Leo Worthington-Leese snags Eureka Main trophy after three-way deal

After four days of intense action, Leo Worthington-Leese hoisted the trophy in the European Poker Tour (EPT) Cyprus Eureka $1,100 Main Event. The Eureka Main Event garnered a field of 2,803 entries over the course of six flights to generate a prize pool of $2,662,850 — with 418 players making the money. 

Worthington-Leese claimed the first-place finish after striking a three-way ICM deal with his opponents Frederick Anastasiades and Samuel Fournier. The British professional's victory comes after several close calls at EPT events, including a third-place finish in the 2023 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event. 

Leo Worthington-Leese won his first EPT trophy after a series of close calls.

After starting the final day of play in the bottom half of the chip counts, Worthington-Leese rode the variance train as one by one the other players at the table bowed out before him. With multiple players' stacks clustered tightly together, the pay jump pressure was felt by just about every player at the table. 

Following the elimination of Aleksandr Razinkov in fourth place, Worthington-Leese, Anastasiades, and Fournier took a ten-minute break to discuss details of a potential chop. The three players agreed to set aside 10% of the remaining prize pool to fight for while dividing the remaining money according to the independent chip model (ICM). 

Both Anastasiades and Fournier notched career-best cashes with the agreed-upon deal amounts. After resuming play, Fournier lost a pot to Anastasiades to leave him on the short stack and Worthington-Leese finished him off shortly afterward. 

Frederick Anastasiades took the second-biggest prize as part of the three-handed ICM deal.

It took only three hands of heads-up play to decide which player would walk away with the coveted Shard trophy. The second of the three saw Anastasiades move all-in with only to see his opponent snap-call with . With nearly all the chips in play in the middle, Worthington-Leese simply needed to dodge a two-outer to all but lock up the win. The flop improved both players to two pair, but the turn and river kept Worthington-Leese's hand best and left Anastasiades with only crumbs. The very next hand, Worthington-Leese finished the job to claim his first EPT trophy. 

2024 EPT Cyprus Eureka Main Event final table results

^{*denotes ICM deal}

^{Images Courtesy of Danny Maxwell/Rational Intellectual Holdings Limited}