Paulius Plausinaitis Turns the Tables Heads-Up to Win $25,000 No Limit-Hold'em Event ($264,690)
Today's $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em 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 29 entries were made to the event, which generated a prize pool of $696,290. Of those entries, five players made the money.
Artur Martirosian and Paulius Plausinaitis were the last two players left standing. Martirosian came into the heads-up battle with a significant chip lead, but Plausinaitis soon doubled up to bring it even. He then managed to make a flush to claim most of Martirosian's chips and leave him short, moments later winning the match.
Martirosian took second place for $170,600 and Plausinaitis was crowned champion to walk away with the trophy and $264,690.
EPT Cyprus $25,000 N0-Limit Hold-em Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paulius Plausinaitis | Lithuania | $264,690 |
| 2 | Artur Martirosian | Russia | $170,600 |
| 3 | Leon Sturm | Germany | $113,100 |
| 4 | Alex Kulev | Bulgaria | $81,800 |
| 5 | Mikalai Vaskaboinikau | Belarus | $66,100 |
Final Table Recap
There wasn't too much difference in stack sizes as nine players reached the final table, although Alex Kulev was out in front and Martirosian sat in second place.
Ren Lin was short stacked and became the first to exit. He got his ace queen in against Maher Nouira with king queen. Nouira found his pair of kings and Lin was sent to the rail.
Nouira couldn't build on that momentum, losing a chunk of chips before getting the rest in against Kyle Cheong and losing out to Cheong's trip aces to bust in eighth.
Short stacked Aleksejs Ponakovs found a double up but then moments later lost a flip against Martirosian to bust out in seventh. By this point, Martirosian had built a stack of nearly one million and had took the lead.
It was time for the bubble and Cheong, who had a decent stack at the start of the final table, ran into Mikalai Vaskaboinikau's pocket kings to bust out just shy of the money.
A little over ten minutes later, Vaskaboinikau's run came to an end. He ran his ace queen into Martirosian's ace king to bust in fifth place. Martirosian further extended his lead.
By this point, Kulev found himself short and made a reshove against Plausinaitis. Kulev lost the flip and was eliminated in fourth place.
Leon Sturm had laddered up to third but was then firmly in the danger zone and well behind the other two players. He did manage to find a double up before busting in third to Martirosian, which brought Martirosian up to two million chips as play went heads-up.
Martirosian had a significant chip lead against Plausinaitis as heads-up ensued, but Plausinaitis got paid for his rivered flush to double up and bring the stacks back to even. After a bit of back and forth, Plausinaitis got his pocket nines in against Martirosian's pocket threes and held to leave Martirosian short.
The tables had turned and all that was left was for Plausinaitis to seal the deal. He did so with a simple shove holding ace six and was called by Martirosian holding king jack. Plausinaitis found an ace and it was all over.
Plausinaitis won the tournament, the trophy, and the top prize of $264,690.
That concludes the PokerNews coverage of the second $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em event. Stay tuned for much more to come at the EPT Cyprus, including the EPT Main Event.
