Raoul Kanme closed out the 2026 Onyx Super High Roller Series $25,000 no-limit hold’em main event in style, running away with the title down the stretch to earn the title and a career-best payday of $1,250,000. The Dutch player bested 255 entries who turned out to the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa in North Cyprus, scoring the final three knockouts on his way to hoisting the trophy.
Before this marquee victory, Kanme’s top score was the $157,368 that came with a runner-up finish in a €3,000 event at last year’s Master Classics of Poker in his home country of the Netherlands. The win grew his lifetime earnings to nearly $2.4 million.
In addition to the money and the hardware, Kanme was also awarded 1,428 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion. With 1,588 total points, he now sits inside the top 250 in the 2026 POY race standings presented by CoinPoker.
Setting The Stage
THE FINAL NINE ARE IN 💰
The seats are taken, the stacks are counted, and the Onyx Main Event final table is ready to play out.
Nine players. Nine different routes to this point. One of them will leave with the title, and $1.250.000! pic.twitter.com/OseuB6isKM
— Merit Poker (@meritpokerlive) August 14, 2026
The strong turnout for this event saw the $5 million guarantee surpassed by over $1.1 million. The top 38 finishers earned a share, with big names like David Coleman (33rd), Matthew Wantman (28th), Nicholas Seward (26th), Mikalai Vaskaboinikau (21st), Aleksejs Ponakovs (19th), Boris Kolev (17th), Sergio Aido (16th), Eelis Parssinen (12th), and Weiran Pu (12th) running deep.
The final day began with nine remaining and Kanme in the lead. Two-time bracelet winner Fahredin Mustafov was the first to fall, with his 10-3 suited running into the pocket kings of Jordan Woodall. Mustafov picked up a gutshot straight draw on the turn, but missed the river to finish ninth ($143,000).
While pocket kings won the first knockout pot, the monster preflop holding fared less well in the next two elimination hands. Anze Smajd (8th – $171,000) got all-in with K♦K♣ leading Q♠Q♥ for Kanme. The board ran out Q♦6♥6♦A♠4♦ and Kanme made queens full to narrow the field to seven. Then, Italo Modena’s K♥K♣ ran into the A♠A♥ of Matthias Lipp. This time around, the superior pair held up to see Modena bust in seventh place ($200,000). This was the third final-table finish of the series for the Italian player, including a runner-up showing in a $15,300 six-max event for $181,000 just a day earlier.
Austrians Bow Out
Daniel Rezaei
Bracelet winner and 2025 Onyx Poker $50,000 high roller champion Daniel Rezaei lost a massive chunk of his stack with top two pair against a king-high straight for Aliaksandr Shylko.
Those two soon tangled again, this time with a classic preflop coin flip. Rezaei’s 9♠9♦ was the favorite against the Q♣J♠ of Shylko, but the Q♠5♣2♣4♣8♣ board gave the Belarusian a winning flush and the pot.
Rezaei earned $250,000 and 476 POY points for his sixth-place showing. This was the ninth final-table finish of 2026 for the Austrian, with one title coming in a $60,000 event at Triton Poker Jeju for a career-best score of $1.9 million. With 6,052 total points, Rezaei now sits in fifth place in the overall standings. This run pushed his career haul to over $17.1 million.
Manuel Fritz, also of Austria, was the next to hit the rail. He committed the majority of his stack from under the gun with A♦J♥, then called off his final few blinds when Woodall shoved from the small blind with a covering stack. Fritz called, only to see that he was up against K♦K♣. The J♣8♣5♣10♣A♠ board gave Woodall a king high flush and the pot, ending Fritz’s run in fifth place ($320,000). He now has nearly $7.5 million in lifetime cashes after this latest strong showing.
Kanme Surges Across The Finish Line
Four-handed play continued for more than two hours before the next knockout blow was landed. In the interim, Kanme’s already healthy chip lead grew even larger.
Matthias Lipp
Then, he won both sides of a pair of preflop races involving pocket tens to take a massive chip advantage into heads-up play. First, Q♣J♣ outflipped 10♥10♣ for Shylko to send the 2023 PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship winner home in fourth place ($420,000). This was the second-largest payday yet for the Minsk native, trailing only the $3.1 million that came with his victory in the PSPC a few years ago.
Shortly after that, Kanme’s 10♠10♣ warded off the A♣K♥ of Woodall, who earned a career-high $600,000 score for his podium showing.
With that, Kanme took more than a 7:1 chip lead into the final showdown for the title against Lipp. It didn’t take long for him to convert that lead into the title. In the final hand, Lipp shoved for 3,200,000 from the small blind with K♥3♥. Kanme called the six big blinds jam with A♣3♦ and the board came down 8♥7♣5♦J♥4♠ to bring the tournament to an end. Lipp was awarded $800,000 as the runner-up, his largest score by more than half of a million 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 credits: Merit Poker Live
