The 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus kicked off on October 9 and is set to conclude on October 20. After nearly a week of action, the prestigious live series has crowned several big winners, with PokerStars Pro Elias Gutierrez and Bulgaria’s Ognyan Dimov featuring among the latest winners.
Meanwhile, a field of 2,803 entrants of the $1,100 buy-in Eureka Main Event of the series has been whittled down to the final eight players, following six starting flights and two more days of action. Leading the way into the eight-handed final table on Day 4 is EPT newcomer Yuan Xu from China, who bagged 15,100,000 (38 big blinds). Hot on his heels is Frenchman Samuel Fournier, who kept the lead at various points late in the day, but eventually slipped in late stages, ending the day with 13,725,000.
While each of the remaining eight players in the main event are guaranteed at least $46,600, they all will be eyeing the top prize worth $386,210 and the coveted main event trophy. Xu, is in prime position to take down the coveted title and the first-place prize from the $2,662,850 total prize pool.
A total of 56 players returned to Day 3 of the event, with Marian Virlanuta (4,680,000) leading the way. Over a third of the field was eliminated before the first break of the day, with Michael Wang (51st – $5,780), Martin Zamani (39th – $6,660) and Marle Spragg (35th – $6,660) being some notable eliminations. Virlanuta started the day as the chip leader but did not get off to a good start. Things only got worse for Virlanuta when Matthias Lipp doubled through him making a big dent into his stack. Not long after that, Virlanuta exited in 29th ($7,670) after running his queens into Lavrentiy Ni’s kings.
Among other notables to exit was EPT Sanremo 2011 champion Andrey Pateychuk who came into the day with a top-ten stack and managed to outlast several players before exiting in 14th ($19,120). He eventually shoved his ace-deuce and lost it out to Vytautas Milbutas, who made trips with queen-ten.
With 10 players left, the action slowed down. Nearly two full levels went by before the next elimination in Sebastian Ting who made a move with ace-ten and ran into Xu’s ace-king to fall in 10th place for $27,560. The day finally ended with Lavrentiy Ni getting eliminated in 9th place ($35,840). Ni shoved his last seven big blinds with pocket queens and lost it out against Recep Aydemir’s ace-king.
Defending champion Ankit Ahuja also made it to Day 2 of the event but failed to advance, falling in 223rd place for $2,210.
EPT Cyprus 2024 Eureka Main Event Final Table Chip Counts
1. Yuan Xu – 15,100,000
2. Samuel Fournier – 13,725,000
3. Guoliang Wei – 12,350,000
4. Aleksandr Razinkov – 11,125,000
5. Frederick Anastasiades – 11,050,000
6. Leo Worthington-Leese – 10,775,000
7. Recep Aydemir – 7,550,000
8. Alexey Badulin – 2,400,000
The final eight players will return today (14 October) at 12 p.m. local time to play it down to a winner. Action will resume on Level 35 featuring 200,000/400,000 blinds with a 400,000 big-blind ante.
PokerStars Pro Gutierrez Wins 2024 EPT Cyprus $25K Event For $417,570
While the Main Event has been a major draw, other major tournaments have kept the excitement alive. Elias Gutierrez shone brightly in the $25,000 Super High Roller Warm Up (Event 17).
The event drew a field of 57 entries, building a prize pool of $1,368,570. In the end, the lion’s share of the prize pool went to PokerStars Pro Elias Gutierrez from Spain, who eventually defeated Russia’s Alexander Zubov in heads-up to capture the coveted title and a career-best $417,570. This marked his second career title and first EPT Title, taking his live tournament earnings to $928,475.
On his way to victory, he outlasted several big names including Kayhan Mokri, Juan Pardo, Roman Hrabec, Patrick Leonard, $20,000 event champion Ognyan Dimov, Lewis Spencer, Artur Martirosian, and Ren Lin – all falling before the final table.
Gutierrez took the chip lead when he won a big pot off Enrico Camosci after rivering a set of jacks. Later, Camosci then busted Leonard Maue in 11th place and picked up aces against Manuel Fritz’s kings to set the nine-handed final table, holding massive chip lead with 4,500,000,
With the top 8 players being assured the money, the action slowed down on the money bubble. Aliaksei Boika picked up queens and shoved for 550k against Gutierrez who spiked a set of tens on the river to send Boika out as the bubble boy. The pace elimination then picked up, with Zhendong Li and Aleksejs Ponakovs becoming the early eliminations from the final table.
