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A player competing under the alias ‘Goofy’ has captured the $10,400 Premiere event at the Onyx High Roller Series in Northern Cyprus, earning a top prize of $1,000,000 from a $4,765,800 prize pool. The win came after a dramatic final table that included Sergio Aido and Mikita Badziakouski, culminating in a heads-up battle where ‘Goofy’ trailed nearly four-to-one in chips before storming back.
‘Goofy’ entered the final table third in chips and quickly made his presence felt, eliminating close friend and roommate Ravid Garbi in ninth place. Despite the bustout, ‘Goofy’ praised Garbi afterward, predicting he would return to more final tables in the future.
Badziakouski, meanwhile, ran hot throughout the day, eliminating start-of-day chip leader Damir Gabdullin twice over in brutal cooler hands, once with quad kings and later with aces over queens. The Belarusian pro also sent Aido, Artsiom Lasouski, Italo Modena, Giorgiy Skhulukhiya, and Oshri Lahmani to the rail, building a commanding stack heading into the heads-up match.
Facing a player with 18 previous seven-figure scores, ‘Goofy’ fought back from the bottom of the counts multiple times during the final table, surviving key all-ins with ace-king and a river card against Badziakouski himself before reaching heads-up play.
In heads-up action, ‘Goofy’ chipped away at the deficit with key doubles and a bold hero call against a triple-barrel bluff, eventually seizing the chip lead. Badziakouski clawed back once more with a fortunate king on the turn, but ‘Goofy’ regained control shortly after.
The tournament ended with both players flopping pairs and getting all their chips in the middle. A clean turn and river sealed the victory for ‘Goofy’, who took home the title and $1,000,000, while Badziakouski settled for $585,000 as runner-up.
