The WPT Prime Cyprus Championship surpassed all expectations, attracting 1,391 runners to generate a juicy $1,349,270 prize pool. Virtually everyone who knows how to play Texas Hold’em in the region was there to battle for the top prize.
In the end, Algerian Omar Lakhdari was crowned the champion, taking home $190,430 and the coveted title.
For Lakhdari, it was the third-largest score of his career, which will take his career live tournament winnings to over $3.4 million. Clearly, as Algeria’s all-time leader in tournament earnings, he’s an expert in poker tournament strategy. Interestingly enough, he doesn’t play different poker games besides Texas Hold’em, with all his career cashes coming in the two-card variant.
Only Lakhdari’s triumph in the 2023 PokerStars LIVE Belgian Poker Challenge Main Event ($224,330) and his 6th-place finish in the 2022 Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Open ($208,025) have bested his latest run.
Lakhdari’s run didn’t come without its challenges, as he had to get past the likes of established Swiss tournament pro Fabian Rolli (4th, $70,000) and Hungarian wizard Andras Balogh (6th, $40,000) at the final table.
Lakhdari came into heads up play a little over a two-to-one favorite over tournament newcome Atilla Saracoglu. All the chips got in the middle on a juicy [invalid notations] against Saracoglu’s K♥Q♥.
Saracoglu bricked out as the board ran out 3♣8♥ to give Lakhdari the win, the money, and the trophy.