Marvin Rettenmaier Celebrating with the WPT Royal Flush Girls
Ladies and gentlemen we have our winner here in Cyprus. Marvin Rettenmaier has made poker history by becoming the first-ever player to win back-to-back World Poker Tour titles after taking down the WPT Merit Cyprus Classic Main Event.
Rettenmaier went into the final table third in chips but still well within reach of the overall chip leader Ran Azor. The young German was full of confidence before the final table got underway as he had reached back-to-back WPT final tables, having won the WPT World Championship in May for a cool $1,196,858.
There was not a person in the Merit casino who did not believe Rettenmaier would not emerge victorious and he proved us all correct when he went on a one-man wrecking spree and eliminated each of his five opponents one after another.
First to go was Kiryl Radzivonau who ran into the pocket queens of Rettenmaier and he was followed the rail some time later by Joseph El Khoury when El Khoury made a move with and was snapped off by .
From that point on Rettenmaier never looked back, the blinds were high and he had the most room to maneuver; something that is crucial in big blind play. Victor Paraschiv three-bet all-in over the top of a Rettenmaier raise with what turned out to be just . Rettenmaier held a monster in , which held, and left Rettenmaier with almost six times as many chips as the other two stacks!
These two stacks were soon his as Rettenmaier shoved with and Azor made the call with pocket sevens. Rettenmaier flopped an open-ended straight draw but needed a queen on the river to bust out Azor.
This left Rettenmaier with a 4:1 chip advantage over Artur Voskanyan. Such a lead heads-up is huge and it only took two hands to press this advantage home. Rettenmaier held the button and put his opponent all-in. Voskanyan made the call with and was up against . Rettenmaier paired his nine on the flop and after the rest of the board ran out without drama Rettenmaier had done the impossible and won back-to-back WPT titles!
Rettenmaier is now heading straight to Parx to play Day 1b of the new WPT Park Open Poker Classic. He couldn't go back-to-back-to-back could he?
Having won the first, Rettenmaier was all in the button and Artur Voskanyan checked his cards then quickly called off his last 1.6 million chips.
Rettenmaier:
Voskanyan:
The flop came and Rettenmaier took the lead, Voskanyan needing to hit one of his six outs. The on the turn gave both players gutshot straight draws but changed nothing.
The river, drawn out ever so slowly, was flipped and it was the .
Rettenmaier quietly asked, perhaps still in disbelief, "Is that it?"
Matt Savage replied, "That's it, congratulations."
Marvin Rettenmaier becomes the first ever winner of back-to-back WPT's, a truly incredible feat. But let's also save some praise for Artur Voskanyan who goes home in second place but with over $180,000 more than what he came with.
Marvin Rettenmaier had moved all in preflop, Artur Voskanyan got out of the way and Ran Azor made the call.
Rettenmaier:
Azor:
The flop came , Azor was still ahead but now Rettenmaier had 14 outs twice, making him the favourite. The on the turn changed nothing but the on the river was greeted with a Rettenmaier fistpump.
He's now heads up with a 4:1 chip lead against Russian Poker Series Tournament Director Artur Voskanyan.
Marvin Rettenmaier raised to 240,000 preflop from UTG and it was folded around to Victor Paraschiv in the big blind. The latter checked his cards for a moment and thought before whispering, "All in."
The dealer looked back at Rettenmaier who said, surprised, "He's all in?" Rechecking his cards he then instantly called.
Rettenmaier:
Paraschiv:
The board offered only the mearest hint of danger to the German coming .
Rettenmaier has a monster chip lead, nearly six times as much as the other two stacks.
It has taken quite some time but we have finally lost another player; that dubious honor going to Joseph El Khoury.
The action folded to El Khoury in the cutoff and he moved all-in for a total of 1,225,000. Victor Paraschiv folded on the button but Marvin Rettenmaier instantly called and the cards were revealed.
El Khoury:
Rettenmaier:
Rettenmaier held the advantage and it stayed that way on a flop. The turn gave El Khoury some outs to a straight but the was not one of them and we are now down to four players in the main event.
Kiryl Radzivonau has become the first person to be eliminated from the final table of the WPT Merit Cyprus Classic Main Event after a clash with Marvin Rettenmaier.
Radzivonau had pushed all-in once already during the last orbit when the action folded to him in the small blind and on that occasion Rettenmaier pondered a call but folded. but when the action passed to Radzivonau for a second time and he moved in again (for 400,000) Rettenmaier made the call.
Radzivonau:
Rettenmaier:
The first card out was the to which Rettenmaier said, "nice start," but Rettenmaier's start was even better because the rest of the flop read , gifting him a set of queens.
The on the turn locked up the hand for Rettenmaier and his quest to become the first-ever back-to-back WPT champion is still on.
After a flop of had been checked through, Joseph El Khoury checked the turn against Kiryl Radzivonau and the latter bet 85,000. El Khoury check-raised all in and Radzivonau made the call.
El Khoury:
Radzivonau:
The river was the and El Khoury jumped into the middle of the pack while Radzivonau has lost over a million chips since we started this final table.
This is it, the final six players are just arriving, all hoping to become the WPT Cyprus champion and pick up the $287,784 for 1st place. Israel's Ran Azor is the current chip leader but the big story is obviously Marvin Rettenmaier, he won the $25,000 WPT World Championship back in May and he's looking to become the first person to ever win back to back WPT's, a true feat.
It's going to be a difficult final table for the German though, apart from the short stack Joseph El Khoury, the rest of the chips are finely balanced between the players, all of whom have been chip leader at some point during the tournament.
We'll be starting at 1pm and because this event is being live streamed, it's going to be slightly more difficult than usual to get all the action. Nevertheless, we'll do our absolute best and bring you all the details from the first riffle to the last river!
into the pocket queens of Rettenmaier and he was followed the rail some time later by Joseph El Khoury when El Khoury made a move with 
and was snapped off by 
.
. Rettenmaier held a monster in 
, which held, and left Rettenmaier with almost six times as many chips as the other two stacks!
and Azor made the call with pocket sevens. Rettenmaier flopped an open-ended straight draw but needed a queen on the river to bust out Azor.
and was up against 
. Rettenmaier paired his nine on the flop and after the rest of the board ran out without drama Rettenmaier had done the impossible and won back-to-back WPT titles!![[user76023]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Rettenmaier took the lead, Voskanyan needing to hit one of his six outs. The 
on the turn gave both players gutshot straight draws but changed nothing.
.
, Azor was still ahead but now Rettenmaier had 14 outs twice, making him the favourite. The 
flop. The 
turn gave El Khoury some outs to a straight but the 
was not one of them and we are now down to four players in the main event.
to which Rettenmaier said, "nice start," but Rettenmaier's start was even better because the rest of the flop read 
had been checked through, Joseph El Khoury checked the 
