Raoul Kanme closed out the 2026 Onyx Super High Roller Series $25,000 no-limit maintain’em major occasion in model, working away with the title down the stretch to earn the title and a career-best payday of $1,250,000. The Dutch participant bested 255 entries who turned out to the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa in North Cyprus, scoring the ultimate three knockouts on his method to hoisting the trophy.
Before this marquee victory, Kanme’s high rating was the $157,368 that got here with a runner-up end in a €3,000 occasion finally yr’s Master Classics of Poker in his house nation of the Netherlands. The win grew his lifetime earnings to almost $2.4 million.
In addition to the cash and the {hardware}, Kanme was additionally awarded 1,428 Card Player Player of the Year factors because the champion. With 1,588 whole factors, he now sits inside the highest 250 within the 2026 POY race standings offered by CoinPoker.
Setting The Stage
THE FINAL NINE ARE IN 💰
The seats are taken, the stacks are counted, and the Onyx Main Event last desk is able to play out.
Nine gamers. Nine totally different routes up to now. One of them will depart with the title, and $1.250.000! pic.twitter.com/OseuB6isKM
— Merit Poker (@meritpokerlive) August 14, 2026
The sturdy turnout for this occasion noticed the $5 million assure surpassed by over $1.1 million. The high 38 finishers earned a share, with huge names like David Coleman (thirty third), Matthew Wantman (twenty eighth), Nicholas Seward (twenty sixth), Mikalai Vaskaboinikau (twenty first), Aleksejs Ponakovs (nineteenth), Boris Kolev (seventeenth), Sergio Aido (sixteenth), Eelis Parssinen (twelfth), and Weiran Pu (twelfth) working deep.
The last day started with 9 remaining and Kanme within the lead. Two-time bracelet winner Fahredin Mustafov was the primary to fall, along with his 10-3 suited working into the pocket kings of Jordan Woodall. Mustafov picked up a gutshot straight draw on the flip, however missed the river to complete ninth ($143,000).
While pocket kings gained the primary knockout pot, the monster preflop holding fared much less nicely within the subsequent two elimination arms. Anze Smajd (eighth – $171,000) obtained all-in with Okay♦Okay♣ main Q♠Q♥ for Kanme. The board ran out Q♦6♥6♦A♠4♦ and Kanme made queens full to slender the sphere to seven. Then, Italo Modena’s Okay♥Okay♣ bumped into the A♠A♥ of Matthias Lipp. This time round, the superior pair held as much as see Modena bust in seventh place ($200,000). This was the third final-table end of the sequence for the Italian participant, together with a runner-up exhibiting in a $15,300 six-max occasion for $181,000 only a day earlier.
Austrians Bow Out
Daniel Rezaei
Bracelet winner and 2025 Onyx Poker $50,000 excessive curler champion Daniel Rezaei misplaced an enormous chunk of his stack with high two pair in opposition to a king-high straight for Aliaksandr Shylko.
Those two quickly tangled once more, this time with a traditional preflop coin flip. Rezaei’s 9♠9♦ was the favourite in opposition to the Q♣J♠ of Shylko, however the Q♠5♣2♣4♣8♣ board gave the Belarusian a profitable flush and the pot.
Rezaei earned $250,000 and 476 POY factors for his sixth-place exhibiting. This was the ninth final-table end of 2026 for the Austrian, with one title coming in a $60,000 occasion at Triton Poker Jeju for a career-best rating of $1.9 million. With 6,052 whole factors, Rezaei now sits in fifth place within the general standings. This run pushed his profession haul to over $17.1 million.
Manuel Fritz, additionally of Austria, was the following to hit the rail. He dedicated the vast majority of his stack from underneath the gun with A♦J♥, then known as off his last few blinds when Woodall shoved from the small blind with a overlaying stack. Fritz known as, solely to see that he was up in opposition to Okay♦Okay♣. The J♣8♣5♣10♣A♠ board gave Woodall a king excessive flush and the pot, ending Fritz’s run in fifth place ($320,000). He now has practically $7.5 million in lifetime cashes after this newest sturdy exhibiting.
Kanme Surges Across The Finish Line
Four-handed play continued for greater than two hours earlier than the following knockout blow was landed. In the interim, Kanme’s already wholesome chip lead grew even bigger.
Matthias Lipp
Then, he gained each side of a pair of preflop races involving pocket tens to take an enormous chip benefit into heads-up play. First, Q♣J♣ outflipped 10♥10♣ for Shylko to ship the 2023 PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship winner house in fourth place ($420,000). This was the second-largest payday but for the Minsk native, trailing solely the $3.1 million that got here along with his victory within the PSPC just a few years in the past.
Shortly after that, Kanme’s 10♠10♣ warded off the A♣Okay♥ of Woodall, who earned a career-high $600,000 rating for his podium exhibiting.
With that, Kanme took greater than a 7:1 chip lead into the ultimate showdown for the title in opposition to Lipp. It didn’t take lengthy for him to transform that lead into the title. In the ultimate hand, Lipp shoved for 3,200,000 from the small blind with Okay♥3♥. Kanme known as the six huge blinds jam with A♣3♦ and the board got here down 8♥7♣5♦J♥4♠ to convey the event to an finish. Lipp was awarded $800,000 because the runner-up, his largest rating by greater than half of 1,000,000 {dollars}.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Raoul Kanme | $1,250,000 | 1428 |
| 2 | Matthias Lipp | $800,000 | 1,190 |
| 3 | Jordan Woodall | $600,000 | 952 |
| 4 | Aliaksandr Shylko | $420,000 | 714 |
| 5 | Manuel Fritz | $320,000 | 595 |
| 6 | Daniel Rezaei | $250,000 | 476 |
| 7 | Italo Modena | $200,000 | 357 |
| 8 | Anze Smajd | $171,000 | 238 |
| 9 | Fahredin Mustafov | $143,000 | 119 |
Photo credit: Merit Poker Live
