Worthington-Leese Wins Maiden Shard in the $1,100 Eureka Main Event
The PokerStars European Poker Tour $1,100 Eureka Main Event saw 2,803 entrants try their hand at winning a piece of silverware here at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa. All who entered wanted to get their hands on a coveted Shard trophy, but only one could. Six flights and three days later, It was player Leo Worthington-Leese who took home the trophy, as well as $314,030 from the $2,662,850 prize pool for his efforts. Having finished third in the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event last year for $437,918, he went two better to claim his first EPT trophy.
He bested Frederick Anastasiades in second place and Samuel Fournier in third place. The trio agreed to an ICM chop before three-handed play commenced and played on for the remaining $79,957 and the trophy.
Anastasiades took home a career-best score of $248,479 and Fournier also claimed a career-best score of $237,051.
Day 3 Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1 | Leo Worthington-Leese | United Kingdom | $314,030* |
| 2 | Frederick Anastasiades | Cyprus | $248,479* |
| 3 | Samuel Fournier | France | $237,051* |
| 4 | Aleksandr Razinkov | Russia | $132,120 |
| 5 | Yuan Xu | China | $109,390 |
| 6 | Guoliang Wei | China | $78,770 |
| 7 | Recep Aydemir | Turkey | $60,850 |
| 8 | Alexey Badulin | Russia | $46,600 |
*Indicates ICM deal
Winners Interview
PokerNews caught up with Worthington-Leese after his victory.
"During the final table today I thought I was the best player"
"It feels pretty fu*king good to win this," he said. "I finished third in the 2023 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event to two top regulars, Leonard Maue and Mike Watson, and I didn't think it was my tournament to win.
"During the final table today I thought I was the best player and I wanted to push my edge. I learned a lot from Monte Carlo and since then and feel I have gotten a lot better."
Having spent most of the day yo-yoing up and down the counts, Worthington-Leese said that today was all about momentum.
"The king-queen versus ace-six hand left me short, and I thought if I go out soon it has been a decent run. I had a slow start to the day, didn't play a lot of hands and I was down to five million chips. The ace-jack versus kings hand was a crucial turning point. Then I doubled in back to back hands and regained the momentum."
With one eye on the EPT Cyprus Main Event, and the upcoming EPT festival in Prague this December, Worthington-Leese is still looking to celebrate after what he called on Facebook an "unbelievable last couple of years in poker".
"Tonight's about chilling and treating my friends to some food and drinks!"
Day 3 Action
Yuan Xu came into the day as the chipleader, and each player was guaranteed to walk away with $46,600. He took the first pot of the day against Fournier after making jacks up.
Alexey Badulin came into the day as the short stack and was the first elimination. He doubled up through his compatriot Aleksandr Razinkov, but ultimately ended up giving him his remaining chips after running his queen-jack into Raznikov's ace-king.
The first major collision came between Xu and Anastasiades as the latter took the chip lead when his Big Slick cracked the queens of Xu to storm up the chip counts and overtake the Day 3 chipleader.
Recep Aydemir was next to depart after his pair of fours didn’t hold against the ace-nine of Anastasiades. Fournier then claimed another scalp when Guoliang Wei called off his remaining 3,000,000 with ten-six suited. Fournier’s ace-jack came out on top over a paired board.
Having avoided any big collisions, Worthington-Leese's stack took a hit. As mentioned in the interview, he lost with king-queen versus Razinkov's ace-six suited. However the Brit found back-to-back double ups, taking chips back from Raznikov and leaving Xu short.
It was Xu who fell next as he ran nines into Fournier's aces and was left drawing near dead on the flop. Fournier and Anastasiades kept claiming scalps as he sent Raznikov to the rail in fourth place having called Raznikov's small blind shove from the big.
It was then three handed and negotiations for a potential ICM chop began. The players agreed to the deal and retook their seats and play resumed. Not long after, Fournier was left short by Anastasiades before Worthington-Leese claimed the Frenchman's remaining chips when he made top two pair after shoving preflop with ten-nine.
Heads-Up Play
The second hand of heads-up play saw Anastasiades moving all in and Worthington-Leese snap-calling. The Cypriot was left with crumbs after jamming sevens into queens. The next hand, it was all over as Worthington-Leese made a straight to lock up first place and the trophy.
This tournament may be over, but there is still plenty more to come from here in Northern Cyprus. Stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage of the EPT action.