenever he was about to fall into the very short yards zone.

However, because the blinds are already very high, Bedir is able to quickly regain the lead through subsequent smaller pots after losing a large pot.

Pocket Jacks were in the lead, but the river 9 gave Voronin a narrow escape.

One of the hands that came closest to ending the championship was with blinds of 800,000/1,500,000 and a big blind ante of 1,500,000.

Voronin limped in the BTN position, Bedir raised to 4,500,000 from the big blind, and Voronin called.

Flip the card:

7♠ 8♣ A♦

Bedir bet 2,500,000, and Voronin immediately went all in with 11,400,000. Bedir called after confirming the number of chips.

Konstantin Voronin: 9♦8♥
Selahaddin Bedir：J♦J♣

Bedir had pocket Jacks ahead of Voronin's pair of eights. The turn card, Q♥, didn't change the situation, and Bedir was now just one card away from the championship.

However, the river card 9♥ gave Voronin two pairs of 9 and 8, allowing him to overtake pocket Jacks and double up again, thus significantly narrowing the chip gap between the two players.

The third all-in ended the game, with A-3 completing the Wheel on the turn.

Voronin's second doubling up failed to truly seize the initiative. Bedir once again pushed his opponent's chip stack down through small pots, eventually leading to a third all-in.

The blinds increased to 1,000,000/2,000,000, with the big blind ante at 2,000,000. Voronin, in the button position, went all-in with his remaining 13,000,000 chips, and Bedir called.

Konstantin Voronin：Q♥10♥
Selahaddin Bedir：A♣3♥

Public sign:

2♣ K♠ 5♣ 4♦ 3♠

After the turn card 4♦ fell, Bedir had already completed a Wheel straight with A-2-3-4-5, and Voronin lost any chance to overtake before the river card was dealt.

With his third all-in bet, Bedir finally managed to hold onto his lead. The heads-up match ended after approximately 90 minutes, with Voronin taking second place and $375,000, while Bedir secured the $525,000 champion prize.

The runner-up in the April High Roller tournament has now returned to Merit to claim the title.

For Bedir, this NOIR main event championship also carries the meaning of "taking another step forward".

In April of this year, he finished as runner-up in a high roller race held at the same venue; a few months later, he returned to Merit Royal Diamond and finally turned deep running into a championship.

When asked about the meaning of poker to him, Bedir said that the competition is both his career and his hobby. He enjoys sitting at the poker table and competing more than being driven by prize money.

Bridge experience is another advantage for Bedir.

Besides poker, Bedir is also a highly experienced bridge player.

He described bridge as a "mental sport" and believed that there were transferable abilities between the two card games, including elements such as logical thinking, information processing, and sustained focus.

Regarding how he would celebrate winning the $525,000 championship, Bedir did not plan any large-scale events, intending only to spend the time with his children and friends, maintaining his usual simple lifestyle.

The 12-hour final day brought the NOIR series to a close.

From the 13-man final day to the nine-man final battle lasting about 10 hours, and then to the long one-on-one duel with Voronin, Selahaddin Bedir's path to the championship lasted almost the entire day.

He not only had to manage the chip pressure at different stages, but also had to face Voronin's two successful all-in duels to stay alive. It wasn't until the third major clash that Bedir finally completed a wheel straight with A♣3♥, officially ending the 769-player Main Event.

With Bedir taking home the $525,000 prize, the 2026 NOIR Poker Series has officially come to a close. The Turkish player, who finished as runner-up in the same high roller event in April, finally completed his championship run, ending the series with a Main Event victory.

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