Orpen Kisacikoglu Wins Final $10,000 Buy-In Event At Poker Masters

UK-based Turkish entrepreneur Orpen Kisacikoglu may not be a professional poker player, but you would never know that from looking at his tournament resume. He has accumulated over $15.1 million in recorded earnings across 97 cashes, with seven titles won including a World Series of Poker bracelet. Kisacikoglu’s latest victory saw him defeat a field of 95 entries in event no. 6 at the 2023 Poker Masters high-stakes festival. Kisacikoglu earned $218,500 as the $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event champion.

On the road to this title, Kisacikoglu squared off against some of the most accomplished players in the game, including two of the top three on poker’s all-time money list: Justin Bonomo ($64.1 million in career earnings) and Stephen Chidwick ($52 million in career earnings).

The 540 Card Player Player of the Year points he secured after dragging the final pot in this event were enough to move him into 33rd place in the 2023 POY standings presented by Global Poker. He has made nine final tables and won three titles so far this year, with more than $4.2 million in POY earnings accrued along the way.

Kisacikoglu also scored 219 PokerGO Tour points for the win, moving into sixth place in the race for this year’s Poker Masters Purple Jacket as a result.

The top 14 finishers made the money in this event, each earning a share of the $950,000 in total prize money. The second and final day of play began with just seven players remaining, with Kisacikoglu in the lead and event no. 4 champion Chino Rheem hot on his heels.

2013 WSOP main event champion Ryan Riess lost a preflop race early to finish seventh ($47,500). Chidwick soon followed, with his A-9 running into the A-K of Bonomo. This was the two-time POY award winner’s 18th final table of the year. He now sits in sixth place on the POY leaderboard as he contends for a third win in Card Player’s points race.

Rheem knocked out Sam Laskowitz in fifth place ($76,000), only to then lose a big chunk of his stack to World Poker Tour champion Jack Hardcastle with pocket jacks against pocket aces not long after. Rheem, a three-time WPT winner, was soon all-in and at risk with pocket sixes against the A-10 of Kisacikoglu. Rheem lost the race and was knocked out in fourth place ($95,000). He climbed to second in the series-long points race with a total of 313.

Bonomo soon followed, calling all-in for less than four big blinds from the big blind with 5-4 suited. Kisacikoglu had shoved from the button with ace high, which played by the river to eliminate Bonomo in third place ($114,000).

Kisacikoglu held 11.1 million to Hardcastle’s 775,000 when heads-up play began. It didn’t take long for him to convert that lead into the title. On the first hand, Hardcastle shoved from the button with QJ for around six big blinds. Kisacikoglu called with 106 out of the big blind.

The board came down 854103 to lock up the pot and the title for Kisacikoglu. Hardcastle earned $152,000 as the runner-up. This was the third-largest recorded score of his career. He now has more than $2 million in lifetime earnings to his name.

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

Photo credits: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.

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