Gutierrez then won two pots off Camosci and took a massive lead. Camosci became short stacked and finally exited in sixth place after he shoved his ace-queen and Gutierrez called with nines, which held up and Gutierrez moved up past 10,000,000.
Eliminations continued and finally it came down to a heads-up between Alexander Zubov and Gutierrez with the latter holding a 10-1 chip lead. However, Zubov fought hard and snatched the chip lead. Returning after a 15-minute break, Gutierrez stormed back to the top and ended up defeating Zubov to win the European Poker Tour Cyprus $25,000 Super High Roller Warm Up and $417,570 – his career-best score to date.
On the final hand, Zubov limped, Gutierrez shoved his ace-five from the big blind, and Zubov called with jack-ten suited. The board did not help Zubov and he was eliminated in second place. Zubov took home an impressive $273,700 for his efforts.
EPT Cyprus $25,000 Super High Roller Warm Up Final Table results
1. Elias Gutierrez – $417,570
2. Alexander Zubov – $273,700
3. Adrian Mateos – $198,400
4. Dimitar Danchev – $150,500
5. Artsiom Lasouski – $116,300
6. Enrico Camosci – $89,000
7. Aleksejs Ponakovs – $68,400
8. Zhendong Li – $54,700
Ognyan Dimov Dominates EPT Cyprus $20K No-Limit Hold’em To Win a Spadie After Nine Years
Prior to Gutierrez, Bulgaria’s Ognyan Dimov made headlines by taking down the $20,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at EPT Cyprus. The Bulgarian player burst into the poker scene nine years ago when he won the European Poker Tour Deauville Main Event. Since then, he has played plenty of tournaments but the spadie has been eluding him. However, that has now changed with his victory in the $20,000 No-Limit Hold’em event where he defeated a field of 47 players and took home a massive $253,876 from the total prize pool of $902,776.
Dimov is a regular on the high roller circuit, who had won a $25,000 High Roller at the PCA and a $30,000 Triton Series event in Monaco in 2023. He also has a WSOP bracelet to his name. The latest victory marked his first live title of 2024 and boosted his live earnings to a whopping $6,296,290.
Several notables were in action including Indian high roller sensation Santhosh Suvarna, who fired four bullets but failed to reach the money. Apart from Suvarna, we saw several past EPT champions like Adrian Mateos, Dimitar Danchev, Artur Martirosian & Roman Hrabec – all falling short of money.
Mehdi Chaoui finished on the final table bubble falling 10th place. Markkos Ladev started the nine-handed final table as a chip leader with 740,000, with Lin and Dimov being in second and third in chips. The first player to fall from the final table was Jelle Moene who called an all-in from Juan Pardo with his ace-queen. Pardo had two sevens and hit full house to bust his opponent in ninth place.
Eliminations continued and the money was reached when Teun Mulder was eliminated in seventh by Mokri on the money bubble. Mokri continued his momentum and then busted Lin in sixth place.
Lin was followed by Ladev who shoved with queens against Ponakovs’ ace-eight. An ace on the flop ended Ladev’s run in fifth. Later, Pardo’s ace-eight then lost against Mokri’s sevens, ending his run in fourth. Up next, Ponakovs moved all in for 670,000 with ten-seven against Dimov’s king-eight. Ponakovs did not get any help from the board, and Dimov won the pot with king-high to bust Ponakovs in third place.
Mokri held a slight lead of 2,500,000 to 2,200,000 as the heads-up match began. The final two players then agreed to chop the prize pool and play for the trophy. Dimov won the final pot with ace-high to secure the coveted trophy after over nine years of a long wait.
EPT Cyprus $20,000 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results
1. Ognyan Dimov – $253,876
2. Kayhan Mokri – $260,800
3. Aleksejs Ponakovs – $139,900
4. Juan Pardo – $103,800
5. Markkos Ladev – $81,200
6. Ren Lin – $63,200
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