Yakiv Syzghanov Wins World Poker Tour Prime Aix-en-Provence

Yakiv Syzghanov emerged victorious from a field of 758 entries in the 2024 World Poker Tour Prime Aix-en-Provence €1,100 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event, earning $144,612 for the win.

The Ukrainian outlasted the healthy turnout to the Pasino Grand in the South of France to secure the six-figure top prize, the title, and a $10,400 seat in the 2024 WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.

“Today, for me, was very important. It is unbelievable, an amazing feeling. A dream come true, 100%,” Syzghanov told WPT reporters after coming out on top. “Thank you, all people thank, you, because it was very hard. I play six days in a row, twelve hours. I busted in all flights… I try, try try, and go into turbo, and you see I win.”

This was by far the largest live tournament score yet for Syzghanov, easily surpassing the $13,353 he secured for a 13th-place finish in the €1,350 mini main event at the 2022 World Series of Poker Europe festival. He now has more than $163,000 in recorded tournament earnings to his name.

Syzghanov earned 912 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion of this event, enough to see him surge up the standings and into a four-way tie for 34th place on the 2024 POY leaderboard presented by Global Poker.

The final day began with eight players remaining, with Laurent Michot in the lead and Syzghanov tied for second with Frederic Normand. Gilles Michaud (8th) and Erich Tedeschi (7th) were both knocked out in the first handful of orbits. Syzghanov then scored his first elimination of the day when his top pair of aces held against the king-high flush draw of Andre Volpi (6th). The very next hand saw David Sacksick (5th) run pocket fours into the pocket tens of Syzghanov to narrow the field to four.

A classic race spelled the end of Dylan Cechowski’s run, with his A-Q failing to outrun the pocket nines of Michot. Cechowski finished earned $48,782 as the fourth-place finisher.

Michot also busted Frederic Normand, who turned his third pair into a bluff, which was picked off by Norman’s second pair. Normand earned $66,127 for his third-place showing, increasing his lifetime earnings to more than $1.4 million in the process.

Heads-up play began with Michot holding roughly a 3:1 chip lead over Syzghanov. Michot pulled away a couple of times, only to have Syzghanov double back into contention. Syzghanov was able to edge his way into the lead in time for the final hand of the match. He three-bet shoved from the big blind over Michot’s button raise with A3. Michot called with 55. The board ran out KK8AK to give Syzghanov kings full of aces for the win. Michot was awarded $88,892 as the runner-up.

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

Photo credit: World Poker Tour.

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