The 2024 Super High Roller Series continued with its third event at the extravagant Merit Royal Diamond Hotel & Spa in Cyprus, hosting the last No-Limit Hold’em $25,750 buy-in tournament before stakes escalate in the series.
Event #3 was played in a 6-max format and saw heightened aggression and fast-paced action, fitting the short-handed table setup. With 41 entries, it was a competitive field, but in the end, Tunisian Maher Nouira emerged victorious, taking down poker superstar Adrian Mateos in a heads-up match to claim his first-ever PGT title and a payday of $333,000.
Nouira is steadily building his reputation on the live tournament scene, making his breakthrough in 2022 at the European Poker Tour (EPT) with an 11th-place finish in the Barcelona Main Event, earning €117,140. Later that year, he won his first Silver Spade in Prague, dominating the €5,150 6-handed event for €80,380.
This year has been especially successful for Nouira, who added another PokerStars trophy to his collection by taking down the €25,000 event at EPT Monte Carlo for €369,210. His recent deep run at Triton Montenegro, where he finished fourth in the $100,000 buy-in event for a career-high $933,000, further solidified his standing among the poker high rollers.
With over $3.5 million in live tournament earnings, Nouira is far ahead on Tunisia’s All-Time Money List, with his nearest competitor, Imed Ben Mahmoud, having $775,000 in earnings.
2024 Super High Roller Series Event #3 Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize Money |
| 1st |  Maher Nouira | Tunisia | $333,000 |
| 2nd |  Adrian Mateos | Spain | $231,000 |
| 3rd |  Jamil Wakil | Canada | $166,000 |
| 4th |  Yulian Bogdanov | Bulgaria | $122,000 |
| 5th | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | $87,500 |
| 6th |  Samuel Ju | Germany | $65,000 |
2024 Super High Roller Series Event #3 Final Table Recap
The final table of the $25,700 Super High Roller Event #3 kicked off with seven players, but only six would make the money. At one end of the stick were big chip leaders Maher Nouira and Adrian Mateos, while Ren Lin and Samuel Ju found themselves in a battle for survival on the $65,000 bubble. Ren Lin, fresh off a third-place finish in Event #2, was the unfortunate bubble boy this time. Departing in good spirits, Lin left the table joking, “Ahh, I don’t like being the bubble boy,” as he exited empty-handed.
Samuel Ju managed to squeeze into the money after surviving two all-ins, but his luck ran out shortly thereafter. His eight-five suited couldn’t overcome Jamil Wakil’s king-jack suited, and he was eliminated in sixth place. On the very next hand, Daniel Dvoress went all-in with queen-jack suited, only to be called by Nouira’s ace-queen suited. The board of 3♣10♥2♦K♦ offered some outs, but the river 5♠ sealed Dvoress’ fate, and he exited in fifth.
Nouira and Mateos began to extend their dominance, leaving no room for others to catch up. Yulian Bogdanov made a move, pushing his stack in with ace-five over Nouira’s open. Nouira quickly called with pocket queens, and although Bulgarian picked up 11 outs on the board of 8♣4♠3♦7♥, the river was a blank, sending him out in fourth place.
Wakil put up a fight but struggled to gain any traction in significant pots. In the meantime, in a key hand, Nouira won a large pot from Mateos with pocket kings against the Spaniard’s pocket sixes. Shortly after, in a blind vs. blind situation, Nouira raised with jack-four, forcing Wakil to go all-in with king-eight suited. Wakil flopped top pair with 4♦8♥10♠, but Nouira picked up more outs on the turn and completed his straight on the river with the J♠, sending Wakil out in third.
Nouira entered heads-up play with a commanding 6.5:1 chip lead, but Mateos quickly doubled up with ace-king against seven-eight. After winning a few more pots, Mateos was already in the lead. The match saw the chip lead exchange hands several times, with neither player gaining a decisive advantage.
The final hand came when Mateos raised with 10♠4♠, and Nouira called with 10♣9♦. On a flop of 8♦A♣J♠, Mateos continued to bet, and Nouira called. The turn brought the Q♦, giving Nouira a straight, though Mateos kept firing with his double gutshot. When the blank 5♣ hit the river, Mateos pushed all his remaining chips into the middle. Nouira quickly called with the second nuts, securing his first PGT title and the $333,000 top prize.
* Images and hands courtesy of PokerGO.
