Russian businessman Alexey Rybin overcame a tough final table and some business commitments to take the 2013 bWin WPT Cyprus Main Event and the top prize of $258,000. The six day poker tournament at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino saw Rybin at the helm of the chip lead on all days but it still took maximum aggression on the final day to outlast his competitors.
Rybin was unusually passive in his poker game as the final days play started and he preferred to let others get eliminated rather than doing something to make that happen. His patience and perseverance paid off and by the time he came into his aggressive mood, he only had a three player rally to deal with.
Short stacked Lebanese poker player Pierre Sayegh was the first to exit on the six-handed final table and won $46,000. Sergey Rybachenko, the most experienced player on the table went out next getting $56,600 for a fifth place finish. Turkish Kayhan Tugrul was out in fourth place after sticking to his small stack for quite some time. Andrei Nikonov was resilient and put up a big three way fight before going out for $103,700.
Albert Daher finished in second place and won $160,200 as it took Rybin only two big pots to stamp his authority. Rybin also wins a $25,000 seat to the WPT Championship as part of the package of winning the 2013 WPT Cyprus Main Event.