Nino Pansier Fulfills His Fate in the Onyx HRS $25K PLO Main Event
Table Of Contents
Before the start of the final table of the Onyx High Roller Series $25,000 PLO Main Event, the seven finalists were asked to pose for a group photo around the main feature stage inside the Onyx Club. The gold trophy that they would all be chasing throughout the day was then placed in front of him.
“Nino, congratulations on winning this,” Youness Barakat shouted out to a round of laughs, lightening the mood on what promised to be one of the biggest days of their poker careers.
Barakat’s words proved prophetic, as several hours later, Nino Pansier emerged from a lengthy heads-up match against Justin Steinbrenner to capture the trophy and $1,125,000 top prize, the biggest of his young poker career.
$25,000 PLO Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nino Pansier | Netherlands | $1,125,000 |
| 2 | Justin Steinbrenner | Germany | $710,000 |
| 3 | Youness Barakat | Italy | $483,000 |
| 4 | Espen Sandvik | Norway | $340,000 |
| 5 | Artur Martirosian | Russian Federation | $250,000 |
| 6 | Lautaro Guerra | Spain | $190,000 |
| 7 | Tomasz Krzesinski | Poland | $143,000 |
“I’m happy I won it. I’m happy I got a nice score here. I mean, it’s just another day, but happy to end it successful,” the Dutch pro said.
The final table seemed like it would breeze by at the start of the day, as five players hit the rail within the first 50 hands. Pansier and Steinbrenner then went heads-up, and the hours and hands continued to tick by as their match swung back and forth. Both of them grabbed the chip lead numerous times throughout the battle. Finally, after four hours and more than 90 hands, Pansier got the better of Steinbrenner when he turned the nut flush against Steinbrenner’s flopped set.
“He was playing solid. He was going good the entire final table. It was just back-and-forth. I got lucky in some crucial hands. I think it’s the main reason I won it, to be honest,” Pansier said.
Steinbrenner wasn’t the only one Pansier battled with in this tournament. He and Barakat exchanged playful banter throughout the last few days, with Pansier on the receiving end of Barakat’s jabs. Pansier admitted he and Barakat have been playing together for a long time, and whenever they get together in a tournament, Barakat makes sure they have some fun.
“Youness is a friendly guy. I’m happy to see him around. We just played together a lot,” he said.
Pansier’s poker resume goes back only to the summer of 2021, but he’s quickly amassed a record of impressive results. He finished runner-up in a WSOP Europe event in 2022 and had $1.3 million in live earnings before this event. His score today nearly doubled that mark.
Most of Pansier’s recent success has come in PLO. All of his recorded cashes over the last two years have been in the four-card game, including a win in a €25,000 PLO event at EPT Malta in October. He also finished runner-up in another €25,000 event at EPT Prague, to none other than Barakat.
Pansier has a dedicated group of poker friends that he can hang around with during events and talk strategy, something he says makes the trips more enjoyable. His rail today inside the Onyx Club included not only Barakat, who stuck around after his third-place finish, but also $50,000 PLO Grand Slam runner-up Gruffudd Pugh-Jones, Dennis Weiss, and Jeremy Trojand.
“It’s very nice. Going to all the series with your friends makes it much more bearable. Just nice to have some people that you know and can talk to at the end of the day,” he said.
Pansier was already having a successful series. He finished fifth in the Grand Slam a few days ago for $340,000, and now gets to take home a bigger score and the trophy that comes along with it. It was his first trip to the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel & Spa in North Cyprus, but he says it certainly won’t be his last.
“I really enjoyed it. It was my first time here. I’m happy it was a successful series. It was beautiful, to be honest. I’ll for sure be back,” he said.
Final Table Action
The final table began at 1 p.m. local time inside the Onyx Club with seven players returning from a field of 199 entries. Steinbrenner was right where he was the first two days, atop the leaderboard with 14,985,000 as he attempted to go wire-to-wire. Pansier, though, was right behind him with 14,725,000 as the two top stacks were far ahead of the rest of the field.
Tomasz Krzesinski started with just four big blinds and, on the third hand of the final table, got the rest of his 620,000 in the middle against Pansier’s queens. He hit a pair on the flop and picked up a flush draw on the turn, but the river was no help and he busted in seventh place.
The bustouts came quickly from there. Pansier opened to 560,000 under the gun and Lautaro Guerra potted to 1,920,000 in the hijack. Pansier then moved all in, and Guerra called for 3,270,000. Both players flopped a pair of aces, while Guerra picked up the nut flush draw on the turn. But he also whiffed the river, as Pansier took the pot with his king-kicker to send Guerra to the rail in sixth place.
