German Pro Oliver Weis Wins EPT Cyprus Main Event After Epic Heads-Up

The European Poker Tour welcomed players to the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino and Spa in Northern Cyprus for 10 days of tournament heroics. A late finish in the EPT Main Event in Cyprus saw German professional Oliver Weis crowned the champion as he was the winner from eight different poker nations at the final table.

Italian’s Jacks Lose to the Ladies

There were a huge 1,284 entries in this year’s 2024 EPT Cyprus Main Event, with abuy-in of $5,300 for each entry contributing to a massive $6.2 million prizepool. Of the entries, just 191 players made it into profit, with the German player Timo Kamphues the man to miss out in ninth place.

All-in for his last chips, Kamphues earned a score of $94,940 when his ace-eight couldn’t hold against his fellow German Oliver Weis’ jack-nine. A board of Q-9-3-J-A sent Kamphues home and in doing so, propelled Weis up the leaderboard. By the time the final six gathered, the eventual winner would have a mountain of a stack.

The Italian player Andrea Dato called off his stack pre-flop with pocket jacks, but his hand was one pip on each card behind Weis’ pocket queens as the German flopped a queen too. A nine on the flop did open up possible gutshot or open-ended straight draws but when the turn meant Dato was chasing only two outs, no jack came on the river and he left with $123,400.

Bobby James Picked Off in Fifth

Bulgarian player Anton Kraous crashed out next, losing in seventh place for $160,500. Shoving with king-jack, he was dominated by Bobby James’ ace-jack, and while the ten-high board did at one point give Kraous hope of hitting a miraculous straight, he too was denied that result as James took him out in seventh instead.

As players went to their hotel rooms for one last night’s rest before the final day, Weis had a massive lead with 18.5 million chips. His closest rival – Bobby James – had just 5.2 million and with 185 big blinds, Weis was in charge the minute the final day began. That said, he had nothing to do with the first elimination, as Anton Wigg called off his stack with pocket tens and lost a race to Russian player Mikhail Shalamov, who had ace-king. An ace landed on the flop to bust the Swedish player for $208,720 in sixth place.

Soon, Bobby James left in fifth for a score of $271,400. Moving all-in with king-queen, he was behind Georgios Tsouloftas’s ace-jack, and it stayed that was as a nine-high board sent the British player home just short of the final four. Players from Germany, Russia, Ukraine and the home country of Cyprus itself were about to battle it out for a million-dollar top prize and the title of EPT champion.

Weis Gets There in the End  

The Ukrainian professional Andriy Lyubovetskiy lost out for a score of $353,100 in fourth place. All-in on the river of a board showing T-5-4-7-2, Lyubovetskiy’s ace-deuce was no good against the ten-seven of Weis, whose two pair further strengthened his stack. Over the course of three-handed play, Weis was to take a few hits and dropped to third in chips at one point, but the resilience of his play was complimented by the stack he had built in those early stages of the last day and it paid off.

Russia’s Mikhail Shalamov busted in third place for $459,000 to the new chip leader  as Tsouloftas’s ace-ten easily beat Shalamov’s ace-seven, a ten-high flop helping to send the Russian home in third place and give the home country’s hope Tsouloftas a 3:1 chip lead going into the last battle for glory.

Oliver Weis fell 5:1 behind in chips but used all of his experience to grind his way back into the heads-up fight and after picking off a big bluff, Weis moved into a big lead with 80% of the chips. When Tsouloftas shoved with king-deuce, Weis called with a suited queen-seven and his rail’s cheers for seven were very specifically rewarded when one landed on the 7-4-3 flop.

A five on turn and river ended the event in the German’s favor as the local man Tsouloftas just missed out on the EPT title. Instead it was Weis who banked his first-ever seven-figure top prize as he became an EPT champion at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino and Spa in Northern Cyprus.

Headline phot by Manuel Kovscar for PokerStars, the home of the European Poker Tour.