Alexander Lakhov wins
Thursday September 11,2014 : RUSSIAN VICTORY AT WORLD POKER TOUR CYPRUS
Lakhov bests 403 other competitors to claim first prize of $325,400.
A total of 404 hopefuls registered for the World Poker Tour Merit Classic tournament in Cyprus this week, generating a prize pool of $1,471,320, with the lion's share going to Russian pro Alexander Lakhov, playing in his second WPT event (he was runner up in the 2012 WPT Prague tourney.)
The final table was led by Nicolas Chouity and comprised Lakhov, Dmitry Gromov, Toby Lewis, Ori Miller and Igor Devkin.
It looked like it was Chouity all the way as the chip leader quickly busted out the first two final table eliminations, but he ran into trouble when the action reached four-handed play and Dmitry Gromov went on a heater to eliminate Toby Lewis, and then leveraged those chips to send Chouity to the cashier cage.
That left Lakhov and Gromov in the heads up, with Gromov holding a 3 to 1 advantage, but that was dissipated when Lakhov doubled up to take control, and pretty much stayed there with a series of positive pots until his last opponent was defeated and sent home with the second prize of $215,000.
Lakhov claimed the trophy, the main prize, and a ticket for the World Poker Tour World Championship at Borgata at the end of the season valued at $15,400.
