The Onyx High Roller Series & Cash Game Festival at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa in Northern Cyprus delivered plenty of surprises and giant scores over the last two weeks.
Jean-Robert Bellande, a true legend of the game who very rarely plays tournaments, won the biggest prize of the series. JRB shipped the Onyx High Roller Championship, winning $1,500,000 as a last-minute replacement for Rob Yong. Yong ended up making the trip and getting to Cyprus just before late registration closed, and finished second for $1,000,000 against one of his closest friends in the poker industry.
Nino Pansier won the $25,000 PLO Main Event to close out the series, topping the 199-entry field to win an eye-watering $1,125,000 and close out the series.
The $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event was won by Estonia’s Ottomar Ladva, a chess prodigy turned poker player. He took home $1,150,000 to put himself second on Estonia’s all-time money list, only behind the famous “Gambledore”, Vladimir Korzinin. The former Grandmaster had nine six-figure scores in 2025, excelling against the very best on the European Poker Tour and in his native Estonia.
Cesar Garcia won a career-high $1,200,000 by winning the prestigious Onyx $50,000 PLO Grand Slam. He found himself in an extremely advantageous position with five players left, with 60% of the chips, and his four opponents with similar stacks. He VPIPed at roughly an 80% rate to run over the field before being Welshman Gruffudd Pugh-Jones in heads-up play.
Finally, Matthias Eibinger won the second-most prestigious no-limit hold’em event of the week, taking down the $50,000 NLH Grand Slam. Eibinger defeated recent WSOP bracelet winner Johan “YoH Viral” Guilbert to top the 95-entry field and claim the $1,250,000 top prize.
Onyx High Roller Series $50,000 PLO Grand Slam
Cesar Garcia took advantage of a massive chip lead to completely blow the competition away en route to a career-high $1,200,000 win. The super-high stakes PLO specialist won roughly 50% of his previous career live earnings in one go, cementing his legacy as one of the best players in the current four-card game.
“It means a lot. Right now, I feel super tired, because it’s been a long journey. I came as chip leader to the final table. I ran very well in the tournament. So it’s like a dream. It’s my biggest score, and right now I’m super happy.”
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cesar Garcia | Spain | $1,200,000 |
| 2 | Gruffudd Pugh-Jones | Wales | $840,000 |
| 3 | Filip Aleksic | Austria | $555,000 |
| 4 | Sean Rafael | United States | $430,000 |
| 5 | Nino Pansier | Netherlands | $340,000 |
| 6 | Danielle Noja | Australia | $265,000 |
| 7 | Espen Myrmo | Norway | $210,000 |
$100,000 Onyx High Roller Series No-Limit Hold’em High Roller Championship
| Place | Player | Country | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jean-Robert Bellande | United States | $1,500,000 |
| 2 | Rob Yong | United Kingdom | $1,000,000 |
| 3 | Markkos Ladev | Estonia | $700,000 |
| 4 | Pieter Aerts | Belgium | $515,000 |
| 5 | Thomas Eychenne | France | $375,000 |
| 6 | Emilien Pitavy | France | $280,000 |
| 7 | Biao Ding | China | $230,000 |
| 8 | Gha Iakobishvili | Russia | $200,000 |
$25,000 Onyx High Roller Series No-Limit Hold’em Main Event
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ottomar Ladva | Estonia | $1,150,000 |
| 2 | Geoffrey Mooney | Australia | $717,000 |
| 3 | Mikalai Vaskaboinikau | Belarus | $490,000 |
| 4 | Kirill Shcherbakov | Russia | $355,000 |
| 5 | Patrik Antonius | Finland | $270,000 |
| 6 | Matthias Lipp | Austria | $200,000 |
| 7 | Boris Kolev | Bulgaria | $160,000 |
| 8 | Daniil Kiselev | Russia | $124,000 |
| 9 | Jessica Teusl | Austria | $100,000 |
2026 Onyx High Roller Series $50,000 NLH Grand Slam
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matthias Eibinger | Austria | $1,250,000 |
| 2 | Johan Guilbert | France | $870,000 |
| 3 | Joseph Oren | United States | $575,000 |
| 4 | Tom Vogelsang | Netherlands | $430,000 |
| 5 | Sergio Fernandez | Spain | $340,000 |
| 6 | Igor Yaroshevskyy | Ukraine | $265,000 |
| 7 | Quan Zhou | China | $210,000 |
| 8 | Thomas Muehloecker | Austria | $175,000 |
| 9 | Gha Iakobishvili | Russia | $145,000 |
$25,000 PLO Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nino Pansier | Netherlands | $1,125,000 |
| 2 | Justin Steinbrenner | Germany | $710,000 |
| 3 | Youness Barakat | Italy | $483,000 |
| 4 | Espen Sandvik | Norway | $340,000 |
| 5 | Artur Martirosian | Russian Federation | $250,000 |
| 6 | Lautaro Guerra | Spain | $190,000 |
| 7 | Tomasz Krzesinski | Poland | $143,000 |