Steinbrenner continued to build his chip lead, flopping top two pair to take the lead over Artur Martirosian’s two aces. Martirosian called all in for 2,700,000, but he couldn’t catch up on the turn and river as the Russian super high roller was the next to fall in fifth. Espen Sandvik was soon afterward also all in for 2,655,000 with two aces against Steinbrenner, but Steinbrenner spiked a set of jacks on the turn to score another knockout and move up past 25,000,000.
Seven became three after just over an hour of play, with Steinbrenner leading with 25,325,000 and Pansier in second with 19,950,000. Barakat, meanwhile, trailed far behind with 4,470,000.
Barakat found one double up, hitting a set of tens against Pansier’s top two pair. He ended up with a full house to move up past 8,000,000. “I have more than before because of Nino,” Barakat boasted after the hand.
But his newfound wealth didn’t last long. Barakat reraised to 2,300,000 in the small blind and Steinbrenner called. Barakat then moved all in for 4,850,000 on the flop, and Steinbrenner called with a pair and flush draw. Barakat was ahead with aces and wrapped his arms tightly around Pansier to await the turn, which came a safe three. The river, though, completed Steinbrenner’s flush, and Barakat’s run, which included giving up his 5,000 stack on Day 1a and bagging the chip lead on Day 1b, came to an end in third place.
Steinbrenner led Pansier 33,425,000 to 16,325,000 at the start of heads-up play, and with both players still having more than 80 big blinds, it promised to be a marathon.
Pansier wasted little time seizing the chip lead from Steinbrenner, making the nut flush against Steinbrenner’s king-high flush to win a massive pot. Pansier then tried a bluff for 5,250,000 on the river after missing straight and flush draws, but Steinbrenner ended up calling after a lengthy tank with two pair to retake the lead.
Steinbrenner and Pansier both hit the nut straight and got all their chips in the middle on the turn. Both players, though, were freerolling to a flush draw, with Steinbrenner having a chance to end the tournament if he could find a spade on the river. It instead came a harmless king of clubs, and they chopped the pot.
Steinbrenner bested Pansier with a nine-high straight to move up past 40,000,000, leaving Pansier nursing a short stack. Pansier then won a pot with two pair to climb back up near 20,000,000, and moved back into the lead with queens and threes against Steinbrenner’s queens and deuces.
The seesaw battle remained virtually tied until the two players tangled in a big pot. Pansier bet 8,350,000 on the river after flopping the nut straight, but Steinbrenner had turned a full house and called him down to move back up to 36,000,000. Steinbrenner flopped a set of queens a few hands later, but Pansier had again flopped a straight and had it hold on this time to win a pot and narrow the gap.
Pansier and Steinbrenner then went to an ace-nine-high board when Pansier bet 1,850,000. Steinbrenner called, and Pansier bet another 5,000,000 on the turn. Steinbrenner shoved this time, and Pansier snap-called for 17,000,000 with a set of nines. Steinbrenner had top pair with straight and flush draws, and he hit his flush on the river. The same card, though, improved Pansier to a full house and earned him a massive double up.
The two players went off on a 60-minute dinner break with Pansier leading 37,300,000 to 12,450,000. But nothing was going to come easy in this match, and Steinbrenner won a pot with the nut flush against Pansier’s jack-high flush to exchange the chip lead once again.
Steinbrenner had moved back up past 30,000,000 when he raised to 1,500,000 in the big blind after Pansier limped the button. Pansier called to the flop, where Steinbrenner continued for 2,000,000. Pansier then raised to 5,000,000, and Steinbrenner called. Pansier bet another 3,000,000 on the turn, and Steinbrenner again called. Pansier moved all in for 7,950,000 on the river, sending Steinbrenner deep into the tank. He burned through multiple time banks and took several minutes before calling with a pair of aces, but Pansier had drilled a full house on the turn to win the pot and double up.
The lead, this time, would last. A few hands later, Steinbrenner flopped a set of fives and got in his last 7,600,000. Pansier turned over the nut flush draw, and he hit his flush on the turn. Steinbrenner needed to fill up on the river to prolong the duel, but he could only watch helplessly as Pansier’s flush held on to earn him the title.
Heads-up play lasted nearly twice as many hands as the rest of the final table, and it ended with Pansier hoisting the trophy over his head. Barakat’s boast at the start of the day may have been just playful banter between two good friends, but it had a foreboding sense of what was to come.
