$10,400 Onyx High Roller
Day 2 Completed
$10,400 Onyx High Roller
Day 2 Completed
Lithuanian poker star Gytis Lazauninkas is no stranger to playing five-figure buy-ins around the world. It was thus no surprise when he showed up at Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa to play the $10,400 Onyx High Roller at the 2025 Mediterranean Poker Party.
Lazauninkas was one of the 149 entries in the event, but ended up as the only one remaining after a four-way deal and subsequent flip crowned him the champion. Lazauninkas was chipleader when the deal was made, granting him the largest portion of the $1,430,400 prize pool as he took home $227,085. Alessio Isaia, Yiannis Liperis, and Nichan Khorchidian were the other three players involved in the deal, and, as the stacks were relatively close, they were awarded hefty six-figure sums of their own.
Place | Player | Country | Prize |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Gytis Lazauninkas | Lithuania | $227,085* |
2 | Nichan Khorchidian | Lebanon | $189,963* |
3 | Yiannis Liperis | Cyprus | $216,084* |
4 | Alessio Isaia | Italy | $226,858* |
5 | Konstantin Voronin | Russia | $85,000 |
6 | Oshri Lahmani | Israel | $65,000 |
7 | Ramzi Karam | Lebanon | $50,000 |
8 | Vedat Yilmaz | Turkey | $40,000 |
* = Denotes four-way ICM deal
The field of 35 players who returned for the final day of the High Roller needed to be thinned before the money could be distributed. The 23 paid spots were soon reached, however, as after only one hour after the restart, Canadian grinder Ami Barer became the bubble boy after an unlucky ace came on the flop.
At the final three tables, the eventual top four finishers were all in the middle of the pack, but soon enough, they started picking up steam.Lazauninkas was responsible for the elimination of Ravil Khamatgareev (21st - $17,500), while Isaia took care of Natan Chauskin (18th - $20,000). Not much later, Khorchidian was the first player to reach an eight-figure stack when Mikalai Vaskaboinikau jammed his top pair into Khorchidian's flush, knocking the Belarusian out a few hands after.
Meanwhile, Isaia kept scoring bust-outs, eliminating Aren Bezhanyan in 12th ($27,000) before dooming last year's fifth-place finisher Nikita Kalinin to the fate of final table bubble (9th - $32,900).
Khorchidian had maintained his chip lead up until the final table, and scored some early pots as the finale got underway. However, a crucial hand saw Khorchidian four-bet jam ace-six into the nines of Lazauninkas. The eventual champion doubled up and took over the chip lead, and Khorchidian would go on to criticize his own move multiple times throughout the rest of the tournament.
Lazauninkis put his newly acquired chips to good use,busting Vedat Yilmaz in eighth, and Oshri Lahmani in sixth.
Five-handed, Liperis and start-of-day chipleader Konstantin Voronin, who was on his second major final table of the festival, went all in against each other no less than five times. Eventually, Liperis got the best of Voronin,eliminating the final Russian player in fifth.
A deal was briefly discussed after Voronin's bust-out, but when Lazauninkas, who still had a big lead at that time, asked for $30,000 more than ICM, it was quickly struck down. It only took a few minutes to restart the discussions; Lazauninkas doubled up Alessio, and the stacks evened out a bit.
Lazauninkas quickly changed his tune and agreed to an ICM chop without any additional money, and the players then flipped for the trophy. Lazauninkas still had a small lead, so it only seemed appropriate that he won the flip and was declared the victor, picking up his first-ever victory at a Merit establishment and taking a beautiful trophy back home to Lithuania.
With the High Roller wrapped up, this edition of the MPP is in the books. The next event at Merit will be the Dolce Vita, which runs from July 27 until August 8. Until then, check out the PokerNews live reporting hub for poker action from all over the globe.
After the deal was agreed upon, the players flipped for the trophy and title.
Gytis Lazauninkas: 9♠5♥
Alessio Isaia: Q♥5♦
Yiannis Liperis: 2♠2♥
Nichan Khorchidian: 10♠5♠
The board ran out 3♥9♣10♦9♥J♦, giving Lazauninkas trip nines and thus declaring him the 2025 MPP High Roller Champion.
Stay tuned for a full recap of the day.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
![]() |
59,600,000
40,300,000
|
40,300,000 |
![]() |
Busted | |
|
||
![]() |
Busted | |
![]() |
Busted |
After a lengthy process, the players agreed to chop the remaining prize pool four-way, according to ICM. They will take home the following numbers:
Player | Country | Prize |
---|---|---|
Gytis Lazauninkas | Lithuania | $227,085 |
Alessio Isaia | Italy | $226,858 |
Yiannis Liperis | Cyprus | $216,084 |
Nichan Khorchidian | Lebanon | $189,963 |
The players are taking a break to discuss a possible deal.
Level: 25
Blinds: 300,000/600,000
Ante: 600,000
Gytis Lazauninkas was first to act and raised to 1,000,000. Alessio Isaia then moved all in for 8,425,000 on the button, which Lazauninkas immediately called after it had folded back to him.
Alessio Isaia: A♦5♥
Gytis Lazauninkas: A♠K♣
Lazauninkas dominated his opponent. Neither player had improved their hand after the Q♣J♦8♦3♦ turn, but Isaia hit his flush draw on the 7♦ river, locking up the pot and getting almost even in chips with Lazauninkas.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
![]() |
19,300,000
7,500,000
|
7,500,000 |
![]() |
18,100,000
7,350,000
|
7,350,000 |
|
Konstantin Voronin's last chips were automatically all in in the big blind, and he was up against Yiannis Liperis under the gun.
Konstantin Voronin: 9♦7♦
Yiannis Liperis: A♠10♣
Liperis remained ahead on the 6♣J♠J♣J♥ flop and made a full house on the 10♥ river to secure the pot and eliminate the start-of-day chipleader in fifth place.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
![]() |
13,000,000
950,000
|
950,000 |
![]() |
Busted | |
|
Konstantin Voronin and Yiannis Liperis once again got all of their chips in the middle, this time sitting in the cutoff and on the button, respectively, with Liperis' stack of 5,900,000 being slightly covered.
Yiannis Liperis: A♠10♠
Konstantin Voronin: A♥9♠
Liperis paired up on the 3♦Q♥10♥ flop, but the J♥ turn brought a big sweat. The 2♣ river brought none of Voronin's outs, leaving him with less than a big blind.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
![]() |
12,050,000
6,150,000
|
6,150,000 |
![]() |
300,000
5,700,000
|
5,700,000 |
|
Konstantin Voronin got his remaining 2,500,000 in on the button and was looked up Yiannis Liperis in the small blind.
Konstantin Voronin: A♦K♠
Yiannis Liperis: Q♠Q♣
The players had found two premiums with their short stacks, and Voronin won the classic flip when he made two pair on the K♦A♥9♦4♠J♥ board.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
![]() |
6,000,000
3,500,000
|
3,500,000 |
|
||
![]() |
5,900,000
2,500,000
|
2,500,000 |