Mikalai Vaskaboinikau has taken down the EPT Cyprus $10,200 No-Limit Hold’em for $195,500 after agreeing a deal with runner-up Krasimir Neychev.
This win is the third of the Belarussian’s 2024 campaign, bringing him close to the $10 million mark for live tournament winnings.
A week ago, Vaskaboinikau claimed his first EPT title and much sought after Spadie trophy after winning the $50,000 Super High Roller for $601,397. Now he has two of each.
In his winner’s interview, Vaskaboinikau said:
“These trophies are where you get proud of yourself, right? I said we have two kids, and the third is coming, so I need the third trophy – and I’ve got it already here!
“It feels amazing! For ten years, no trophies, and now two in a row. The poker gods were really nice to me, and sometimes all the luck comes together!”
Action Recap
Being one of the big events of the series we didn’t expect a huge field, and coupled with the fact that the $10,300 EPT High Roller was running in parallel, we only saw 87 entries for a prize pool of $843,900.
When the turbo format event rolled over into Day 2, there were still 57 players in with a shout.
With the levels coming around quickly, the action was fast and furious with 10 players heading to the rail during the first one.
As the break approached, plenty more players were sent home and Day 1 chip leader Farid Jattin was still the man in charge.
The standard bubble slow down came soon enough after the break, but superstar player Adrian Mateos came up with a belter of a hand during this period.
Gregoire Auzoux opted to complete from the small blind with 10♥ 7♥ and the Spaniard checked his option holding 6♦ 5♣
The flop came down J♥ 8♣ 6♣ and Auzoux led out for 20,000. Mateos made the call.
The turn was the 2♠ and Auzoux fired again for a bet of 65,000. Mateos called again.
The river was a scary-looking A♥ and Auzoux continued betting to put Mateos all-in with the money bubble in sight.
After a few minutes of thought, Mateos shrugged and called off his tournament life with fourth pair to earn an important double-up.
When the bubble broke, it was Mateos who was eliminated with a min cash prize after clashing with Vaskaboinikau to leave the ultimate winner in a dominating position.
The final table saw vicious action from the start. Lin, Neychev and Vaskaboinikau all took turns in despatching their opponents.
Ren Lin is becoming a regular guest at the sharp end of these large buy-in tournaments but he ran out of luck on this occasion.
Against Lin, Vaskaboinikau hit a flush at a perfect time, followed by winning a flip to send him home.
Incredibly, as the heads-up battle was poised to begin, Vaskaboinikau offered Krasimir Neychev a 50-50 prize money split even though he had double the chips of his opponent.
The only deal-breaker was that he would keep the trophy and be proclaimed as the tournament winner.
Neychev was more than happy enough to accept those terms and Vaskaboinikau was delighted to have his third win of the year, including a Triton Super High Roller title.
EPT Cyprus $10,200 No-Limit Hold’em Final Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1 | Mikalai Vaskaboinikau | Belarus | $195,500* |
| 2 | Krasimir Neychev | Bulgaria | $195,500* |
| 3 | Ren Lin | China | $109,500 |
| 4 | Farid Jattin | Columbia | $84,300 |
| 5 | Julien Sitbon | France | $64,800 |
| 6 | Viktor Ustimov | Russia | $51,500 |
| 7 | Nikita Kuznetsov | Russia | $41,200 |
| 8 | Hassan Nashar | Gambia | $33,000 |
| 9 | Kully Sidhu | UK | $26,400 |
| 10 | Fahredin Mustafov | Bulgaria | $21,100 |
| 11 | Adrian Mateos | Spain | $21,100 |
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