Congya Zhang has turned the best summer of her poker career into something bigger, winning the $2,200 Global Poker Championship at the Mediterranean Poker Party for $300,000 just a couple of months after her deep run in the WSOP Main Event.
The Chinese player came into the final day 12th out of 16 and was never the obvious runaway favourite, but she picked her spots, survived the short-stack phase and then took control when the money became serious.
The event at Merit Crystal Cove in Cyprus finished with 830 entries and paid the full $2 million guaranteed prize pool. Poker Type had already covered the late extra flight added during the guarantee chase, but Zhang’s win gave the opening championship a much stronger ending than an overlay story would have done.
Zhang Waited Until Six-Handed to Make Her Move
For much of the final day, Adrian State looked like the player everyone else would have to catch. The Romanian built a big stack through a string of eliminations and reached the final table with enough chips to lean on shorter stacks, while Zhang was still trying to find room to breathe.
That changed with six players left. Zhang doubled through Paul Esau, later knocked him out in sixth, and then won a large pot from Sergei Petrushevskii when a rivered straight got paid. By the time State’s stack began moving in the wrong direction, Zhang was no longer hanging around the edges of the final table. She was one of the players applying the pressure.
The key collision came after the dinner break. State moved over the top with ace-five and Zhang woke up with ace-king, made the call and sent the former chip leader out in fifth. It was the sort of spot tournament players dream about when they have spent hours grinding a short stack: suddenly the player who had been dictating the table was gone, and Zhang had the chips to dictate it herself.
Three Chinese Players Reached the Final Four
Zhang’s victory also carried a broader milestone for Chinese poker. Once State departed, three of the final four players were from China, with Zhang joined by Mengdian Peng and Yilu Yuan against Russia’s Petrushevskii.
Friendship and national pride only go so far when $300,000 is sitting up top. Zhang eliminated Peng in fourth for $100,000 and then took care of Yuan in third, holding pocket tens against ace-king after flopping a set. That left her heads-up with Petrushevskii and around a four-to-one chip lead.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Congya Zhang | China | $300,000 |
| 2nd | Sergei Petrushevskii | Russia | $200,000 |
| 3rd | Yilu Yuan | China | $140,000 |
| 4th | Mengdian Peng | China | $100,000 |
| 5th | Adrian State | Romania | $80,000 |
| 6th | Paul Esau | Germany | $65,000 |
| 7th | Oguzhan Kasar | Turkey | $52,000 |
| 8th | Fahredin Mustafov | Bulgaria | $40,000 |
| 9th | Selahaddin Bedir | Turkey | $29,000 |
A Short Heads-Up Match Finishes the Job
There was no dramatic two-hour heads-up war. Less than 20 minutes after the final two sat down, Petrushevskii shoved a short stack with pocket fives and Zhang called with pocket jacks. The paired, low board brought no rescue card and the trophy, along with the $300,000 first prize, belonged to Zhang.
Her response afterwards sounded more like relief than chest-beating. Zhang said she felt calm and confident after a year in which her live results have accelerated quickly. That fits the way the final day played out. She did not need to win every pot or spend the afternoon trying to look like the table captain. She stayed alive long enough for the big spots to arrive, then made them count.
WSOP Main Event Run Was the Warning Shot
This result did not come from nowhere. Zhang finished 61st in the 9,208-entry 2026 WSOP Main Event for $150,000, lasting longer than any other woman in the field. That was her first six-figure live cash and put her on a much wider poker radar before the Mediterranean Poker Party even began.
She has kept travelling since Las Vegas, including a runner-up finish in a €1,050 turbo event during EPT Barcelona. The Cyprus victory is now comfortably the biggest score of her career. For a player who was still introducing herself to much of the international poker audience during the Main Event, $450,000 from two headline results in the space of a few months is a fairly loud follow-up.
The result also lands during a strong year for women at major live events. Earlier this month, Renee Xie became the first woman to win a GUKPT Main Event. Zhang’s Cyprus title is a different kind of achievement, but another reminder that the conversation should be about deep runs and trophies rather than novelty whenever a woman reaches the business end of a field.
The Mediterranean Poker Party Still Has Bigger Money Ahead
The Global Poker Championship was only the opening headline tournament in Cyprus. The festival continues with the Merit Poker Cup before the $5,400 Mediterranean Poker Party Main Event, which carries a $5 million guarantee and will bring an even tougher mix of travelling professionals and regional regulars to Merit Crystal Cove.
Zhang has already made sure her trip is profitable whatever happens next. She arrived in Cyprus with the WSOP Main Event run as the defining result of her year and leaves this event with an outright title, a new career-best payday and proof that her Las Vegas run was not a one-off heater.
