Bosnian poker pro Perica Bukara, who is now based in Germany, is enjoying a profitable August, having just taken down the $373 207 main prize in the $25 000 buy-in Full Tilt Poker Cyprus Classic High Roller Freeze-Out event.
It was Bukara's biggest win to date, but not his first this month; on August 6 he scored $37 000 for a 6th placing in the Unibet Open main event, and on August 11 another $20 000 in the Pokerstars EPT Estonia where he achieved a 14th placing.
In the three day High Roller event, Bukara faced some tough opposition after the original field of 36 entrants had been distilled to a final table of nine comprising Carter Phillips, Ziv Caspi, John Dolan, Sam Trickett, Jon Turner, David Benyamine, Andrew Feldman and Ori Miller.
The competition was intense, with the final tablers all fighting to make the top five positions, where the money started.
Down to three-handed action it was Bukara, Miller and Feldman who battled it out for four hours until Feldman was bundled out by Miller, leaving the heads up to Miller and Bukara, with the latter holding the chip lead. That didn't last long as Miller took it and held the advantage for most of the heads up.
It wasn't enough, however; Bukara kept up a determined assault on the chip leader, and with some fortunate cards managed to take control of the game and ultimately prevail.
Miller's talent and style were rewarded with a second placing check for $207 337.
Still in Cyprus, the Full Tilt Poker Merit Cyprus Classic Main Event kicked off this week, with Day 1a and 1b entries of 180 players, each ponying up the buy-in of $5,000 + $400 for 20,000 in tournament chips, with a re-buy or add-on facility available at any stage of the first five levels for an additional 20,000 in tournament chips.
Day 1b ended Saturday with 60 survivors, who will be combined with the 80 still standing from Day 1a when the action resumes Sunday.
The overall chip leader is Day 1a chipleader, EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final Champion Nicolas Chouity with 119,600. Good finishers from Day 1b included WSOP 2010 final tabler John Nolan on 95 400 and Internet whiz Sorel Mizzi on 90 225.