Russian Wins WPT Poker Tournament In Occupied Cyprus

Alexey Rybin has won the WPT Merit Cyprus Classic, after besting a field of 262 players over six days on his way to capturing the title, and collecting the $258,000 first place prize.
Back in 2010, the Russian player competed at the €5k EPT San Remo, where he finished in 5th place for €270,000 ($366,833), and following his latest victory in Cyprus now takes his live tournament winnings to $741,503.
The setting for the bWin WPT Merit Cyprus Classic was the northern part of the divided Eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus, which was invaded by Turkish troops in 1974 and has since become a self-declared state recognised only by Turkey, with the international community viewing it as occupied territory of the Republic of Cyprus.
The $4k buy-in Main Event took place at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel Casino in Kyrenia and attracted a good-sized field to create a prize pool worth $1,000,000. Leading the field all the way was Alexey Rybin, who held the chip lead on Day 1A, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and the final table, where he started out with nearly twice as many chips as his nearest competitor.
Alexey Rybin (A-K) then proceeded to eliminate Kayahan Tugrul (A-10) in 4th ($75,600), before being dealt A-Q and doing likewise to Andrei Nikonov (A-J) in 3rd ($103,700), to force heads-up play against Lebanon’s Albert Daher.
As the heads-up battle commenced, the players were nearly even in chips but losing a massive pot then saw Daher reduced too a short-stack before pushing all-in with K-9 against Rybin’s A-5. The board subsequently rolled out A-10-7-7-2 to relegate Albert Daher to a runner-up finish worth $160,200, while Alexey Rybin was crowned the WPT Cyprus Championship winner.
The final table payouts were as follows:
1. Alexey Rybin, $258,000
2. Albert Daher, $160,200
3. Andrei Nikonov, $103,700
4. Kayhan Tugrul, $75,600
5. Sergey Rybachenko, $56,600
6. Pierre Sayegh, $46,000