In one of the rare feats in the tournament poker world, Russia’s Alexey Rybin completed what he started in going wire-to-wire in winning the World Poker Tour’s inaugural Season XII stop at the bWin WPT Merit Cyprus Classic late last night (U. S. time).
Rybin led a contingent of Russians who took up half of the final table, with countrymen Andrei Nikonov and Sergey Rybachenko joining him on the felt at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino on Wednesday. Along with the other three players – second place Albert Daher, Kayhan Tugrul and Pierre Sayegh – the remainder of the table was more than a million chips behind Rybin and, as the cards hit the air, they quickly went to work in attempting to keep Rybin from his dominant performance.
After an early feeling out process, the short stacked Sayegh decided it was time to try to move up the leaderboard. After a Rybachenko bet and a Daher call, Sayegh put his remaining stack in the center. Rybachenko didn’t feel confident, dropping his cards into the muck, but Daher decided to look up Sayegh. His pocket sevens led the A-9 of Sayegh as the flop came K-J-2 and the turn brought another Jack. Looking for a nine, King or Ace, Sayegh instead saw a third Jack land on the river, eliminating him in sixth place.
Daher would attempt to use Sayegh’s chips to further increase his stack, but he would double up Rybachenko in an odd hand. After an initial bet from Rybachenko, Daher defended his small blind with a three bet to 140K and Rybachenko moved all-in for over 800K in chips. Daher made the call and, surprisingly, only turned up an A-9 to run against Rybachenko’s pocket sixes. After the board hit the felt with no Ace or nine in the mix, Rybachenko was in excellent health with 1.6 million in chips and Daher plummeted to the basement with only 630K.
Rybin was content to sit back and let the rest of the table pummel themselves, but it did cause him to lose the lead momentarily. After he failed to call an all-in from Daher, his chip count slipped under Nikonov’s, Nikonov used this opportunity to extend his lead, making two pair against Tugrul to push his count to 2.75 million, while Rybachenko also passed Rybin to take over the second place slot. That was short-lived, however, as Nikonov cut a sizeable stack from Rybachenko’s chips to put Rybin back into the second place slot.
After over two hours since the elimination of Sayegh, the next man would leave the felt. After doubling up Daher, Rybachenko was left with little more than scraps on the baize. Daher would finish him off, his pocket Kings ruling over Rybachenko’s pocket tens, to send Rybachenko out in fifth place.
Rybin continued to bleed chips off, getting to as low as 750K, before getting a double up through Tugrul when his A-K was dominant over Tugrul’s A-10. This seemed to wake Rybin up as he eliminated Tugrul moments later in fourth place, but Nikonov and Daher continued to push the pace as they momentarily pulled away. Rybin would reverse that course, though, in doubling up through Daher before knocking off Nikonov in third place to set up the heads up battle with Daher.
Nearly even in chips, the heads up fight was a quick one. Although Daher would take the first hand, the very next one saw a massive swing in the chip stacks. On an A-K-J flop, Rybin led out for 515K and Daher made the call. An innocent deuce came on the turn, drawing an all-in from Rybin that Daher didn’t like. After a great deal of deliberation, Daher made the call and immediately mucked his cards after seeing Rybin turn up Big Slick for two pair. After the chips were counted down, Rybin had been at risk of elimination but no more; the 7.4 million pot swept over to Rybin left only 315K in chips for Daher as the duo played on.
Although he would double twice, Daher got his chips in badly on the final hand. Pre-flop, Daher pushed all-in with a K-9 and, once Rybin called with a leading A-5, saw an Ace come on the flop to extend Rybin’s lead. When the board paired a seven on the turn, it was all over for Daher as Alexey Rybin captured the championship in Cyprus.
1. Alexey Rybin, $258,000
2. Albert Daher, $160,200
3. Andrei Nikonov, $103,700
4. Kayhan Tugrul, $75,600
5. Sergey Rybachenko, $56,600
6. Pierre Sayegh, $46,000
With the opening event for Season XII in the books, the WPT isn’t wasting much time in kicking up their schedule. The inaugural event of their special High Roller series, WPT Alpha8, begins on Monday at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL, while the first tournament in the U. S. for Season XII, the WPT Legends of Poker, is set to begin next Thursday at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, CA.
