Nichan Khorchidian’s two largest poker tournament paydays have both come in $3,300 buy-in no-limit hold’em main events held at Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino in Merit, Cyprus. He kicked off 2024 with a runner-up showing in the Merit Poker Western Series main event, earning $252,500 to set a new personal best. On the first day of December, he managed to top that showing, defeating a field of 614 entries in the championship event of the Gatsby Gala Series at the same venue to take home $307,700.

The Lebanese player now has nearly $925,000 in recorded tournament earnings, with the majority of that money coming from his two huge scores in Cyprus.

Khorchidian also earned 1,260 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. When combined with the 1,050 he secured for his runner-up showing at the start of 2024, his total sits at 2,310 points. That puts him just outside the top 150 in this year’s standings, which are presented by Global Poker.

This event featured a $1.5 million guarantee. The strong turnout saw the final prize pool swell to nearly $1.7 million, with the top 79 finishers earning a share. Several big names ran deep in this event, including recent World Series of Poker main event champion Simone Andrian (51st), bracelet winner Nikolay Fal (40th), bracelet winner Shai Zurr (36th), World Poker Tour and European Poker Tour main event winner Andrey Pateychuk (7th), and EPT champion Anton Wigg (4th).

Pateychuk ran K-Q into the pocket kings of Adrian State to hit the rail with $51,300. The Russian now has nearly $5.3 million in career earnings after this latest strong showing.

Despite scoring that knockout, State was ultimately the next to fall (6th – $61,640). Khorchidian then sent Vedat Yilmaz (5th – $76,930) to enter four-handed play with the chip lead.

Bogdan Jontulovic moved ahead as short-handed play continued, but Khorchidian’s K-Q held against Wigg’s K-3 suited to see him score another elimination to close the gap a bit. Wigg is approaching $5 million in career earnings after adding $102,570 with his performance in this tournament.

The next big clash pitted Khorchidian’s AQ against the A4 of Dmitry Gromov. Both players flopped a pair of aces, and Khorchidian’s kicker was the difference in the end. Gromov earned $142,470 as the third-place finisher. The 2011 WPT Vienna champion now has more than $2.5 million in lifetime cashes to his name.

Heads-up play began with Khorchidian holding 34,800,000 to Jontulovic’s 26,600,000. He was able to stretch that advantage even further ahead of the final hand. Khorchidian open-shoved with A8 from the button for around 11 big blinds effective. Jontulovic called with K3 and the flop came down KQ10 to see Jontulovic take the lead. The 3 turn improved him to two pair, leaving Khorchidian in need of a jack on the river. The J fit the bill, giving Khorchidian a straight and the title. Jontulovic earned $211,400 as the runner-up. This was the first-ever six-figure score for the Romanian.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photo credit: Merit Poker Facebook page.