Red-Hot Mikalai Vaskaboinikau Wins European Poker Tour Cyprus $50,000 High Roller

Belarusian businessman Mikalai Vaskaboinikau triumphed in the 2024 European Poker Tour Cyprus $50,000 no-limit hold’em high roller, topping the field of 47 entries to secure $601,397 and his second high-stakes title of the year.

Back in May, the poker enthusiast took down the Triton Montenegro $125,000 buy-in main event for a staggering $4.7 million. He now has more than $9.3 million in total career earnings, with roughly two thirds ($6.2 million) of that haul having been secured in 2024 alone.

In addition to the hardware and the money, Vaskaboinikau also secured 510 Card Player Player of the Year points for this win. With two titles, five final-table finishes, and 3,055 total points, he now sits within reach of the top 50 in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

This three-day affair, held inside the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa, saw the money bubble burst at the end of day 2. Thomas Eychenne lost a classic race with pocket queens against the A-K of two-time bracelet winner Artur Martirosian to hit the rail empty-handed as the seventh-place finisher.

Four-time bracelet winner Adrian Mateos held the chip lead when day 3 began, while Vaskaboinikau was among the shorter stacks.

Canada’s Jamil Wakil (6th – $159,600) was eliminated by Alexander Zubov early. Zubov then lost a big showdown with A-J against the A-Q suited of Vaskaboinikau to find himself in the danger zone. He was soon sent packing in fifth place, earning $205,200 for his efforts.

Another preflop coin flip spelled the end of bracelet winner Roman Hrabec’s run in this tournament. His A-10 was unable to overcome the pocket eights of a surging Vaskaboinikau, resulting in a fourth-place finish for the Czech player. He now has nearly $10.6 million in career cashes after this latest deep run, thanks in large part to his own Triton main event this year. Hrabec earned $4.3 million back in March when he came out on top in Jeju, South Korea. With two titles and seven final tables, he now ranks 28th in the POY standings.

The final three battled it out for a bit before agreeing to a deal that redistributed the remaining prize money a bit, leaving $59,277 on the side to play for. Mateos slid to the bottom of the counts during three-handed action, and eventually got the last of his stack in with A3 trailing the A of Vaskaboinikau. Neither player connected with the board and Mateos was eliminated in third place.

The Spanish tournament superstar left with the $555,758 he negotiated for. This was his 19th final-table finish of 2024. He has cashed for more than $10.4 million across those scores, winning three titles along the way. With 9,404 total POY points, he now has a 1,104-point lead over second-ranked David Coleman at the top of the POY leaderboard.

Heads-up play began with 6,420,000 for Vaskaboinikau against 5,330,000 for Martirosian. The lead changed hands ahead of the decisive clash of the match. All the chips got in with AA for Martirosian leading the A4 of Vaskaboinikau. The board came down J7378 and Vaskaboinikau hit running diamonds to win with an ace-high flush.

Martirosian got the last of his remaining chips in with A-2 against the pocket fours of Vaskaboinikau, but was unable to come from behind and was eliminated in second place. The $495,815 he earned as the runner-up grew his lifetime earnings to nearly $18.3 million.

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

Photo credits: Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd. / Danny Maxwell.

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