Oliver Weis bagged his third major title of the year tonight by winning the PokerStars EPT Cyprus Main Event. The 32-year-old German pro came back from a 5:1 heads-up chip deficit to scoop the $1,030,000 top prize.
Missing a Payday
With 1284 entries, the $5300 buy-in flagship tournament of the EPT Cyprus stop produced a $6,227,400 prizepool, in which 191 players would dip their toes.
That meant plenty wouldn’t partake of the spoils, of course, and the who’s who of empty-handed souls included Barny Boatman, Kenny Hallaert, Sam Grafton and Steve O’Dwyer.
When the money bubble arrived late on day 2, it was Samuel Fournier all-in and at risk facing the executioner’s sword…
Samuel Fournier: Q♦ Q♥
Mihai Niste: A♥ K♥
Flop: 8♣ 9♥ 8♦
Turn: 3♥
River: 5♥
Fournier’s dreams flushed away, the remaining players could breathe a little easier with an $8400 min. cash locked up.
Big names in the Money
It took three more days’ play to whittle them down to a final table, with many notables crashing along the way:
- 2019 WSOP Main Event winner Hossein Ensan (180th / $9,100)
- Spanish highstakes crusher, Adrian Mateos (124th / $10,460)
- Online phenom, Niklas ‘Lena900’ Astedt (104th / $12,020)
- Russian beast, Nikita Kuznetsov (51st / $18,240)
- India’s finest, Santosh Suvarna (21st / $31,940)
The Final Day
By the time the final six players returned to decide the fate of just over $3million, Wies had stacked almost as many chips – 185 big blinds’ worth – as his five rivals put together.
Local hero, Georgios Tsouloftas, brought up the rear with just 23 BBs to his name but quickly doubled twice to be well clear of the danger zone.
Anton Wigg, looking to join a select band of double EPT Main Event winners (alongside Victoria Coren Mitchell, Mikalai Pobal and Mike Watson) was not so lucky…
A 4-bet shove from Mikhail Shalamov saw Wigg call and face a race for his tournament life…
Anton Wigg: 10♠ 10♦
Mikhail Shalamov: A♣ K♥
Flop: A♦ Q♣ 7♥
Turn: 6♠
River: 8♦
Sixth place and $208,720 for the Swede and he was followed to the rails – after a significant technical delay – by Bobby James, the Londoner cashing four times in total in Cyprus, this one by far his career biggest.
Ukraine’s Andriy Lyubovetskiy had to settle for 4th place and $353,100 after battling hard all day, a final hero call with deuces no good against Weis’ two pair.
Then Slovenia-resident Russian, Mikhail Shalimov made his final stand, a big blind shove against Tsouloftas’ crafty small blind limp backfiring:
Mikhail Shalamov: A♥ 7♣
Georgios Tsouloftas: A♦ 10♠
Flop: 10♥ 8♣ 2♥
Turn: 7♦
River: Q♦
Heads-up for EPT Main Event Glory
The heads-up showdown between Tsouloftas and Weis was an event in itself, the pair trading blows and chips across several hours of play. As ever, something – or someone rather – eventually has to give…
It is always coming seven.
Congratulations to Oliver Weis on taking down the #EPTCyprus Main Event. 👏
The German defeated a field of 1,284 entries and wins $1,030,000. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/NUI7BNbutR
— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) October 20, 2024
EPT Cyprus Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1 | Oliver Weis | Germany | $1,030,000 |
| 2 | Georgios Tsouloftas | Cyprus | $642,300 |
| 3 | Mikhail Shalamov | Russia | $459,000 |
| 4 | Andriy Lyubovetskiy | Ukraine | $353,100 |
| 5 | Bobby James | UK | $271,400 |
| 6 | Anton Wigg | Sweden | $208,720 |
| 7 | Anton Kraous | Bulgaria | $160,500 |
| 8 | Andrea Dato | Italy | $123,400 |
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