Ryan Mandara has topped a field of 456 high rollers to win the EPT Cyprus $10,300 High Roller event for a huge $709,28 payday.
The Brit picked up his third cash of the series to take his live career earning up to an impressive $1,780,188.
Sebastian Malec was the last man in Mandara’s way but if the fans were hoping for a long, drawn out battle they were sorely disappointed as it was all over in only three hands.
In his post-event interview he said:
“I’m good, a bit in shock still. Day 1, I went down to 20,000 straight away, but managed to bag 75,000. Then, Day 2, I was just groveling and grinding and managed to bag 375,000.
“Today, I just ran super good. I try not to make it affect decisions, but sometimes it does. I try my best not to let it affect me.”
This win also put Mandara into the top 100 for UK live tournament players’ earnings.
Action Recap
By the start of Day 3, there were only 24 players left at the tables and they were quickly whittled down to a final table of nine.
Sebastian Malec sat with almost 25% of the chips in play, looking dominant but things changed very quickly.
A flip against Stoyan Madanzhiev saw his lead vanish in seconds and it was now anybody’;s tournament.
Steve O’Dwyer was the first man to leave the final table after jamming pocket sixes and running into eights.
And then as the players began to get eliminated in quick succession, Mandara was getting into his stride beginning with busting Niklas Astedt out in eighth with pocket aces dealing with the Swede’s jacks.
Before long, we were down to the last four and it was Stoyan Madanzhiev who was struggling to build any momentum with his final eight big blinds.
When he looked down to see ace-seven, it was as good a hand as most to three-bet jam and chance his luck. Unfortunately for the Bulgarian Mandara was waiting to snap him off with ace-king.
Sebastian Malec now had more than half of the chips and Jelle Moene was the short stack, albeit with a decent 30 big blinds.
But even a stack like that can disappear in a moment, which is what happened when the Dutchman called a four-bet jam with ace-jack only to run head on into the pocket kings of Mandara.
Just as earlier in the day, the two heads-up participants took a minute to step away to discuss a deal. The pair quickly agreed to chop the prize money based on ICM, leaving only $32,500 on the table along with the title and trophy.
Malec wasn’t much in the mood to hang around, playing it safe and lost most of his chips on the second hand after check-shoving second pair when Mandara was primed to call it off with top pair.
As quick as a flash, it was all over on the very next hand.
EPT Cyprus $10,300 High Roller Final Table Results
Place | Player | Country | Prize |
1 | Ryan Mandara | United Kingdom | $709,285* |
2 | Sebastian Malec | Poland | $697,115* |
3 | Jelle Moene | Netherlands | $386,200 |
4 | Stoyan Madanzhiev | Bulgaria | $297,000 |
5 | Lev Margolin | Israel | $228,500 |
6 | Adrian Cazacu | Romania | $175,800 |
7 | Daniel Myers | United Kingdom | $135,200 |
8 | Niklas Astedt | Sweden | $110,900 |
9 | Steve O’Dwyer | Ireland | $92,400 |
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