Things have been quiet on the World Poker Tour of late. After a stop earlier in August in Florida, the WPT has packed up the circus and moved onto the Chamada Prestige Hotel & Spa in Cyprus for their next big event. The 2026 WPT Cyprus is underway as we speak, as it looks to top its excellent 2025 performance and increase the WPT’s visibility on the world stage.

Guaranteed $2 Million Prize Pool

The WPT Cyprus is not a newcomer to the venerable circuit. Last year’s tournament drew 775 entries, creating a prize pool of over $2.4 million. Ilia Kitsbabashvili won the tournament, picking up a $401,100 payday; he returns to defend his title in 2026.

It is going to be a tough road for Kitsbabashvili if he intends to repeat. Not only is there a $2 million guarantee on the event, but there are also unlimited reentries through the first break of Day 2, on Saturday. At $3,500 a pop, a player can only afford to rack up so many entries before it begins to put a dent in the poker bankroll.

Players start with 50K in chips for each entry, and with eight one-hour levels making up a day of the event, it becomes a place where skillful play is rewarded. The three Day Ones are scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and the field will come together on Saturday for Day Two action (once the stragglers and late entries are received through the opening level of action on Saturday).

Veteran Pro Ray Qartomy Makes the Trip

For the opening of play in the 2026 WPT Cyprus on Wednesday, longtime WPT player Ray Qartomy was a part of the action. Despite never winning a tournament in WPT history, Qartomy has made six final table appearances and finished in the final three on two occasions. His lifetime earnings of $1.571 million put him #127 on the WPT’s career earnings list.

Only 45 players were on the felt for the opening call of “shuffle up and deal,” and Qartomy wasted little time making his moves on the field. The problem was that those moves saw him burn through his opening stack, and Qartomy broke out his wallet for a second buy-in. This one did not work out any better, unfortunately, as Qartomy fell to Stojan Vazic’s Q-9 that flopped top pair against Qartomy’s K-J.

What to do when you are down two bullets already? Qartomy said to his tablemates, “Pool, shower, nap for me…then I’ll be back!” It was not meant to be on Day 1A, however, but likely at some point in Day 1B and/or Day 1C.

147 entries came to the felt over the eight levels played on Wednesday, but only 65 players would have a stack in front of them when the final bell rang. Taking the honors for chip leader on Wednesday was Farbod Nazari, who spun up his 50K starting stack to 342,000 by the end of the night. Nazari is not running away with things, however, as Ali Moein was able to join him over the 300K mark with his 313,000 in chips.

1. Farbod Nazari, 342,000
2. Ali Moein, 313,000
3. Semen Karyi, 262,500
4. Umit Sadi, 239,500
5. Christian David, 235,000
6. Bernard Miguel Baptista das Neves, 233,000
7. Elena Litviniuk, 231,500
8. Petr Rudnev, 230,500
9. Miklos Zsuffa, 220,500
10. Rodriges Gerardo, 208,000

These players will have a couple of days to enjoy Cyprus’s beaches while the stragglers look for a bag. Day 1B is underway as we speak, and Day 1C will be contested on Friday. Will the endgame be a larger tournament than in 2025? If usual trends hold for the WPT Cyprus, then many players have not even stepped to the felt yet!

(Photo courtesy of WPT)

The post 2026 WPT Cyprus Brings World Poker Tour Back to Action appeared first on Poker News Daily.

Full Article

About The Author

Poker News

See author's posts