Kirill Shcherbakov and Leon Sturm Lead as Final Table of the $5,300 Main Event Restarts at 12:00 p.m.
The 5,300 Mediterranean Poker Party Main Event continues, here at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel in Northern Cyprus. After three days of competition where only 9 players out of a field of 1,260 entrants survived, and one of them will be crowned as the champion today and take home $1,000,000.
Russia's Kirill Shcherbakov and Germany's Leon Sturm find themselves at the top of the counts with 100,800,000, and 90,100,000, holding half of the chips in play between them.
Sturm is looking to add another championship to his already impressive resume with over $5,500,000 in live earnings. He is no stranger to the pressure of playing large sums of cash as he as claimed a WSOP bracelet in the 2023 $50,000 High-Roller, and finished 3rd in the 2023 WSOP Paradise $100,000 Ultra High Roller.
| Rank | Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kirill Shcherbakov | Russian Federation | 100,800,000 | 84 |
| 2 | Leon Sturm | Germany | 90,100,000 | 75 |
| 3 | Mihai Niste | Romania | 41,800,000 | 35 |
| 4 | Iurii Suvorov | Russian Federation | 36,500,000 | 30 |
| 5 | Azamat Lamkov | Russian Federation | 34,400,000 | 29 |
| 6 | Assyl Tleuzhanov | Kazakhstan | 30,000,000 | 25 |
| 7 | Birger Larsen | Norway | 20,600,000 | 17 |
| 8 | Yuhang Chen | China | 13,800,000 | 12 |
| 9 | Damir Gabdullin | Russian Federation | 10,000,000 | 8 |
All nine players have locked up a payout of $78,000, but of course the eyes are on the Mediterranean Poker Party trophy, and $1,000,000 first-place prize.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 |
| 2 | $680,000 |
| 3 | $440,000 |
| 4 | $320,000 |
| 5 | $225,000 |
| 6 | $170,000 |
| 7 | $125,000 |
| 8 | $100,000 |
| 9 | $78,300 |
When play kicks off at 12:00 p.m. local time, the players will start on Level 29: 600,000/1,200,000 with a 1,200,000 big blind ante. All remaining levels will last 60 minutes until a champion has been crown.
The PokerNews coverage will commence at 1 p.m. local time, on a 60-minute delay so as to not spoil the cards-up stream on Merit Poker's Youtube channel.
So stay tuned to find out who will be victorious in Northern Cyprus and will be crowned the Mediterranean Poker Party champion during the thrilling conclusion of the Main Event.