Unexpected Champion Emerges in EPT Cyprus $10,200 Mystery Bounty

After nine hours of play on Day 2, Marcelo Bonanata of Uruguay is the newest 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus champion after taking victory in the $10,200 Mystery Bounty for a total of $156,800, inclusive of bounties.

Bonanata, who surged from the middle of the pack during the final table, defeated Latvian Aleksejs Ponakovs after a back and forth heads-up battle. Ponakovs is consoled with a $129,000 payday after scooping a $50,000 bounty, while Vladimir Korzinin of Estonia completed the podium places.

Bonanata is an EPT regular. His first cash in an EPT event was in 2013, but this marks his first live tournament victory outside his native country and his maiden EPT triumph.

$10,200 Mystery Bounty Final Table Results

Familiar Face Bubbles Mystery Bounty

Only 26 players qualified from Day 1, with Ren Lin leading the way, and the field increased to 39 at the start of play after 13 players took advantage of late registration.

Those figures brought the total field to 75 players, generating a $352,500 cash prize pool, along with a bounty prize pool of $375,000.

Dimitar Danchev was the first player to fall on Day 2 to Teun Mulder, and the knockouts continued at a steady pace as Patrick Leonard, Ognyan Dimov and Boris Kolev all fell by the wayside before the first break.

At that point, Korzinin led the way, ahead of Mulder, after taking a huge pot against Lin with a set, with Yulian Bogdanov completing the top three.

The departures continued at a rapid pace after the break, with Adrian Mateos and Aliaksei Boika both being sent to the rail, while Tom Vogelsang moved among the chip leaders after securing a double knockout.

Korzinin continued to chip up after busting Vicente Delgado, with Bogdanov close on his tail after he disposed of Paul Newey and Marius Kudzmanas in one hand.

Lin became short after his pocket jacks were cracked, and he ultimately proved to be the bubble boy when he got his short-stack in with a dominated ace against Bonanata.

The final table was set after Diogo Coelho and Joao Tomas busted to Manuel Fritz and Alexander Zubov respectively.

Final Table Action

Korzinin came into the final table with the chip lead, having almost double the stack of his closest challenger, Vogelsang. Bonanata, Fritz, Bogdanov and Ponakovs all had similar stacks in the 40-big-blind region, while Santhosh Suvarna and Valeriy Fokin brought up the rear.

Fokin was the first player to exit when he missed the board versus Ponakovs. His fellow Russian Zubov was next to depart in eighth, when he jammed the flop but found his flush draw was dominated by Bonanata.

Short-stack Fritz got unlucky to have his pocket kings cracked by Vogelsang to leave the arena in seventh, and the bad luck stories continued as Bonanata two-outed Bogdanov to send the Bulgarian packing in sixth. Bogdanov will no doubt take solace in taking the largest amount of bounties, totaling $75,000.

Suvarna had done well to navigate his short-stack to fifth, but he was next to go to the rail when Vogelsang rivered a straight.

At the final four, Bonanata and Korzinin held a decent lead over Vogelsang and Ponakovs, who were playing similar stacks.

The Dutchman was next to depart when Ponakovs three-bet jammed from the big blind versus Vogelsang’s button open, and spiked his only overcard on the turn.

Korzinin had been chip leader for the majority of the day, but he exited in third when he picked an unfortunate time to run a bluff straight into Ponakov’s flopped trip tens.

That set the stage for the heads-up battle between Bonanata and Ponakovs, with Bonanata holding a slight lead.

Ponakovs went in front with a better ace-high at showdown and extended his lead when he rivered a flush.

Bonanata hit the front again when a small river raise forced a fold from Ponakovs, and he took successive key pots with two pair and a straight. Ponakovs briefly threatened a further comeback, but ultimately fell short when he could not overcome Bonanata’s pocket deuces in a flip in the final hand.