The World Poker Tour (WPT) $3,500 buy-in, $2 million GTD WPT Cyprus Championship at the Chamada Prestige Hotel & Casino began with 775 entries – which created a $2,402,500 prize pool – but on Monday only the final seven players returned to battle to a winner.
Ilia Kitsbabahvili had a red-hot series, having previously won two WPT Cyprus side events – $1,100 NLH Freezeout for €34,430 and $1,100 PLO Bounty for €15,250 – and he closed it out in epic fashion by winning the WPT Cyprus Championship for $401,100 and his third title in less than two weeks!
You can watch the replay of the final table here:
2025 WPT Cyprus Final Table Results
*First-place amount includes the winner’s $10,400 entry into the season-ending WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.
According to the WPT Live Updates, the first elimination of the day in Level 29 (75,000/150,000/150,000) when Ignacio Sole moved all in under the gun for 1,575,000 holding the A♦K♦ and at risk against the A♠J♥ of James Mahone in the big blind.
Sole got it in good, but the board ran out J♦6♣3♦5♣A♥ to send him out the door in seventh place.
Uladzimir Zhyharau
The official final table of six was set, and 39 hands later in Level 31 (125,000/250,000/250,000), the start-of-the-day chip leader Uladzimir Zhyharau bowed out. Zhyharau had a tough go of it early and ended up moving all in for 3.65 million from the hijack with the A♥K♦, and Mahone isolated by three-bet jamming from the cutoff after looking down at the 10♣10♥. It was a flip, but Zhyharau failed ot connect as the board ran out Q♠5♥4♠3♠7♠.
Three hands later, Nikolai Zhadavon followed him out the door after losing a race with pocket nines to the queen-ten of Mahone, who flopped a ten. Despite starting on the short stack, Elena Litviniuk, who had the chance to become just the third woman in WPT history to grace the Mike Sexton Champions Cup, was able to ladder up before falling in fourth place.
Elena Litviniuk
It happened on Hand #55 of the final table when she raised from the cutoff and then snap-called off for 6,725,000 after Rafal Chmura shoved from the big blind with pocket deuces. Litviniuk was way ahead with two black aces, but a deuce on the flop gave Chmura a set. Neither the turn nor the river helped Litviniuk, and her cracked aces sent her out the door in fourth place for $142,000.
Three-handed play lasted for 81 more hands before Chmura and Kitsbabahvili saw a J♥7♠4♠ flop, and the latter moved all in. The former called off with the A♥A♣ and was looking to hold against the 5♥6♥ straight draw of Kitsbabahvili. Well, the straight didn’t come in, but the running 10♥ turn and 2♥ river was just as bad as Kitsbabahvili made a flush to score the knockout.
Kitsbabahvili took 24 million into heads-up play against Mahone, who had 14.5 million, but over the course of the next 22 hands, the gap widened. In what would be the final hand of the tournament, which took place in Level 34 (250,000/500,000/500,000), Mahone moved all in for 4.3 million with pocket fives and Kitsbabahvili called with ace-seven suited. A seven appeared on the flop, and that was all she wrote for Mahone, who earned $255,000 for his runner-up finish.
WPT Cyprus Side Event Winners
Ilia Kitsbabahvili won two side events before his WPT Cyprus Championship title!
Images courtesy of Tomas Stacha and the World Poker Tour
