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A staggering 456 high rollers came out to compete in the $10,300 EPT High Roller at the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus, but in the end, one man stood head and shoulders above the rest. Ryan Mandara dominated the final table, clinching the $709,285 top prize after making a heads-up deal with Poland’s Sebastian Malec.
Inside the luxurious Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa, Mandara added the stunning PokerStars trophy to his collection in dazzling fashion. Mandara cruised through the final table, dispatching six of his eight opponents with ruthless efficiency. He sealed the deal in rapid style, taking just three swift hands to dispatch Malec heads up, cementing his victory in record time.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ryan Mandara | United Kingdom | $709,285* |
| 2 | Sebastian Malec | Poland | $697,115* |
| 3 | Jelle Moene | Netherlands | $386,200 |
| 4 | Stoyan Madanzhiev | Bulgaria | $297,000 |
| 5 | Lev Margolin | Israel | $228,500 |
| 6 | Adrian Cazacu | Romania | $175,800 |
| 7 | Daniel Myers | United Kingdom | $135,200 |
| 8 | Niklas Astedt | Sweden | $110,900 |
| 9 | Steve O'Dwyer | Ireland | $92,400 |
*denotes heads-up deal
"I'm good, a bit in shock still," said Mandara in an exclusive interview with PokerNews.
When asked about the early stages of the tournament, he shared, "Day 1, I went down to 20,000 straight away, but managed to bag 75,000. Then, Day 2, I was just groveling and grinding and managed to bag 375,000. Today, I just ran super good."
Asked whether the money at stake influenced his decisions, Mandara replied, "I try not to make it affect decisions, but sometimes it does. I try my best not to let it affect me." With a career-best score already locked up, Mandara ended up more than doubling his previous best score from six years ago in Dublin.
Mandara had also finished 12th in the EPT High Roller in Barcelona earlier this year, and he loves the tournament structure. "So off to Prague to defend my crown, maybe," he said.
PokerNewsinformed Mandara that he had broken into the top 100 on the UK's all-time money list.
"My target was to make $1,000,000, which I did in Barcelona, and now it's almost doubled!" While he’s hit his goal, Mandara will likely have his sights set on even more trophies.
At the start of Day 3, only 24 hopefuls remained in the hunt for the title, led by Steve O'Dwyer. Diogo Coelho, Shankui Li, and Andras Nemeth held second, third, and fourth in chips, respectively, but none of them managed to reach the final table.
Coelho's downfall began when his kings clashed with Malec’s aces for most of his stack, followed by his queen-jack failing to improve against Manuel Fritz's ace-deuce. Nemeth’s journey ended in 18th after running into Niklas Astedt's slow-played aces during Level 25. Li, meanwhile, was eliminated in 12th after his ace-king failed to outrun Malec's pocket kings.
Also falling short of the final table was Juan Pardo, whose pocket sixes didn't hold against Daniel Myers’ pocket aces, sending him out in 11th. The dreaded bubble spot went to Fritz, whose ace-nine was outdrawn by Jelle Moene’s king-queen, with Moene completing a flush to seal Fritz's fate in tenth place.
When the final table began, Malec sat atop the leaderboard with 5,200,000 chips—nearly a quarter of all chips in play. However, his dominance was quickly challenged when he found himself in a classic coin flip against Stoyan Madanzhiev. The chips went in preflop, with Madanzhiev’s pocket eights holding firm against Malec’s ace-queen, bringing the two much closer regarding stack size.
O'Dwyer’s stack began to dwindle, and with around eight big blinds left, he pushed all in with pocket sixes. Unfortunately, he ran into Mandara’s pocket eights, sending the Irishman to the rail as the final table's first casualty.
Mandara’s momentum continued when he picked up pocket aces and called a four-bet shove from Astedt, who held pocket jacks. A clean runout sent Astedt packing while Mandara was contesting for the chip lead.
Myers was the next to fall after losing a three-way all-in with pocket deuces against Moene's ace-queen and Madanzhiev's ace-jack. A jack on the flop seemed poised to give Madanzhiev the double knockout, but a queen on the river saved Moene and kept him in the game, leaving Myers on the rail.
Adrian Cazacu, who had been nursing a short stack throughout the final table, managed to ladder up the payouts before eventually falling to Mandara. Cazacu three-bet shoved with ace-king, only to be quickly called by Mandara's pocket eights. An eight on the flop all but sealed Cazacu’s fate, sending him home in sixth place.
Lev Margolin stayed under the radar while the others clashed, but eventually, with just five big blinds remaining, he moved all in with ace-ten, and was called by Malec's ten-nine. Although Margolin was a big favorite, Malec hit a straight on the turn, which reduced the field to four players.
Madanzhiev never really recovered from the hand he lost earlier against Moene, and with around eight big blinds, he three-bet shoved ace-seven and ran straight into the ace-king of Mandara. No help arrived on the board and just like that, they were down to three.
When three-handed play started, the average stack was more than sixty big blinds, and Malec held over half the chips in play. Moene was the short stack but still had around thirty big blinds.
However, those thirty big blinds soon evaporated from Moene's stack when he called a four-bet shove with ace-jack, and found himself up against the pocket kings of Mandara. No help from the board meant Moene took the first of the podium positions.
Before heads-up play commenced, Malec and Mandara swiftly agreed to an ICM deal, securing a guaranteed payout for each while leaving $32,500 and the coveted PokerStars Spadie trophy on the table to play for.
Just as the players and spectators were prepared for a lengthy heads-up battle, it was over before anybody could blink. In the second hand after the restart, Malec check-jammed the river with second pair and was called by Mandara, who had top pair. With just a few big blinds remaining, it was all over in the third hand as Mandara's pocket tens held against Malec's king-nine, which saw him clinch the title.
The next EPT event will take place in Prague, December 4 - 15. See you there!
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