Sergey Rybachenko opened the action with a bet of 52,000, Albert Daher called from the small blind and Pierre Sayegh moved all in from the big blind for his last 267,000. Rybachenko folded but Daher made the call to put Sayegh at risk.
Sayegh had and was racing against Daher’s The board ran out and we were down to out last five players.
It was passed around to Kayhan Tugrul on the button with who raised to 50,000. Pierre Sayegh reraised all in with and Tugrul instantly called. The board came and both players made the nut straight, splitting the pot.
Alexey Rybin opened from early position and got called by Andrei Nikonov and Pierre Sayegh from the big blind. They saw a flop of . It was checked to Nikonov and his bet of 69,000 was enough to win it
Kayhan Tugrul is a 31 year old who hails from Turkey and has been playing poker for 13 years. Tugrul comes to the final table as the most active player of the six, which might be why he classes Gus Hansen as one of his favorite players. Tugrul has not been afraid to get involved in a pot with anyone, and that includes the chip leader Alexey Rybin. He also has lady luck on his side as he has managed to evade defeat despite being all in more than any other player at the final table, including a JJ v QQ confrontation with Rybin, that occurred towards the end of Day Four. The board running out to a wheel straight to give Tugrul a reprieve he so gratefully received. This is Tugrul’s second WPT final table appearance after finishing third in the recent WPT National Event that was held in this very casino.
Albert Daher is a class act, and has rarely put a foot wrong during this competition. He is 26 years old and has been playing poker professionally since he was 20 years of age. Daher is another member of the final table that hails from Lebanon and he earns most of his money on the cash game circuit. He has $262,825 in live tournament earnings and his biggest cash to date occurred just a few weeks ago when he took second in the $3,000 Merit World Cup here at the Merit Crystal Cove where he earned $137,299. Daher has been supported each day, on the rail, by his girlfriend Clara.
Sergey Rybachenko is the most experienced live tournament player at the final table. The 39 year old married man has over a million in live tournament earnings dating back over eight years. Rybachenko was eliminated from Day 1A by Alexey Rybin in the very last hand of the night, but used the re-entry clause to his advantage as he prepares to take his place at the final table. Live tournament poker is not even Rybachenko’s favorite game as he is an aficionado of Chinese Poker, which you can catch him playing at the Merit Crystal Cove Casino in between tournaments. A keen sports bettor, Rybachenko started playing poker because he ‘needed money badly,’ and got exactly what he needed. This is his first-ever WPT cash, but he does have some excellent scores particularly at the WSOP in Vegas where he once finished 45th in the main event for $206,395
Andrei Nikonov is a 23 year old from St Petersburg who has been a professional poker player for the past four years. This is his second WPT cash after finishing place at WPT Prague last season in 56th place and he has $319,357 in live tournament earnings. Nikonov came to prominence when he became the only man to win any pot of note from Alexey Rybin late on Day Three. Day Four was a tough day for Nikonov, as he became the whipping boy for the short stacks. The youngster doubling up both Jerfi Firatli and Kifr Yamin as he struggled to make up the ground between himself and Rybin. Nikonov’s biggest live cash to date came in 2012 when he took $182,710 after winning the Russian Poker Tour in Kiev.
Alexey Rybin has led this tournament from start to finish. He was one of the last people to enter the event on Day 1A, when he joined the fray in Level 6, and he stole the chip lead after eliminating his countryman, and fellow final table member, Sergey Rybachenko in the very last hand of the night. Rybin would continue to hold that chip lead through Days 2, 3 and 4 and is now aiming to do something that very few have, and that’s go wire-to-wire as the chip leader. The 33 year old from Moscow, classes himself as a businessman, but does participate in high stakes cash games. Rybin was a part of the recent PartyPoker Big Game where he won around $20k in profit before being evicted by an audience vote. Rybin has $483,503 in live tournament earnings and his best score to date is a fifth place finish at EPT San Remo, back in 2010, where he earned $366,833 in the event won by Liv Boeree.
He will start the final table as most people’s favorite for the title.
It seems that every European WPT stop has at least one member of the final table who plays like an absolute rock; and the WPT Cyprus rock is Pierre Sayegh. At 54 years of age, Sayegh is the oldest member of the final six and maybe this is why he has so much patience. The married man of two has been involved in far fewer pots than his competition, but hasn’t lost a single one that has mattered. Sayegh qualified for this event through a live satellite and it’s not only his first WPT event, but it’s his largest live cash to date.
![[user252447]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and was racing against Daher’s 
The board ran out 
and we were down to out last five players.
who raised to 50,000. Pierre Sayegh reraised all in with 
and Tugrul instantly called. The board came 
and both players made the nut straight, splitting the pot.
. It was checked to Nikonov and his bet of 69,000 was enough to win it
