Over the course of two weeks of poker, there were some truly wild moments at the 2025 Onyx Super High Roller Series. The first-of-its-kind festival at Onyx Club at Merit Casino in Northern Cyprus saw millions of dollars change hands over more than a dozen signature tournaments.
Jesse Lonis claimed the biggest tournament prize of the festival, worth over $1.7 million. Fahredin Mustafov, Daniel Reazaei, and Moussa Ahmad joined him in the Onyx millionaires club. There was also the matter of the highest stakes poker match ever broadcast. The 12-hour heads-up war between ‘Jungleman’ and ‘Monarch’ netted Dan Cates more than $14 million.
On the final day of the festival, there were a few loose ends to tie up. And in a super high roller setting, a win along the lines of the one earned by Marcus Dieleman came with a hefty prize.
Dieleman, who originally hails from the Netherlands and largely plays high-stakes cash games online, earned $750,000 in the biggest live win of his career. He took down the $51,000 Onyx SHRS pot-limit Omaha Championship, the trophy, and earned 510 points in the Card Player Player of the Year race, presented by CoinPoker.
Dieleman did so by beating an understandably hyper-talented final table.
Running Down Some Heavyweights
The top two players in the Card Player POY race were each in the final table mix. Lonis, fresh off of his latest massive win earlier in the festival, finished sixth in this tournament. While Lonis didn’t add any POY results in his previous event due to the invitational format, he tacked on an extra 170 points this time around.
He didn’t put much additional space between himself and second place, though. That’s because Artur Martirosian, currently in second, finished just behind him in this tournament, in seventh.
Lonis actually did the dirty work to pick off Martirosian. Lonis’ K♥J♦6♥2♦ only made a pair of sixes on the A♥6♦3♣Q♦5♣ runout. But it was a better pair of sixes than Martirosian, who held J♥10♠7♠6♣.
Jesse Lonis
It seemed as though Lonis might be in position to make a run at yet another major title. On a board of Q♠9♠6♦, Dieleman put Lonis all-in, and Lonis happily called with Q♦Q♣6♣4♠. His top set of queens was up against Dieleman’s K♦K♠5♠2♣, an overpair and a flush draw. Lonis faded everything on the 3♦ turn, but the K♣ river gave Dieleman a superior set of kings.
Dieleman soon ceded the chip lead to another high roller standout, Canadian Daniel Dvoress. Dvoress picked off Espen Myrmo of Norway in fifth place. After more than half of Myrmo’s chips went in pre-flop, the rest got in on a flop of Q♦7♦4♥. Myrmo had a flush draw with K♦10♠9♠6♦, and more outs than he might have imagined against Dvoress’ A♥10♥7♣5♣. A king or nine would also have given Myrmo the pot, but Dvoress’ pair of sevens somehow held strong on a 2♣ turn and 2♥ river.
Deja Vu For Dieleman
After the final four players returned from break, Dieleman picked off Mustafov in fourth place. Mustafov, just a week removed from his own career-best result of $1.3 million, had less than 10 big blinds remaining on his final hand. His A♣J♥8♥8♣ was on fairly level ground with Dieleman’s A♦Q♣10♠4♦. But Dieleman had the pot locked up by the turn of a 9♥6♦3♦K♦4♠ runout with an ace-high diamond flush.
For long stretches of three-handed play, Dieleman and Dvoress were well in front of short stack Sergei Nesterenko. But the Russian pro battled his way back into the mix as the stacks evened out, and lasted long enough to see the other two players clash in a monster pot.
With blinds of 100,000/200,000 and a 200,000 big blind ante, Dieleman raised to 500,000 on the button. Dvoress three-bet to 2.1 million, Dieleman four-bet to 4.9 million, and Dvoress eventually called.
The pot was already larger than Nesterenko’s stack, with the bulk of the other two players’ chips already in the middle. On a 4♠4♣3♣ flop, Dvoress moved all in for 2.7 million and Dieleman called. Dvoress’ Q♥10♥8♣7♣ needed a club to make a flush against the A♥K♥K♠9♥ of Dieleman.
According to the Card Player Omaha odds calculator, Dieleman was a 56.67% to 43.31% favorite preflop. His odds increased to 66.22% on the flop, but Dvoress smashed his flush on the 6♣ turn. Suddenly, Dvoress was a 90% favorite to take down the massive pot.
But for the second time at the final table, Dieleman found the K♣, rivering a winning full house.
No Easy Path To Victory
Nesterenko started with a chip deficit, but quickly managed to double his way into the lead. His A♥A♦9♣5♦ turned into a diamond flush, with Dieleman failing to connect to the board in any way with his A♣K♣10♥4♠.
Dieleman reclaimed the lead, only for Nesterenko to open a 2-to-1 lead with a river check-shove and no showdown. Dieleman kept making full houses in key spots, though, and in making his third kings-full of the final table Dieleman took his own 2-to-1 lead.
The match soon swung back in Nesterenko’s favor, as he took the biggest lead of the tournament yet. The chips got in on a J♣5♦4♦ flop, and Nesterenko was ahead with A♠Q♦J♦7♠ to Dieleman’s K♣9♣6♠5♠. Dieleman turned the 9♥ for two-pair, but Nesterenko smashed the 3♦ river for a flush.
At that point, Nesterenko had 19 million of the 24.5 million chips in play. But then Dieleman flopped a straight to double. He followed that up by getting all-in with a wrap straight draw, which connected on the river.
The heads-up battle raged on, back and forth, until one final memorable hand. On a 9♦7♦6♠ flop, the chips went in. Nesterenko had the best of it with A♣10♥9♥8♣ for the nut straight. But Dieleman was far from dead, holding K♦5♦4♦2♣ for a flush draw. Either the J♦ turn or A♦ river would’ve been good enough to give Dieleman the flush, and so the Onyx title was his.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Marcus Dieleman | $750,000 | 510 |
| 2 | Sergei Nesterenko | $522,000 | 425 |
| 3 | Daniel Dvoress | $380,000 | 340 |
| 4 | Fahredin Mustafov | $276,000 | 255 |
| 5 | Espen Myrmo | $202,000 | 213 |
| 6 | Jesse Lonis | $146,000 | 170 |
| 7 | Artur Martirosian | $100,500 | 128 |
Photo credit: Merit Poker.
