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Orpen Kisacikoglu Wins World Series of Poker Europe €50,000 High Roller For First Bracelet

The Turkish Player Defeated A Field of 45 Entries To Capture The Hardware and The Top Prize of $748,106

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Orpen Kisacikoglu is having his best year ever on the live high roller tournament circuit. The Turkish player has recorded three of his four largest career scores in 2022, with the most recent deep run seeing him defeat a field of 45 entries to come away with the title in the 2022 World Series of Poker Europe €50,000 no-limit hold’em high roller. Kisacikoglu was awarded $748,106 and his first bracelet for the win.

This was his fourth-largest career cash. His biggest came earlier this year, when he placed second in the €100,000 buy-in main event at the Triton Poker Madrid series for $2,117,316. He also finished as the runner-up in a €50,000 high roller at the European Poker Tour Prague festival for another $563,284. Even though those two close calls were among the biggest paydays on his resume, Kisacikoglu was glad to close out the win this time around.

“It feels incredibly special. Playing with friends makes things more relaxed at the table but yeah when we got to the final few I was starting to feel anxious about finishing second again,“ Kisacikoglu told WSOP reporters after the win.

In addition to the title and the money, Kisacikoglu was also awarded 510 Card Player Player of the Year points for his victory in this event. This was his first title and sixth final-table finish of the year. With $3,761,987 in year-to-date POY earnings and 2,363 total points, Kisacikoglu now sits in 83rd place in the 2022 POY race standings sponsored by Global Poker

He also moved inside the top 60 in the "PokerGO Tour ":https://www.pgt.com/leaderboardrankings thanks to the 449 points he earned with this win.

The final day of this event began with 22 players remaining and registration not yet closed. When it finally did, the prize pool of $2,116,125 was revealed to be earmarked for just the top seven finishers. Recent bracelet winner Paul Phua was knocked out on the $92,787 money bubble when his pocket nines ran into the pocket kings of five-time bracelet winner Shaun Deeb.

Bracelet winner Daniel Dvoress was the first to fall inside the money. The Canadian high-stakes regular ran A-5 into the A-6 of Kisacikoglu. The six kicker ender up playing for Kisacikoglu to send Dvoress home with $92,787.

Daniel Pidin was the next to hit the rail. He flopped trip jacks with a ten kicker and ran into the same trips with a queen kicker for bracelet winner Timothy Adams. The money got in on the river and Adam’s superior kicker earned him the pot. Pidin secured $119,492 for his sixth-place showing.

Despite scoring that knockout, Adams was the next to be eliminated. He losta big flip with K-Q suited against the pocket nines of Kisacikoglu to fall to the bottom of the leaderboard. He later called off the last of his stack with pocket fives from the facing a small blind shove of Kisacikoglu, who held K-8. Adams lead through the turn, but a king on the river sent him packing in fifth place ($159,413). He now has more than $30.6 million in lifetime cashes.

Nick PetrangeloTwo-time bracelet winner Nick Petrangelo’s run in this event came to an end when his A-7 (shoved from the small blind) was unable to hold against the 7-5 suited of big stack Shaun Deeb, who called from the big blind. Deeb flopped a five and held from there to narrow the field to three. Petrangelo was awarded $220,045 for his deep run, growing his career total to $27,325,623.

A preflop cooler spelled the end of Deeb in this event. He got all-in with pocket jacks facing the pocket kings of Kisacikoglu. The larger pair held up and Deeb was knocked out in third place ($313,919). The score increased his career earnings to more than $11.4 million.

With that, Kisacikoglu took more than a 3.5:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Sam Grafton, who won the Coin Rivet Invitational $200,000 buy-in event at the Mediterranean Poker Party earlier this year for a staggering $5.5 million payday.

In the final hand, Kisacikoglu shoved from the button and Grafton called with KDiamond SuitJHeart Suit. Kisacikoglu showed KHeart SuitQDiamond Suit. The JDiamond Suit8Diamond Suit7Heart Suit flop gave Grafton the lead. The 9Heart Suit turn gave Kisacikoglu some outs to a straight, which showed up in the form of the 10Diamond Suit on the river to give him the king-high straight. Grafton earned $462,363 as the runner-up. He now has $12,394,148 in lifetime earnings.

Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:

Place Player Earnings POY Points PGT Points
1 Orpen Kisacikoglu $748,106 510 449
2 Sam Grafton $462,363 425 277
3 Shaun Deeb $313,919 340 188
4 Nick Petrangelo $220,045 255 132
5 Timothy Adams $159,413 213 96
6 Daniel Pidin $119,492 170 72
7 Daniel Dvoress $92,787 128 56

Winner photo credit: WSOP / Tomas Stacha. Petrangelo photo via King’s Resort Facebook page.