Late last night, Alexander Nudin had his aces cracked by the king-nine suited of Alexander Lakhov, and a final table of six was established. Six players still in the running for that $310,000 first place prize and ticket for the World Championships in the Borgata worth $15,400.
At 1 p.m. local time (two hours from now), the following six players will take their seats and battle it out till the bitter end. There are 36 minutes left in level 26 (20,000/40,000 with 5,000 ante).
Seat
Player
Chip Count
1
Ori Miller
2,270,000
2
Nicolas Chouity
4,390,000
3
Igor Devkin
435,000
4
Dmitry Gromov
815,000
5
Toby Lewis
1,085,000
6
Alexander Lakhov
3,130,000
The final table will see the level duration cut back to 60 minutes, and when just two players remain the levels will be 30 minutes long. There will be a live stream on a delay, but PokerNews will bring you real time updates from the felt.
Profiles underneath courtesy of the World Poker Tour.
Dmitry Gromov opened under the gun for 100,000, and action folded to Nicolas Chouity in the small blind. The start of day chip leader made it 240,000, and Igor Devkin thought about it in the small blind. He announced all in, for what looked like 800,000. Gromov folded, Chouity insta called.
Igor Devkin:
Nicolas Chouity:
Gromov said he folded an ace, and expected one on the river to pop up. In the meantime Devkin needed a queen or some other help, but wouldn't get it: .
Gromov had his hands in the air as he would have won the hand, but that made no difference for Devkin and Chouity of course. Devkin departed in 6th place, Chouity has around 3.7 million.
Ori Miller open shoved for about a million from the cutoff. Nicolas Chouity on the button stared at Ori's stack, glanced at his own, and then announced all in as well. Gromov and Lewis were quick to fold their blinds, and Chouity told Miller instant that he had aces.
Chouity:
Miller:
The flop was pretty terrible for Miller with the . He needed runner runner, but was drawing dead by the time the fell on the turn. The on the river paired him, but it wasn't enough.
Ori Miller returns home with a cheque worth $72,000. The tournament is now four-handed, with all four of them guaranteed a five-figure score.
Dmitry Gromov opened the small blind to 200,000 by tossing in two white 100,000 chips. Toby Lewis in the big blind thought for some time, and then announced all in. Now it was Gromov thinking, and he decided to call after some time.
It turned out afterwards that both players had exactly the same stack with 2,190,000.
Toby Lewis:
Dmitry Gromov:
The on the flop didn't do Lewis much good, and neither did the on the turn. Lewis needed to hit a ten to stay alive, but wouldn't get so lucky; on the river.
Lewis left in fourth place, taking home $102,820. The remaining three players are guaranteed $140,000.
Nicolas Chouity opened to 200,000 on the button, and Dmitry Gromov three-bet from the small blind to 550,000. Alexander Lakhov was quick to fold his big blind, Chouity made the call in position.
Gromov was first to act on and bet out 620,000. Chouity didn't waste too much time calling, and they were of to see a turn: .
Gromov now checked, and Chouity bet out 950,000. Gromov check-raised all in for just over 3 million, and Chouity snap called.
They didn't open the cards just yet, as the floor rushed to announce that there was an all in and call. Chouity seemed very confident he had the best hand, something made even more clear by the look on Gromov's face.
Gromov turned over and Chouity said "Weeeeee!" while revealing his for top pair and a flush draw.
Just the could save Gromov from losing most of his chips, that card alone could eliminate Chouity. If any other card would hit, Chouity would have a demanding chip lead and Gromov would be almost out.
Very slowly the dealer burned... and placed the river: !
The one out Gromov had left hit, and Chouity couldn't really believe it. He laughed, clapped in his hands, and said "One outer!" twice to someone on the rail. He didn't even look all that disappointed. "Have you seen this before?" he asked us. "You have never seen this before right?" he continued, "I made history than!"
Nicolas Chouity departs in 3rd place, making $140,000 doing so. The tournament is now heads up between Dmitry Gromov and Alexander Lakhov, with Gromov leading by quite a margin.
Dmitry Gromov was down to exactly 1,800,000 (15 big blinds) after that last hand, and needed to make a move soon. The next hand, he found a spot he liked. But it wouldn't turn out too well for him.
Alexander Lakhov opened the button, and Gromov shoved all in. Even before the circular "All In" button had hit his spot, Lakhov had already made the call by firmly placing a stack of 25,000 chips in the middle. Gromov must have known he was in trouble.
The cards opened soon enough, and Gromov was indeed trailing with his as Lakhov tabled .
Gromov had already come from way behind once today, eliminating Nicolas Chouity by hitting a one-outer, but wouldn't get as lucky twice today.
The gave him some extra runner runner straight outs, but he was down to three outs once the hit the turn. He needed an ace, and an ace only on the river to double up and make a comeback.
It wouldn't come, the hit the river and Dmitry Gromov literally left the stage immediately after shaking hands with Lakhov.
"Thank you dealer" said a gentle Lakhov quietely when Gromov had long left. Gromov takes home $215,000 for his runner up finish.
