August 12 2013, by Eric Danis
GPI FIRST LOOK: WPT Merit Cyprus Classic
The World Poker Tour is set to kickoff its 12th season later this week as the tour makes its way to the beautiful island of Cyprus for the bwin WPT Merit Cyprus Classic.
MAD MARVIN LOOKS TO DEFEND
This is the second year in a row that the Merit Cyprus Classic opens the WPT season. Last season, Marvin Rettenmaier (GPI#6) would become the first player in WPT history to win back-to-back World Poker Tour titles right here in Cyprus. Mad Marvin would enter the WPT Champions Club by winning the coveted WPT World Championship, at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, just a few months prior to his Cyprus victory.
Rettenmaier would end up winning another (10K High Rollers event at EPT Prague) in what was a career year for the German. He would finish second only Dan Smith in the race for 2012 GPI Player of the Year; collecting over 2.5M USD in winnings on the season.
THE MIZRACHIS ARE COMING
Plenty of other notables are making their way to play in the 1M USD guaranteed Main Event including the Brothers Mizrachi. We took at a look at why you should add Michael and Robert to your FPM Fantasy Teams for this event in our latest “Fantasy Friday” column, but brothers Eric and Donnie are also coming to Cyprus, as is defending WPT World Champion, and good friends with the Mizrachi family, David Rheem.
Rheem (GPI#113), better known on tour as Chino, will try to replicate what Rettenmaier did last year, follow up a WPT Championship victory with the Merit Cyprus Classic title.
Other names expected to make the trek to Cyprus include current GPI300 members Roger Hairabedian (GPI#48), Dominik Nitsche (GPI#84), Freddy Deeb (GPI#106), Benjamin Pollak (GPI#165) and Paul Tedeschi (GPI#227).
Former EPT Grand Final Champion Nicolas Chouity (GPI#489), 2012 WSOP Main Event Final Table bubble Gaëlle Baumann (GPI#1129) and former WSOP November Niner Kelly Kim are also expected to enter the event.
PARTYPOKER BIG GAME
The PartyPoker Big Game returns with its seventh edition this Thursday. The 12-hour live stream will be presented one day prior to the start of the WPT Merit Cyprus Classic and will feature the Mizrachis, Nitsche, Kim, online legend Daniel “Jungleman” Cates and Big One for One Drop finalist Sam Trickett.
Fans will be able to participate in the live event as every three hours, those watching the live feed will be able to vote on which player should be removed the $50/$100 cash game via PartyPoker’s Facebook page.
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About the author
Eric Danis’ passion for poker came at a very early age but it’s when writing about and covering the game he loves that Danis is most in his element. Danis is better known for creating www.PTPRpoker.com where he spent a few years covering poker events. Danis is also known for having worked on the poker shows Poker Eh! and The Pulse on the Quad Jacks Network.
