Alexander Lakhov broke through for his first major title winning the 2014 WPT Merit Classic North Cyprus Main Event for bricks of cash worth $310,000 and a ticket for the World Poker Tour World Championship at Borgata worth another $15,400.
Lakhov is on a roll this year as he makes a double of WPT trophies by adding it to the WPT National crown he won in July this year. After a couple of years, the Russian poker pro was gratified this Wednesday as he won the title, he missed at WPT Prague in 2012 where he finished 2nd.
The 2010 EPT Grand Final winner, Nicolas Chouity started the final table as the chip leader and continued at the top as Igor Devkin and Ori Miller got busted in early rounds of play. Next to go was the English poker master Toby Lewis with $102,820 which left the trio of Lakhov, Chouity and Dmitry Gromov to battle it out. Chouity finished at the 3rd spot with a pocketful of $140,000 and in the heads-up, Lakhov overcame his fellow countryman to claim the title.
The Final table results of WPT Cyprus are as follows:
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1 | Alexander Lakhov | Russia | $310,000 |
| 2 | Dmitry Gromov | Russia | $215,000 |
| 3 | Nicolas Chouity | Lebanon | $140,000 |
| 4 | Toby Lewis | UK | $102,820 |
| 5 | Ori Miller | Israel | $77,000 |
| 6 | Igor Devkin | Russia | $62,000 |
Season XIII will be climaxing at Borgata with the $15,400 buy-in WPT World Championship from April 24-29, 2015.Later that night, came an astonishing announcement from the WPT officials of adding five new events to the ongoing Season XIII. Here’s a look at the five new stops:
- Lucky Hearts Poker Open — Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, February 5-11, 2015
- L.A. Poker Classic — Commerce Casino, February 28-March 5, 2015
- Bay 101 Shooting Star — Bay 101 Casino, March 9-13, 2015
- Rolling Thunder — Thunder Valley Casino Resort, March 14-18, 2015
- Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown* — Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, April 16-22, 2015
On this occasion, WPT Executive Tournament Director Matt Savage said: “With Season XIII underway, I’m already looking forward to the second half of the schedule. Soon enough the WPT Player of the Year race will heat up and we’ll see the best players in the game travel to all of the premiere properties on the World Poker Tour and compete on the biggest stages of poker.”