Career Defining Win for Ilia Pavlov in $10,300 EPT High Roller ($787,400)

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Oct 23, 2023 4 min read

The PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa in Northern Cyprus finished today with one of the last events on the schedule; the $10,300 EPT High Roller. A total of 407 players made up this field, generating a prize pool of $3,947,900.

After a lengthy two-day grind against some of the fiercest competitors in the world, only 23 players returned to the felt this afternoon for their last chance of the series at an EPT trophy. After 30 levels of play, it was Ilia Pavlov who would emerge victorious, claiming the gold PokerStars trophy as well as the lion’s share of the prize pool, taking home $787,400.

Prior to this tournament, Pavlov’s live recorded cashes stood at $122,142, ensuring that this win today was career-defining.

Winner's Reaction

PokerNews caught up with Pavlov, who found it hard to articulate exactly what he wanted to say, choking up with joy at his accomplishment. “My emotions are very high,” he explained while maintaining a huge grin across his face. “I feel good, of course, amazing!” he said as he returned to his friends, partner, and trophy.

$10,000 EPT Cyprus High Roller Final Table Results

Day 3 Action

Despite doubling up on the second hand of the day, Alex Peffly was the first casualty of this high roller, as he departed in 23rd place. Peffly seemingly set the pace for the day as six others followed his exit in the next two levels.

Much to the delight of the rest of the field, one of those busts outs included Adrian Mateos in 18th place. With one of the most plentiful resumes in poker history, including an EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final victory in 2015, Mateos is one of the most feared opponents. Unfortunately for Mateos, he lost the final flip of his tournament as his ace-jack fell to the pocket fours of Dmitry Yurasov, who flopped quads to win dramatically.

It was Quan Zhou who bowed out in 15th place. Zhou has had an incredible series in Cyprus, having made two final tables, including a win in the $3,000 Mystery Bounty for $242,623. Although Zhou sported the very same white suit he claimed his first trophy of the week in, it wasn’t to be as his pockets sevens fell behind the ace-king of Hwany Lee to end yet another deep run.

Unconventionally, the final table bubble didn’t last long as both Dario Sammartino and Yurasov were eliminated within six minutes of each other, in 11th and 10th place respectively. The final nine were decided and the race to a champion began.

Final Table Action

Nearly an hour before the first blood was drawn at the final table. It came in the form of Nariman Yaghmai’s departure in ninth place; Yaghmai got his money in good as he held king-queen against the king-jack of Pavlov. The flop reversed their fate and Yaghmai made his exit.

It wasn’t even ten minutes before Pavlov was the beneficiary of another player's tournament life. Markkos Ladev’s ace-king couldn’t get there against the tens of Pavlov and he made his way to the payout desk in eighth.

The pace of play started to slow down, confirmed by the fact it was almost two hours before Dmitrii Nazarov was to make his exit from the tournament floor. With the full board dealt, Nazarov called off a bet for his tournament life and was ultimately eliminated from the tournament, allowing Hwany Lee to stack his chips.

Danil Rafikov followed shortly after as his pocket queens were cracked by the ace-king of Martin Diaz. Rafikov fell on the wrong side of this classic tournament flip and departed in sixth place.

However, Diaz could not hold on to Rafikov's chips for long. He eventually chipped down until the remainder of his own stack ended up in the hands of Sergi Reixach. Diaz’s ace-eight was in bad shape against the ace-king of Reixach; the board ran out with no help, and he made his exit in fifth.

Reixach went on to have one of the most volatile journeys of the final nine. After being left short-stacked in an all-in confrontation with Pavlov, Reixach would eventually bust at the hands Pavlov’s pocket jacks, ending his deep tournament run.

The three-handed battle didn’t last long, with Lee being the first to bust in podium position. Lee’s queen-five had the five-three of Pavlov dominated, but a dramatic runout sealed his fate and he made his way to the payout cage.

Selahaddin Bedir came into the heads-up match at a near ten-to-one chip deficit, eventually running into Pavlov’s pocket aces to bust. Bedir leaves with a healthy $492,400 for his troubles.

After eliminating five of his eight table mates, Pavlov lifted his newly acquired golden PokerStars shard as he was crowned the newest EPT High Roller Champion.

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• Tags Adrian Mateos Alex Peffly Danil Rafikov Dario Sammartino Dmitrii Nazarov Dmitry Yurasov European Poker Tour Hwany Lee Ilia Pavlov Markkos Ladev Martin Diaz Nariman Yaghmai PokerStars
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• Related Players Dario SammartinoAdrian MateosMartin DiazDmitry YurasovNariman YaghmaiDmitrii Nazarov