Mediterranean Poker Party in Cyprus Will Feature $5M Guaranteed Main Event

Connor Richards Senior Editor U.S.

Sep 04, 2026 4 min read

A newly renovated Merit Crystal Cove in Cyprus is gearing up for the Mediterranean Poker Party, a festival that will run Sept. 17-27 at the luxurious Mediterranean resort.

Merit Poker's Mediterranean Poker Party will consist of dozens of events and will culminate with the $5,400 buy-in Main Event, an event that comes with a $5 million guarantee attached.

PokerNews will be on-site in Cyprus to live report the Main Event, as well as the $2 million guaranteed Global Poker Championship earlier in the series.

Over $10 Million in Guarantees

Merit Poker events are always popular in the region, and this event has guarantees that back that. In total, the series will offer more than $10 million in guaranteed prize pools.

In addition to the Main Event and Global Poker Championship, other events on the schedule with big guarantees include $1 million guaranteed Merit Poker Cup and the $2,200 Luxon Pay Mystery Bounty and $3,300 Paradise Mystery Bounty, which both come with $500,000 guarantees attached.

There's also the $1,500 Mini Main Event, which also offers a $500,000 guarantee. Other notable events on the schedule include a $1,100 Senior's event, $550 Women's event and a $1,100 PLO 5 Double Board Bomb Pot event for the mixed game crowd.

The $5,400 Main Event will kick off on Sept. 23 with the first of four starting flights before playing to a winner on Sept. 26. There will also be several satellite opportunities for players to get into the $5 million guaranteed event for as little as $800.

Will Thaller Win Another Title?

Last year's Mediterranean Poker Party Main Event drew 1,196 runners for a prize pool of $5,740,800 as Austria's Daniel Thaller reached a three-way deal with England's Timothy Chung and local Cyprian Andreas Mavromoustakis to win the trophy and $786,670.

The final table also included Romania's Razvan Sabau (4th - $316,000), Russia's Garik Tamasian (5th - $229,000) and Poland's Dawid Smolka (6th - $162,000).

2025 Mediterranean Poker Party Main Event Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Daniel Thaller	Austria	$786,670*
2	Timothy Chung	United Kingdom	$637,250*
3	Andreas Mavromoustakis	Cyprus	$651,080*
4	Razvan Sabau	Romania	$316,000
5	Garik Tamasian	Russia	$229,000
6	Dawid Smolka	Poland	$162,000
7	Milad Oghabian Langar	Iran	$113,000
8	Hassanin Hashim	New Zealand	$80,100
9	Italo Modena	Italy	$63,000

_{*Denotes three-way deal}

We may also see an appearance from Cyprus native Evagoras Evagorou, who earlier this summer finished ninth in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $10,000 Main Event for $1 million — the deepest Main Event run ever by a Cyprian.

The full schedule for the upcoming Mediterranean Poker Party is available in the table below.

