button in SafariFabrod Nazari Flops the Nuts to Win the WPT Cyprus Championship
Table Of Contents
After four action-packed days of poker, Fabrod Nazari has become the 2026 WPT Cyprus Championship champion. The $3,500 buy-in Main Event, held at the Chamada Prestige Hotel & Casino, saw 520 entrants fight it out at the tables for a share of a $2 million prize pool.
When the dust finally settled in Cyprus, Nazari had all the chips in front of him. Nazari can forever call himself a World Poker Tour (WPT) champion, while his $368,900 prize for coming out on more than trebles his recorded lifetime earnings, which now stand at $474,991.
2026 WPT Cyprus Championship Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fabrod Nazari | Iran | $368,900* |
| 2 | Chadi Rizk | Lebanon | $238,000 |
| 3 | Weiran Pu | China | $175,000 |
| 4 | Mihai Trofim | Moldova | $130,000 |
| 5 | Sergiu Cornea | Romania | $97,000 |
| 6 | Sami Ayyoub | Jordan | $73,000 |
*plus a $10,400 WPT World Championship seat
The tournament paid the top 65 finishers. Elena Litviniuk, last year's fourth-place finisher, was the first player eliminated inside the money. Litviniuk took home $7,700 for her efforts.
Others who added a WPT Cyprus Championship cash to their resumes included Ray Qartomy (55th - $9,000), Hossein Ensan (42nd - $10,600), Manuel Fritz (23rd - $17,800), Thomas Bichon (17th - $21,200), Ran Azor (14th - $25,000), Niko Koop (13th - $25,000), and Bernardo Neves (7th - $56,500).
Neves' exit in seventh brought the curtain down on Day 3, and left only the official six-handed final table left to play out.
Moldova's Mihai Trofim (6,225,000) held the chip lead going into the final table, with Sergiu Cornea of Romania (1,325,000) bringing up the rear.
2026 WPT Cyprus Championship Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mihai Trofim | Moldova | 6,225,000 | 42 |
| 2 | Chadi Rizk | Lebanon | 5,650,000 | 38 |
| 3 | Farbod Nazari | Iran | 5,275,000 | 35 |
| 4 | Weiran Pu | China | 3,800,000 | 25 |
| 5 | Sami Ayyoub | Jordan | 3,650,000 | 24 |
| 6 | Sergiu Cornea | Romania | 1,325,000 | 9 |
According to the WPT live updates, the 25th hand of the final table saw the first elimination of Day 4. With blinds of 100,000/200,000 and a 200,000 big blind ante, Weiran Pu opened to 450,000 from late position with pocket fives, Sami Ayyoub tanked before three-betting all-in for 1,325,000 with king-queen of spades, and Pu called.
The flop gave Pu bottom set, but it also showed two spades. The board paired on the turn to leave Ayyoud drawing dead, and he headed to the cashier's desk to collect the $73,000 sixth place prize.
It took another 24 hands before another elimination occurred. Cornea looked down at pocket sevens and decided to raise to 2,000,000 from the cutoff at the 125,000/250,000 level, which left only a handful of chips behind. Chadi Rizk came over the top from the small blind, and Cornea called. Rizk flipped over pocket queens, which held on an ace-high board. Cornea's attempts to come back from a perilous position at the start of the final table had been thwarted.
Start-of-the-day chip leader Trofim was the next player to see felt where his chips once stood. He lost all but 0.1 big blinds when his pocket deuces lost a coinflip against the king-jack of hearts in Nazari's hand. Trofim managed to climb to a solitary big blind but then lost with king-three against Pu's ace-ten of hearts, to finish in fourth. He collected a career-best $130,000.
Three-handed play lasted 34 hands, during which very few hands reached a showdown. One that did resulted in Pu being eliminated in third place for $175,000. Nazari completed the small blind with jack-ten of clubs, Pu checked his option with nine-four, and the dealer fans a jack-jack-nine flop. Nazari led for 350,000 and called when Pu raised to 850,000.
Nazari checked the arrival of a three on the turn. Pu moved all-in for 2,000,000, and Nazari beat him into the pot with a call. Pu was drawing dead, rendering the seven on the river meaningless.
That hand gave Nazari a 16,350,000 to 9,575,000 chip lead over Rizk going into the one-on-one battle for the title. Nazari managed to whittle Rizk's stack down to 10 big blinds when the first all-in of the heads-up match occurred. Rizk was all-in with ace-five against Nazari's pocket tens. Those tens remained best on a jack-king-deuce flop, and improved to a set on the turn. However, a queen on the river gave Rizk an unlikely Broadway straight and a double-up.
The tournament was over soon after, despite Rizk doubling his stack. Rizk limped with king-five on the button, Nazari raised with six-five of hearts, and Rizk called. Nazari flopped a six-high straight, and he led with a tiny bet. Rizk raised all-in with his open-ended straight draw and was snap-called. The turn and river bricked, and Nazari became the 2026 WPT Cyprus Championship champion.
Lead image courtesy of the World Poker Tour
