A champion has been crowned in the $2,200 Global Poker Championship, running at the Merit Crystal Cove Casino as part of the 2026 Mediterranean Poker Party. Congya Zhang claimed the trophy and $300,000 first place prize.
Zhang started the day in 12th place out of 16 returning players. She scored an elimination during the first few hands, but after that quietly made her way to the final table as one of the shorter stacks.
That all changed when the tournament got down to the last six. Zhang staged her comeback, doubling up several times and then putting on a stellar performance to outlast a tough field of competitors, ultimately beating Sergei Petrushevskii in a short heads-up battle that lasted less than 20-minutes.
“I have a lot of feelings, but the main one, I feel peaceful. I feel calm”, said Zhang speaking on her victory. “This is a fantastic year for me, so far. I’m growing up very fast. I feel very confident in myself.”
$2,200 Global Poker Championship Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Congya Zhang | China | $300,000 |
| 2 | Sergei Petrushevskii | Russian Federation | $200,000 |
| 3 | Yilu Yuan | China | $140,000 |
| 4 | Mengdian Peng | China | $100,000 |
| 5 | Adrian State | Romania | $80,000 |
| 6 | Paul Esau | Germany | $65,000 |
| 7 | Oguzhan Kasar | Turkey | $52,000 |
| 8 | Fahredin Mustafov | Bulgaria | $40,000 |
| 9 | Selahaddin Bedir | Turkey | $29,000 |
State’s Rise and Fall
Before Zhang’s late sprint to the finish, Adrian State had been running over the final two tables and looked on track to win the tournament. He started out early by eliminating Anatoly Korochenskiy in 13th place with a set of tens, then picking up pocket tens for a second hand in a row to bust Roman Gadzhiev in 12th.
State’s run continued when he found pocket kings in the small blind, getting it in against Mehmet Dalkilic’s pocket queens in the big blind in an absolute cooler of a pot. State delivered the final blow to Dalkilic a few hands later to set the final table and jump past Petrushevskii as the chip leader.
State continued his dominance, claiming Selahaddin Bedir‘s chips and sending him to the rail in ninth place before chipping up by applying near-continuous pressure to the shorter stacked opponent’s to his left.
The tide shifted when State lost a cooler to Petrushevskii, then another big pot to Mengdian Peng. Ultimately though, State fell to the soon-to-be champion Zhang. Upon returning from the dinner break, presumably full from the Merit buffet, State seemed to misread Zhang’s stack and made a big re-shove from the big blind, only to be picked off by Zhang holding ace-king.
Zhang’s Rise to the Top
Once the final table reached six players, Zhang started turning up the heat. First, she doubled up through through Paul Esau, later sending him out in sixth place. She was then paid off by Petrushevskii in a big pot with a rivered straight to move into second in the counts, behind only State, before edging ahead as State started to lose chips.
“Day 2, I played very good. I’m very satisfied with myself. Day 3, I was a little bit nervous because I’m too short, but I believe in myself, so I always hang on… I have a lot of patience.” said Zhang on her run. “I got a lot of good hands and won all the flips when I had a short stack, so it’s gone very smoothly.”
After picking off State in fifth place, Zhang took a huge chip lead. At this point, the final table was comprised of three players from China, and Petrushevskii.
“I’m so proud of us, it’s a big moment for China,” said Zhang speaking on her tablemates. “Every Chinese player who comes so far to be here, they are all very good players.”
It might have been a friendly affair between the three Chinese players, but that didn’t stop Zhang eliminating them from the tournament. She took out Peng in fourth, then held with pocket tens to send Yilu Yuan to the rail in third, setting the heads-up battle with Petrushevskii.
Zhang Claims the Trophy
After returning from a short break, Zhang and Petrushevskii sat down for the heads-up match, but Zhang already had around a 4-1 chip lead. After a few hands back and forth, Zhang limped the button and Petrushevskii shoved all in with a short stack holding pocket fives. Zhang called with pocket jacks and won the hand, the tournament, and the $300,000 top prize.
“I love it here, I love Cyprus, I love Merit. This is Paradise, I think,” said Zhang.
