Matthias Eibinger Takes $50,000 High Roller in Onyx Series Comeback

A thrilling final table in Northern Cyprus saw the Austrian poker professional Matthias Eibinger claim his latest major title. Winning the $1.25 million top prize, Eibinger beat Johan ‘YoH ViraL’ Guilbert heads-up at the Merit Casino in the Onyx High Roller Series $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em Grand Slam for one of the biggest scores of his career after legends like Tom Vogelsang and Quan Zhou both went close.

Ladva Claims Latest Cash

After a stirring victory the other day in the $25,000-entry Main Event, Ottomar Ladva chalked up another cash, this time doubling his $50,000 buy-in to a min-cash of $100,000 by scraping into the money. Only 14 players of the 95 entries who started the tournament made money and Ladva was the first to do so, as the Estonian slid out in 14^th place for that six-figure score.

Ladva was swiftly followed from the felt by plenty of other big names as the race to the final table gathered pace. Fahredin Mustafov enjoyed a result worth $100,000 too as the Bulgarian busted in 12^th place. Maher Nouira checked out in 11^th place for $120,000 and Austrian Daniel Thaller repeated that score in 10^th place as he bubbled the final nine.

When the final table began, it was Johan Guilbert who led the field but a protracted period where only the Russian Gha Iakobishvili busted in ninth place for $145,000 changed everything as players battled down to eight before the penultimate day ended. Iakobishvili raised all-in with king-queen of clubs on a flop of 8-8-8 including the eight of clubs but was quickly called by Guilbert, who turned over pocket aces for a full house. After the deuce turn and jack river, Iakobishvili left and a short time later the final eight was formed with Tom Vogelsang in charge instead.

A Flurry of Players Fall

Eight went into the final day with dreams of glory, but some hopes were more realistic than others. Thomas Muehloecker needed a miracle with just a single big blind to his name and while he earned one treble up courtesy of a coinflip win with king-queen against Guilbert’s pocket fours, his next all-in saw him lose with ace-seven to Joseph Oren’s ace-ten to leave with $175,000.

The Chinese player Quan Zhou departed in seventh place for $210,000 when his pair and flush draw were crushed by Guilbert’s pocket kings and the cowboys held to shoot Zhou down. Minutes later, Ukrainian Igor Yaroshevskyy left too, cashing for $265,000 in sixth place. On a six-high flop, Yaroshevskyy shoved with ten-six and was quickly called by Oren with pocket jacks, which held to reduce the field to five.

The Spanish player Sergio Fernandez was the man to miss out on the final four as he called off his stack of 11 big blinds with ace-jack and grimaced as Matthias Eibinger showed ace-queen for a superior ace-high hand. Incredibly, a flop of J-8-7 landed to give Fernandez the hope of a reprieve, but after an innocuous seven fell on fourth street, a queen on the river was a dagger to the heart of the Spaniard’s chances as he left with $340 in fifth place.

Guilbert Can’t Grab Glory

With four players left, Guilbert and Vogelsang were the two main players, each having over 14 million chips. Both Matthias Eibinger and Joseph Oren had just over 9m chips by comparison, but it was Vogelsang who slipped out of contention for $430,000 in fourth place. It was a huge hand that saw the Dutch player depart too, as he was all-in for 15m chips with queen-ten, calling off his stack with top pair on a board showing Q-4-2-4-6 only to see Eibinger turn over king-four for turned trips with a slightly bigger stack.

That pot gave Eibinger a massive lead and soon, he had himself another victim. Calling all-in pre-flop with ace-ten, Joseph Oren was at risk when Eibinger shoved with pocket threes, and he held through the board of Q-9-6-8-6 which had flopped Oren a flush draw. The American couldn’t hit, however, and as he left with $575,000 in third.

Heads-up, Eibinger had a 4:1 lead and soon sealed the deal. All-in from the button with eight-seven, the Austrian got lucky against the pocket sevens of Johan Guilbert when a flop of T-8-4 put the Frenchman behind when a big favorite pre-flop.

“One out,” moaned Guilbert.

“Nine on the turn?” Eibinger queried.

“Or the six.” Guilbert smiled but it didn’t come. A three on the turn was followed by an eight on the river and the tournament was over, leaving Eibinger to reflect on a famous win, crediting Guilbert in the process.

“[He’s] definitely a fun character,” Eibinger said. “He has an untypical game, but he is smart; it’s not like what you play every day, and I think I did a good job navigating through it.”

Eibinger Reflects on ‘Never Give Up’ Comeback

When asked how he came back from a much weaker position earlier in the event, Eibinger was dogmatic.

“It’s just fighting experience. Never give up,” he said. “I had to be very patient and from there, it just developed. I made a hero call, which was right. I think a little bit of luck and the right intuition is required to win a title.”

Eibinger burned through four bullets each worth $100,000 in the previous high roller so in some ways needed to balance the books for the trip. He was in for three entries in this $50,000 event so the pressure was on.

“Here I fired another three bullets, so I needed third place to break even, but now I’m super happy that I won it!”

After a thrilling conclusion, Matthias Eibinger from Austria was the latest Onyx High Roller Series for $1,250,000 while Frenchman Johan Guilbert took home the runner-up prize of $870,000.