The 2014 partypoker World Poker Tour Merit North Cyprus Classic Main Event has its winner, and it's none other than Alexander Lakhov who won the WPT National event in this very Merit Crystal Cove poker room last june.
The day started with a final table of six, consisting of five well-rounded live tournament players and one experienced cash-game player. When it began, Nicolas Chouity had the chip lead with 4.39 million, and he was trailed by Lakhov with 3.13 million, Ori Miller with 2.27 million, Toby Lewis with 1.085 million, Dmitry Gromov with 815,000, and Igor Devkin with 435,000.
Devkin, the cash-game player who started out as the severe short stack, doubled in the first hand of play. He got it in with ace-six against Chouity's ace-nine, but was lucky enough to hit a flush on the river. The youngest of the three Russian finalists was still the first one to go, though. In the first of many cooler situations on the day, he found queens against a three-betting Chouity, who, for once, had a real hand with pocket kings. No luck for Devkin on the flop, turn, or river, and he departed in sixth place for $62,000.
British pro Lewis had a great start, winning several big pots quite early on. Chouity took some losses at Lewis' expense, as things headed the other direction for Israeli pro Ori Miller. Miller lost a big pot to Lakhov when he had to fold against on the turn against a check-raise shove, and he also doubled up Dmitry Gromov early on. Down to 15 big blinds, Miller shoved all in from the cutoff seat with king-jack. Chouity woke up with pocket aces on the button, and this time no suck out would occur. Miller finished in fifth, taking home $77,000.
Lewis had everything going for him, so it was kind of unexpected when he departed in fourth place. In a blind battle with Gromov, all the chips went to the middle all of the sudden. Lewis had pushed from the big blind with ace-ten to Gromov's small-blind raise, and his Russian opponent made the call after some thinking with ace-jack. The ace-jack held up, and it turned out Lewis and Gromov had exactly the same stack, eliminating Lewis in fourth for $102,820.
Three-handed play started with Chouity in the lead, just a bit ahead of Gromov. After a few pots in which Gromov worked his way into the lead, the biggest and most important pot of the tournament was played out.
Chouity opened to 200,000 on the button, and Gromov three-bet from the small blind to 550,000. Lakhov was quick to fold his big blind, and Chouity made the call in position. Gromov was first to act on the flop and bet 620,000. Chouity didn't waste too much time calling, and they were of to see the turn. Gromov checked, and Chouity bet out 950,000. Gromov check-raised all in for just over 3 million, and Chouity snap-called.
The players didn't open the cards immediately, as the floor rushed to announce that there was an all in and call. Chouity seemed very confident he had the best hand, something made even more clear by the look on Gromov's face.
Gromov turned over the and Chouity said "Weeeeee!" while revealing his for the top pair and flush draw.
Just the could save Gromov from losing most of his chips — a card that would eliminate Chouity if it fell. If any other card would hit, Chouity would have a commanding chip lead and Gromov would be almost out.
Very slowly the dealer burned, then placed the on the river!
The one out Gromov had left hit, and Chouity couldn't believe it. He laughed, clapped in his hands, and shouted, "One-outer!" twice to someone on the rail. If you weren't looking, you might have thought it was Chouity who had just hit his one-outer to double. He didn't look all that disappointed when he asked us if we had ever seen this before.
"You have never seen this before right?" he continued, "I made history then!"
Chouity departed in third place, making $140,000 doing so, and the tournament was down to the heads-up battle between Dmitry Gromov and Alexander Lakhov.
Gromov had a big lead over his countryman, and it could have been over minutes later when Lakhov got all of his chips in with ace-jack to Gromov's aces. With a jack on the flop and river, Lakhov stayed alive. Gromov didn't blink when the jack hit the river, probably realizing it wasn't his moment to complain about beats after having just sucked out on Chouity in such miraculous fashion minutes before.
With his double up, Lakhov started a rush. He won a lot of the pots, mostly without showdown, and really ground Gromov down. He got the best of it in showdown pots as well, being right with ace-high and king-high more than once.
Gromov was ground down to his last 15 big blinds when he found ace-deuce. He shoved over Lakhov's opening raise, but got quickly called. Lakhov had pocket jacks and no miracle came this time for Gromov, making him the runner up for $215,000.
Lakhov was handed the trophy, bricks of cash worth $310,000, and a ticket for the World Poker Tour World Championship at Borgata at the end of the season worth another $15,400.
Position
Player
Country
Prize
1
Alexander Lakhov
Russia
$310,000
2
Dmitry Gromov
Russia
$215,000
3
Nicolas Chouity
Lebanon
$140,000
4
Toby Lewis
United Kingdom
$102,820
5
Ori Miller
Israel
$77,000
6
Igor Devkin
Russia
$62,000
That concludes PokerNews' coverage of the 2014 partypoker World Poker Tour Merit North Cyprus Classic Main Event. Next up on our live reporting schedule is the 2014 Mid-States Poker Tour Running Aces Harness Park, beginning September 19.