Ottomar Ladva recorded his very first live poker tournament cash in 2018. Since then, the Estonian has accumulated more than $5.7 million in career earnings, including several impressive performances at the highest stakes on the circuit. The 28-year-old’s latest deep run saw him defeat a field of 207 entries in the 2026 Onyx High Roller Series $25,000 no-limit hold’em main event. The triumph came with a career-best payday of $1,150,000, marking his first seven-figure score.
Ladva got his start in strategy games as a chess player. He is a four-time national champion, having first earned that title back in 2010 at the age of 15. Now, he is the second-highest earning tournament poker player from his home country, despite being relatively new on the scene. He trails only Vladimir Korzinin, the high roller known to many as ‘Gambledore’, who cashed for more than $7.8 million across two massive scores at the 2024 Triton Monte Carlo stop.
In addition to the trophy and the money, Ladva also earned 1,260 Card Player Player of the Year points with this victory at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel & Spa in North Cyprus. As a result, he now sits in sixth place in the 2026 POY standings presented by CoinPoker.
Antonius Starts With Lead, Finishes Fifth
The solid turnout for this event resulted in a prize pool of $4,968,000. The top 32 finishers all earned a share, with six-figure payouts for the final nine. Plenty of notables made the money, including Artur Martirosian (27th), Mikita Badziakouski (26th), Alexandre Reard (25th), Daniel Rezaei (23rd), Biao Ding (19th), Joni Jouhkimainen (17th), Thomas Eychenne (15th), and Pieter Aerts (11th).
Patrik Antonius
Poker Hall of Famer Patrik Antonius bagged up the lead heading into the final day. He added to his stack early, winning a preflop coin flip against bracelet winner Jessica Teusl (9th – $100,000) and besting the jacks up of Daniil Kiselev (8th – $124,000) with kings up.
Ladva doubled through two-time bracelet winner Boris Kolev during seven-handed action, then got the rest of Kolev’s stack holding an ace-high flush. Kolev earned $160,000 for his efforts, surpassing $6.8 million in earnings in the process.
Antonius took a hit during six-handed play, but bounced back a bit when his A♥8♠ bested the K♠7♠ of Matthias Lipp (6th – $200,000) in an all-in showdown.
Antonius soon clashed with Ladva in a massive preflop confrontation, five-bet shoving with A♥5♥ only to get called by Q♥Q♦. The pocket pair remained best through the river and Antonius was sent packing in fifth place ($270,000). The Finnish legend now has more than $31.8 million in lifetime earnings to his name.
From Four To One In A Flash
Kirill Shcherbakov got the last of his short stack in well ahead, with A♠A♣ leading the K♠6♠ of Ladva, but the turn and river gave Ladva running two pair for the win. Shcherbakov settled for $355,000 as the fourth-place finisher.
On the very next hand, Ladva picked up pocket aces himself. This time around, the aces held against pocket eights for Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, sending the Triton champion packing in third place ($490,000).
Heads-up play began with nearly a 4:1 chip advantage for Ladva over Geoffrey Mooney of Australia. The gap widened ahead of the final hand of the tournament. That clash began with a Ladva min-raise to 600,000 on the button with A♦Q♣. Mooney three-bet shoved for 4,550,000 from the big blind holding A♣5♠ and received a quick call. The board came down J♣8♣6♣A♥Q♠ and Ladva made aces and queens to lock up the pot and the title. Mooney earned $717,000 as the runner-up, by far his largest live score to date.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Ottomar Ladva | $1,150,000 | 1260 |
| 2 | Geoffrey Mooney | $717,000 | 1050 |
| 3 | Mikalai Vaskaboinikau | $490,000 | 840 |
| 4 | Kirill Shcherbakov | $355,000 | 630 |
| 5 | Patrik Antonius | $270,000 | 525 |
| 6 | Matthias Lipp | $200,000 | 420 |
| 7 | Boris Kolev | $160,000 | 315 |
| 8 | Daniil Kiselev | $124,000 | 210 |
| 9 | Jessica Teusl | $100,000 | 105 |
Photo credit: Merit Poker.
