In the final hand before the break, Dylan DeStefano was down to roughly 60,000 chips, and, after unknown action, they all went in preflop from the hijack against Francisco Benitez from the cutoff.
Dylan DeStefano: 10♠10♥
Francisco Benitez: A♣A♥
Benitez's aces would make a full house on the K♦K♣7♦6♥A♠ runout and DeStefano's break would be extended by an indefinite amount of time.
Sam Greenwood had opened from the button and was faced with a three-bet to 12,000 from Paulius Plausinaitis in the small blind. Greenwood four-bet to 30,000 and Plausinaitis made the call.
The flop came A♠2♠K♠ and Plausinaitis check-called a 13,000 continuation bet from Greenwood.
Plausinaitis checked again on the 5♥ turn and Greenwood sized up with a bet of 47,000. Plausinatis made the call.
On the 8♣ river Plausinaitis checked and Greenwood bet 117,500, leaving a single 1,000 chip behind. Plausinaitis made the call.
Greenwood tabled A♣K♣ for top two pair while Plausinaitis revealed K♦K♥ for a set to take down a massive early pot. Greenwood would be eliminated a few hands later.
There were already a whopping 72,000 chips in the middle when the action was caught on a board of 2♣9♠4♦5♣. Gha Iakobishvili made the pot even bigger by betting a massive 80,000 from the small blind. Quan Zhou, who just sat down to play his first hand, called from the big blind while Kayhan Mokri folded from the cutoff.
The 3♠ river then completed the board and Iakobishvili downsized to a bet of 50,000. Zhou subsequentially shoved all in, covering the 131,000 chips Iakobishvili had in his total stack by just a bit.
Iakobishvili put forth all of his time banks, and after using a few of them he asked the dealer if he must show if he made the call. After an affirmative answer, Iakobishvhili responded with "then I will think."
"Oh well, I will just reenter", he ultimately concluded while putting in the rest of his stack. Zhou showed A♣Q♣ for a rivered wheel, while Iakobishvili quickly tabled 3x3x for a set. He quickly left the tournament area, looking for the nearest available reentry desk.
Teun Mulder, Aleksejs Ponakovs and Artur Martirosian were three-way on a board that read K♥2♣10♣K♦. With 8,5000 in the middle, Mulder checked from the small blind before Ponakovs made a bet of 6,000 chips from the big blind. Martirosian made the call from the cutoff and Mulder folded.
The 2♦ river then fell and Ponakovs put out a single T-25,000 chip for a bet worth more than the pot. Martirosian put in a calling chip just before his shot clock ran out and Ponakovs sighed before reluctantly showing 7♣5♠, playing the board. Meanwhile, Martirosian showed J♣10♠ for a higher two pair and raked in the sizable pot.
Kayhan Mokri After Winning the Super High Roller at EPT Barcelona
The long-awaited $50,000 Super High Roller at the first-ever PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Cyprus held at the luxurious Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa is the highest buy-in on the schedule and is set to kick off at 12:30 p.m. local time.
The latest player to capture a Super High Roller trophy at an EPT was Kayhan Mokri, when the Norwegian high-stakes regular conquered a field of 18 players to receive the trophy and €750,960 in cash during the €100,000 buy-in event at EPT Barcelona less than two months ago. However, unlike some of poker's other most notable names, Mokri has not been spotted on the idyllic island of Cyprus so far.
In fact, the two $25,000 tournaments that have been held thus far this week attracted many household faces in the high roller circuit. There are too many poker superstars present to name, but among those who have shown up so far are PokerStars AmbassadorSam Grafton, Steve O’Dwyer, Artur Martirosian, Sam Greenwood, Sergi Reixach, Mikita Badziakouski, Joao Vieira, Teun Mulder, Leon Sturm, and Adrian Mateos, who is the only player to have registered for the Super High Roller at the time of writing. Meanwhile, Alexander Tkatschew and Paulius Plausinaitis boosted their bankroll by being victorious in these star-studded fields, receiving $432,090 and $264,690 for their efforts respectively.
Alexander Tkatschew
Many, if not all, of the aforementioned names are expected to put down the $50,000 buy-in for the chance of hoisting the coveted Super High Roller trophy at the end of the three-day tournament. In exchange for the buy-in, the players will receive 250,000 chips and they will have the opportunity to fire unlimited reentries until the end of the late registration period at the start of Day 2, at which point the starting stack is still worth over 40 big blinds. Play will begin with blinds of 500/1,000 with a big blind ante of 1,000 and Day 1 will see eight levels of one hour being played, with a 20-minute break interluding after every two levels.
EPT Cyprus Day 1 Structure
Level
Duration (min)
Small Blind
Big Blind
Big Blind Ante
1
60
500
1,000
1,000
2
60
500
1,000
1,000
Break
20
3
60
1,000
1,500
1,500
4
60
1,000
2,000
2,000
Break
20
5
60
1,000
2,500
2,500
6
60
1,500
3,000
3,000
Break
20
7
60
2,000
4,000
4,000
8
60
2,000
5,000
5,000
The EPT Cyprus $50,000 Super High Roller is sure to provide plenty of spectacle and grandeur when poker’s elites face off once more. PokerNews will as always be present to provide all of the live updates throughout the three days of play, so be sure to stick around and not miss any of the high-stakes action.