2026 Mediterranean Poker Party Schedule

Date	Start Time	Event	Buy-in	Guarantee
Wed, Sep 16	11:00 AM	Super GPC Freeroll — 20 Seats GTD	$0 + $0	$8K
Wed, Sep 16	1:30 PM	Super GPC Sat to 1A — 15 Seats GTD 1:6	$367 + $33	$33K
Wed, Sep 16	6:00 PM	Mega GPC Freeroll — 20 Seats GTD	$0 + $0	$14K
Wed, Sep 16	8:30 PM	Mega GPC Sat to 1A — 15 Seats GTD 1:8	$674 + $25	$33K
Thu, Sep 17	12:00 PM	#1 Global Poker Championship Day 1A	$2,000 + $200	$2M
Thu, Sep 17	5:00 PM	GPC Sat to 1B — 5 Seats GTD 1:6	$367 + $33	$11K
Thu, Sep 17	6:00 PM	#1 Global Poker Championship Day 1B	$2,000 + $200	$2M
Thu, Sep 17	10:00 PM	GPC Sat to 1C — 10 Seats GTD 1:6	$367 + $33	$22K
Fri, Sep 18	12:00 PM	#1 Global Poker Championship Day 1C	$2,000 + $200	$2M
Fri, Sep 18	5:00 PM	GPC Sat to 1D Turbo — 5 Seats GTD 1:6	$367 + $33	$11K
Fri, Sep 18	8:00 PM	#1 Global Poker Championship Day 1D Turbo	$2,000 + $200	$2M
Fri, Sep 18	10:00 PM	#2 Super Turbo	$1,500 + $150
Sat, Sep 19	12:00 PM	#3 Luxon Pay Mystery Bounty Day 1A	$2,000 + $200	$500K
Sat, Sep 19	1:00 PM	#1 Global Poker Championship Day 2	$2,000 + $200	$2M
Sat, Sep 19	5:30 PM	#3 Luxon Pay Mystery Bounty Day 1B	$2,000 + $200	$500K
Sat, Sep 19	10:00 PM	Merit Poker Cup Sat to 1A — 10 Seats GTD 1:6	$584 + $66	$35K
Sat, Sep 19	10:00 PM	#3 Luxon Pay Mystery Bounty Day 1C Turbo	$2,000 + $200	$500K
Sun, Sep 20	12:00 PM	#4 Merit Poker Cup Day 1A	$3,200 + $300	$1M
Sun, Sep 20	12:00 PM	#1 Global Poker Championship Final Day	$2,000 + $200	$2M
Sun, Sep 20	1:00 PM	#3 Luxon Pay Mystery Bounty Final Day	$2,000 + $200	$500K
Sun, Sep 20	9:00 PM	Merit Poker Cup Sat to 1B — 10 Seats GTD 1:6	$584 + $66	$35K
Mon, Sep 21	12:00 PM	#4 Merit Poker Cup Day 1B	$3,200 + $300	$1M
Mon, Sep 21	8:30 PM	#5 Hold'em Turbo	$1,500 + $150
Mon, Sep 21		Main Event Sat to 1A — 3 Seats GTD 1:7
Tue, Sep 22	12:00 PM	#4 Merit Poker Cup Final Day	$3,200 + $300	$1M
Tue, Sep 22	1:00 PM	#6 Mini Main Event Day 1A	$1,500 + $150	$500K
Tue, Sep 22	6:00 PM	#6 Mini Main Event Day 1B	$1,500 + $150	$500K
Tue, Sep 22	10:00 PM	Main Event Sat to 1A — 5 Seats GTD 1:7	$772 + $78	$27K
Wed, Sep 23	12:00 PM	#7 Main Event Day 1A	$5,000 + $400	$5M
Wed, Sep 23	12:00 PM	#6 Mini Main Event Final Day	$1,500 + $150	$500K
Wed, Sep 23	8:30 PM	#9 Senior's	$1,000 + $100
Wed, Sep 23	8:30 PM	#8 Women's	$500 + $50
Wed, Sep 23	10:00 PM	Main Event Sat to 1B — 10 Seats GTD 1:7	$772 + $78	$54K
Thu, Sep 24	12:00 PM	#7 Main Event Day 1B	$5,000 + $400	$5M
Thu, Sep 24	2:00 PM	#10 PLO 5	$1,500 + $150
Thu, Sep 24	8:30 PM	#11 Deep Stack	$2,000 + $200
Thu, Sep 24	10:00 PM	Main Event Sat to 1C — 5 Seats GTD 1:7	$772 + $78	$27K
Fri, Sep 25	12:00 PM	#11 Deep Stack Final Day	$2,000 + $200
Fri, Sep 25	12:00 PM	#7 Main Event Day 1C	$5,000 + $400	$5M
Fri, Sep 25	6:00 PM	Main Event Sat to 1D Turbo — 3 Seats GTD 1:7	$771 + $78	$16.2K
Fri, Sep 25	8:00 PM	#12 PLO 5 Double Board Bomb Pot	$1,000 + $100
Fri, Sep 25	8:30 PM	#7 Main Event Day 1D Turbo	$5,000 + $400	$5M
Sat, Sep 26	12:00 PM	#13 Paradise Mystery Bounty Day 1A	$3,000 + $300	$500K
Sat, Sep 26	1:00 PM	#7 Main Event Day 2	$5,000 + $400	$5M
Sat, Sep 26	5:30 PM	#13 Paradise Mystery Bounty Day 1B	$3,000 + $300	$500K
Sat, Sep 26	9:30 PM	#13 Paradise Mystery Bounty Day 1C Turbo	$3,000 + $300	$500K
Sun, Sep 27	12:00 PM	#13 Paradise Mystery Bounty Final Day	$3,000 + $300	$500K
Sun, Sep 27	12:00 PM	High Roller Sat — 2 Seats GTD 1:7	$1,486 + $64	$20.8K
Sun, Sep 27	1:00 PM	#7 Main Event Final Day	$5,000 + $400	$5M
Sun, Sep 27	1:00 PM	#14 High Roller	$10,000 + $400	$500K

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Connor Richards Senior Editor U.S.

Connor Richards is a Senior Editor U.S. for PokerNews and host of the Life Outside Poker podcast. Connor has been nominated for three Global Poker Awards for his writing.

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