Mikalai Vaskaboinikau beats super-pros to hoist EPT Super High Roller trophy

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Wakil and Zubov exit early 

After blinding down to just 6BBs, Wakil found in the UTG position and committed the majority of his stack, leaving just 1BB behind. The action folded around to Mateos, who elected to flat with before the blinds both folded. On the flop, Wakil checked to his opponent. Mateos, ever the edge-seeker, bet out for 95,000 – a custom sizing that allowed him to extract value while also, effectively, tightening the ICM handcuffs around his opponents' wrists, if only for a couple of hands. Wakil made the call, leaving himself only a single 5,000 chip, and the two players then checked the remaining action to showdown, with Mateos' ace-high holding remaining best the whole way. 

The very next hand, Wakil was forced all-in from the big blind but managed to quadruple his stack after making a pair against Martirosian's queen-high holding. Wakil was then forced all-in from the small blind on the following hand with . Mateos' raise with was defended by Zubov in the big blind with and the two players checked down to the river on the runout. Having made his flush, the Russian sought value from Mateos but found none. Zubov turned over the winner to rake in the much-needed chip infusion while Wakil headed for the payout desk to collect his sixth-place earnings. 

Jamil Wakil was unable to spin up his short stack.

Danny Maxwell Photography

Zubov, having secured one pay ladder already, looked to make it two when he re-shoved from the small blind with against Vaskaboinikau's open jam. Unfortunately for the Russian, his holding was pipped by Vaskaboinikau's and the runout offered no improvement. With only crumbs left in his stack, Zubov was then forced all-in from the big blind on the next orbit and his failed to improve against Mateos' . 

Hrabec bust-out leads to deal discussions

Hrabec found himself on the bottom end of the card distribution at the final table and struggled to pick up meaningful pots. After blinding down to around the 10BB mark, Hrabec committed the majority of his stack from the button with , only to see Vaskaboinikau request the remainder with an all-in from the big blind. Hrabec would need to connect with the runout to continue his quest for EPT glory, but the flop kept his hand second-best. The turn added wheel outs to his go with his over cards, but the river wasn't the one he needed and Hrabec's run ended in a fourth-place finish. 

After nearly an hour of three-handed play, Mateos, Martirosian, and Vaskaboinikau agreed to pause play in order to discuss potential numbers for a deal. Having taken the chip lead at this point, Vaskaboinikau was in a position to take the lion's share of the remaining prize pool, but his focus was on negotiating for the trophy. The Belarusian businessman even went as far as to offer Mateos and Martirosian a piece of his ICM-calculated payout to lay claim to the trophy. 

EPT tournament officials prepare numbers for a potential final table deal between Mateos, Martirosian, and Vaskaboinikau.

Eventually, the players agreed to set aside 10% of the remaining cash ($59,277) to play for winner-take-all style, with Vaskaboinikau giving both Mateos and Martirosian an additional $35,000 from his winnings to secure the trophy. As it turns out, the $70,000 price point assigned to and paid for by Vaskaboinikau to ensure the trophy returned to Belarus was made a moot point as he went on to eliminate both of his remaining opponents. 

Deal made, playing for glory

Mateos exited in third after he moved all-in with when facing a button open from Vaskaboinikau. Unfortunately for the Spaniard, his opponent snap-called with and the runout failed to improve his holding, ending his run. 

Following a short break, Martirosian and Vaskaboinikau returned to battle it out for the $59,277 remaining. With a solid chip lead to start heads-up play, Vaskaboinikau favored a high-variance style of play and had an early chance to end the fight, but Martirosian survived to score a full double and take the chip lead. 

Then, the Russian had an opportunity of his own to win it all when Vaskaboinikau moved all-in with over his raise. Martirosian held and, all of a sudden, was one clean runout away from victory. The flop looked safe enough, but there's always a sweat, and the turn offered up plenty of outs for Vaskaboinikau. The river completed his flush to crack Martirosian's aces and the Belarusian scooped in a massive pot to take an overwhelming chip lead. 

Just a few hands later, Martirosian moved all-in with and Vaskaboinikau made the call with . The flop paired Martirosian, but further improvement was needed to stay alive and the turn and river weren't the cards he was looking for.

Mikalai Vaskaboinikau dedicated his EPT Cyprus $50,000 Super High Roller trophy to his wife and children.

Danny Maxwell Photography

In his winner's interview, Vaskaboinikau said, "It's a very special event for me because I played a lot of high rollers and super high rollers on PokerStars series, but never won. So, for me, a special moment, especially that I can get the trophy because this was the main target."

EPT Cyprus 2024 $50,000 Super High Roller final table results

*denotes deal

^{Images Courtesy of Danny Maxwell/Rational Intellectual Holdings Limited}