Diogo Coelho Wins Eureka High Roller for $357,000 for Latest Major Title

Portuguese player Diogo Coehlo sealed his latest major victory in Cyprus as he won the Eureka High Roller for a top prize of $357,048 in Northern Cyprus. At a final table where a deal between the final two players locked up over $300,000 for both the heads-up combatants, there was drama to the last card as Coehlo was crowned champion on the Eureka Poker Tour.

Uselis Can’t Survive

With 1,374 entries, the Eureka Poker Tour High Roller cost $2,200 to play and saw 206 players reach the money, such as the first player to min-cash, Martin Zamani, who busted in 206^th place to win $3,260. Plenty of players ran very deep but just missed out on the final table as Fintan Hand (16^th for $17,570), Patrick Leonard (13^th for $24,880) and final Bubble Boy Kostadin Kostadinov (9^th for $38,820) all missed out on the eight-handed finale.

Ousted first at the final table, Russian player Leonid Logunov won $50,490 when he moved all-in with and was unfortunate to lose to Michele Guerrini’s . The Italian hit on the flop and stayed ahead through the turn and river to reduce the field to seven players.

The next player to go was the Lithuanian player Gediminas Uselis, who won $65,630 in seventh place. Calling off his stack pre-flop with , he was behind the Russian player Roman Timergazin’s and stayed that way through the flop. A turn saw Uselis drawing dead to the river and a was face-up by the time the Lithuanian was shaking hands with his opponents.

Ghassan Gotten as Short Stacks Pay the Price

With six players left, Timergazin left for a score of $85,310. The second of three Russians to bust at the final table, Timergazin lost out when he called off his stack correctly with after Guerrini had shoved pre-flop with . A flop of put the Italian into the lead in the hand and after a turn and [Ac[] river, Timergazin was on the rail and looking back ruefully at his bad beat exit.

With five players left, Guerrini and the final Russian Mukhtor Nasiradinov had a vast 27 million of the chips in play, with Coehlo, Ibrahim Ghassan and Ali Emre Ozcan holding just 14.75 million between them. Shortest of them all was the Turkish player Ozcan, who was next to bust for $110,900 in fifth place. All-in with , he was called by three players and the board was checked all the way down, seeing Nasiradinov win with just a turned pair of fours to leave the table stunned and Ozan on the rail.

With four remaining, players headed to their hotel beds for a final night’s unsettled sleep before the final played to a conclusion. The unfortunate Lebanese player Ghassan was taken out for $144,610 soon after players returned. All-in pre-flop with , he lost to Guerrini’s dominating when an ace-high board with no help for the at-risk player saw Ghassan ejected just short of the podium places.

Coehlo Captures the Crown

With three left, Guerrini held more chips than his opponents combined, and in taking out Nasiradinov in third for $187,410, sent play heads-up. Nasiradinov’s couldn’t win a flip against the Italian’s pocket fours and Guerrini and Coehlo had booked their seats for a final showdown.

Heads-up, Coehlo held with a pair of queens against Guerrini’s busted straight draw and with a 2:1 chip lead, never let it go. After being close to even, the two players agreed a deal that reflected the equality of their stacks and a couple of hands later, both men had their results. Guerrini called for his tournament life with and lost to Coehlo’s when an ace-high board landed.

It was Coelho’s second win on the EPT after first winning a $10,300-entry High Roller at EPT Paris. He was delighted with victory, talking to PokerNews after his big win.

“It feels amazing. I never expect to win a trophy like this.” He said. On Day 2, the Portuguese player had been reduced to just two bigs but powered back, never losing belief. “It is a situation where we lost a little bit of hope, but we still do whatever we can to make sure we come back.”

Call it a comeback, because Diogo Coehlo is the latest big winner in the Turkish province of Northern Cyprus and at the Merit Royal Hotel Casino & Spa.