Ilia Kitsbabahvili has taken down the $3,500 WPT Cyprus Championship on the Chamada Status Resort & On line casino for $401,100 after defeating Brit James Mahone.
The Georgian beginner has been crushing all earlier than him this week, cruising to victory in each the $1,100 NLH Freezeout and $1,100 PLO Bounty for a mixed €49,680. Now he’s gone and bagged the large one, too.
It is a man who solely had 9 stay match cashes till a few weeks in the past and solely two within the final six years.
It’s additionally been a comparatively quiet occasion, probably after Matt Savage gave superior warning to each Will Kassouf and Martin Kabrhel.
Motion Recap
Seven gamers returned to the taking part in corridor for the ultimate day’s motion, with solely Sweden’s Tobias Garp lacking from the ultimate desk line-up after he was knocked out on the finish of the day prior to this.
Ignacio Sole was the primary participant of the day to face elimination, getting his A♦ Ok♦ all-in towards James Mahone’s A♠J♥.
The board ran out J♦ 6♣ 3♦ 5♣ A♥ and the very best hand misplaced.
With six left in, the official six-man closing desk was declared, leaving us anticipating a change in tempo and a flurry of motion.
As an alternative what we acquired was a full 39 arms with out an elimination till Uladzimir Zhyharau bowed out. The Belarussian started the day as chip chief however didn’t get any momentum going.
Subsequent to depart was Nikolai Zhadanov, solely three arms later. Pocket nines towards Mahone’s queen-ten didn’t work when a ten got here on the flop.
Elena Litviniuk began the day with desires about turning into solely the third lady in WPT historical past to have her title etched on the Mike Sexton Champions Cup. However the younger Russian had began off with the smallest stack and was out in fourth place when her aces acquired cracked by Rafal Chmura.
Three-handed play lasted an extended 81 arms with no participant ready to take any excessive dangers with the top-heavy prize fund.
The stress broke when Chmura and Kitsbabahvili confronted a flop of J♥ 7♠4♠with the Georgian shifting all-in. Chmura shrugged and snapped it off with A♥ A♣ whereas his opponent flipped over 5♥ 6♥ for the straight draw.
The 10♥ didn’t swap the benefit nevertheless it did give Kitsbabahvili a flush draw which got here in on the river with the 2♥.
Heads-up play started with Kitsbabahvili wielding a stack of 24 million whereas Mahone ready to battle with 14.5 million.
It seemed prefer it may have been an excellent match however over the 22 arms performed all we noticed was Kitsbabahvili extending his benefit.
The ultimate hand was Kitsbabahvili racing his A♠7♠towards Mahone’s 5♦ 5♣. The board ran out J♦ 7♣ 6♣ 2♥ Q♦ to provide the Georgian his first profession title and Mahone $255,000 for his runner up efficiency.
Kitsbabahvili’s $401,100 winner’s prize included a $10,400 entry into the season-ending WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.
If you wish to play in one in every of these worldwide occasions with the WPT, then test our WPT International bonus code and make an account the place you’ll be able to win your seat in quite a lot of low cost satellite tv for pc tournaments. At present you too can qualify for the upcoming €1.5 Million GTD Battle of Malta.
WPT Cyprus Championship Closing Desk Outcomes
PlacePlayerCountryPrize1stIlia KitsbabahviliGeorgia$401,100*2ndJames MahoneEngland$255,0003rdRafal ChmuraSlovakia$190,0004thElena LitviniukRussia$142,0005thNikolai ZhadanovRussia$107,0006thUladzimir ZhyharauBelarus$82,0007thIgnacio SoleSpain$63,0008thTobias GarpSweden$49,000
