Just the other day we were celebrating a great poker player who has also made a name for himself in chess, and we immediately have another sensational crossover between the two games. The credit goes entirely to Ottomar Ladva, a twenty-seven-year-old Latvian who has just triumphed in the Onyx High Roller Series Main Event in Cyprus, even managing a practically unprecedented feat: making the legendary aplomb of Patrik Antonius crack.
Onyx High Roller Series Cyprus: Patrik Antonius chip leader at the Main Event final table, but Ladva wins
We are at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa in Kyrenia, northern Cyprus, where yesterday the final table of the Main Event for the Onyx High Roller Series was held. The $25,000 buy-in tournament saw only nine of the 207 entrants qualify for the final table, and among them, the name of Patrik Antonius could not fail to stand out.
The Finnish champion also started as the chip leader with 9.6 million chips, with Australian Mooney in second place with almost 8.4 million. Second to last in chips, but at the always healthy stack of 36 big blinds, was the Latvian Ottomar Ladva, one of the new names on the Super High Roller circuit in the last year, in which he has reached the final stages of tournaments against our Enrico Camosci several times.
The final table started with the Finn in the lead, as he first eliminated Jessica Teusl in a coinflip, then bluff-caught Boris Kolev, and then eliminated Daniil Kilisev.
With six players left, Patrik Antonius reached a stack of over 21 million and seemed on his way to victory. Then, however, a hand occurred that was somewhat the cornerstone of the final table.
Ladva vs Antonius: the hand that infuriated the Finn
Ottomar Ladva, who had already won a significant pot against Antonius a few orbits earlier, defended his big blind against the Finn’s raise to 425,000 from under the gun. Then, after a double check on the flop 8 a 9 , the turn k arrived and the action resumed. Ladva bet 800,000, Antonius took a few moments to think and then raised to 2.1 million, getting a call.
This led to the river, which was a 5 . Here, Ladva thought for a long time before deciding to bet 3.7 million into a pot of 5.3 million. Patrik Antonius began to ponder, used up SEVEN timebank cards before deciding to call. Then, upon seeing Ladva’s 7 6 for a straight completed on the river, he slammed his fist on the table in disappointment. For those who know Patrik Antonius and his legendary lack of emotion at the table, this was practically a first, or almost a first, in which the Finnish champion lost his patience.
Second round and… KO
The hand caused Antonius’s stack to drop below 5 million, while Ladva soared above 20 million. The Finn would partially recover shortly after, eliminating Lipp and climbing back to 8.5 million, but a bitter fate awaited him, namely – once again – Ottomar Ladva.
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The Latvian opened to 525,000 from UTG, Antonius poked him by 3-betting to 1.4 million from the cutoff and then shoved all-in for 8.4 million on Ladva’s 4-bet to 2.6 million, who called instantly for this showdown:
- Patrik Antonius a 5
- Ottomar Ladva q q
The board 10 10 6 2 k did not help Patrik, who was thus eliminated in fifth place for a prize of $270,000, not exactly what he had hoped for.
Ladva doesn’t miss a beat and triumphs
Ladva, on the other hand, surged ahead and wasn’t even particularly unlucky when he eliminated Shcherbakov with k 6 vs a a and a crazy board 9 5 7 k 6 …
Of course, the Russian was very short-stacked (all-in for 5bb), but the stroke of luck remained. The aces held up for Ladva himself, who eliminated Vaskaboinikau and his 88s and headed into the heads-up with a comfortable lead over the Australian Mooney, with 40.7 million against 11 million.
The match didn’t last long, until the chips of the two players ended up in the middle and Ladva was still dominant: AQ vs A5 and no surprises from the board.
| FINAL POSITION | PLAYER | NATION | PRIZE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ottomar Ladva | Estonia | $1,150,000 |
| 2 | Geoffrey Mooney | Australia | $717,000 |
| 3 | Mikalai Vaskaboinikau | Belarus | $490,000 |
| 4 | Kirill Shcherbakov | Russian Federation | $355,000 |
| 5 | Patrik Antonius | Finland | $270,000 |
| 6 | Matthias Lipp | Austria | $200,000 |
| 7 | Boris Kolev | Bulgaria | $160,000 |
| 8 | Daniil Kiselev | Russian Federation | $124,000 |
| 9 | Jessica Teusl | Austria | $100,000 |
Ladva, another chess phenomenon who turned to poker
In his post-victory interview, Ottomar Ladva revealed interesting details about his past. Having become the Estonian chess champion at 15 and receiving the “grandmaster” title before he was 20, Ladva won a lot and participated in four Chess Olympiads.
He explains how he got into poker himself: “I started playing poker during a chess tournament when I was very young. Pretty much everyone was playing it. And I knew that many had become professionals or at least very good poker players, so that motivated me in a way. In the end, in terms of discipline and study, there are many common points.”
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Cover image: Ottomar Ladva (PokerNews, Merit Poker & Onyx Club)
