Alexander Tkatschew Dominates Final Table to Win $25,000 NLHE Event ($432,090)
The $25,000 NLHE I event, running at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa as part of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus, has now reached its conclusion and a winner has been crowned.
A total of 59 entries were made to the event, which generated a prize pool of $1,416,590. Of those entries, just eight players made the money.
After coming to the final table as the chip leader and knocking out four of his remaining opponents on the way to victory, Alexander Tkatschew emerged as the outright winner. He faced Teun Mulder heads-up and, still holding a significant lead, made short work of it to come out on top.
Tkatschew earned himself the top prize of $432,090 as well as the PokerStars Spade trophy.
Mulder had to settle for second place and walked away with $283,300, although given the difference in stacks he shouldn't feel too disappointed with the outcome.
Artur Martirosian came third for $205,400 and PokerStars Team Pro player Sam Grafton finished fourth for $155,800, both managing to ladder up several spots with short stacks before eventually busting.
EPT Cyprus $25,000 NLHE Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alexander Tkatschew | Austria | $432,090 |
| 2 | Teun Mulder | Netherlands | $283,300 |
| 3 | Artur Martirosian | Russia | $205,400 |
| 4 | Sam Grafton | England | $155,800 |
| 5 | Kanan Taherkhani | Turkey | $120,400 |
| 6 | Biao Ding | China | $92,100 |
| 7 | Ognyan Dimov | Bulgaria | $70,800 |
| 8 | Dimitar Danchev | Bulgaria | $56,700 |
Final Table Recap
The tournament broke down to the final table at nine players, yet only eight made the money. Biao Ding was sitting on the shortest stack at that point, but he managed to pick up aces and found the double up to stay in the game. Moments later, Aliaksei Boika lost a flip to bust out on the bubble.
Following a scheduled break, two players bust out in quick succession. The first of those was Dimitar Danchev, who called Mulder's small blind shove in the big blind and found himself behind. Mulder held and Danchev was eliminated in eighth place.
Ognyan Dimov was next to go. Less than 10 minutes after Danchev's bust, he shoved from the small blind and ran into Tkatschew's pocket tens to hit the rail in seventh.
Although he had managed to ladder a couple of places, Ding then shoved for ten big blinds with ace ten and was dominated by Mulder's ace king to come sixth.
With just five players remaining, Grafton and Artur Martirosian were both short, but it was Kanan Taherkhani who was next to go. He stacked off against Tkatschew on the flop holding pocket aces. Unfortunately for him, Tkatschew had made two pair and held.
Grafton then shoved all in and was called by Mulder, who won the pot with pocket tens. Grafton was clearly happy to have laddered up, saying "I'll take it," as he left the table with a fourth place finish.
Then it was Martirosian's turn to make the shove. Tkatschew called him off and held to eliminate Martirosian, taking the tournament to heads-up with a huge chip lead.
Players agreed to take a short break and when they were returned spectators started to gather, making for a loud and exciting finale that included supporters on both sides - literally - German's on one side of the room rallying for Tkatschew, followed by a crowd of Dutch friends of Mulder.
Tkatschew applied continuous pressure to the shorter stacked Mulder, firing off bets and then putting Mulder to the test with river shoves on several occassions. By the third round of river shoves, Mulder picked his spot to make the call, but Tkatschew had the goods, turning over two pair to win the hand, the tournament, and the $432,090 top prize.
That concludes the PokerNews coverage of the $25,000 NLHE I event, the first of six tournaments of this buy-in level on the schedule. There's still loads more to come at the EPT Cyprus, including the Main Event and High Rollers, so stay tuned for more live reporting straight from the tournament floor.