Amin Riyazati Leads WPT Cambodia Player of the Festival Race

Nonstop action continues at NagaWorld, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, with the World Poker Tour (WPT) festivities right on its halfway mark. Over the past 10 days, 33 trophy events have completed, with multiple winners locking up outstanding profits. As the excitement builds, so is the race for the Player of the Festival title. An added incentive for the festival’s top performers, three seats to the WPT Prime Championship 2025, valued at $1,100, are up for grabs along with bonus cash prizes for the top three finishers.

Amin Riyazati Leads WPT Cambodia Player Of The Festival

Following 33 events, one player in particular has stood out in the WPT Cambodia Player of the Festival race: Australia’s Amin Riyazati, who is currently leading the leaderboard with 1,300 points. Riyazati has already secured a WPT title over the past ten days after besting the Hyper Turbo Mini HR to cap his first week grind, taking with him $17,508 in cashes together with a career-second WPT trophy. On top of this, the Australian pro made four more final table appearances, with his largest series cash to date being a 3rd place finish at the 10K Single Day Challenge games. His total haul as of the latest, comes out to a whopping $101,135, making his trip down to the Kingdom of Wonder definitely worth the time.

Despite being at the top, Riyazati is taking a laid-back approach to the race, saying

I’m going to play the rest of the series as I was planning. Not necessarily going for the player of the series, but if I get it, that would be good as well. That would be fantastic. Just going to play my game. I’m not going to chase anything, but I’m going to play most of the tournaments in this series.

Here’s a quick rundown of Riyazati’s notable cashes at WPT Cambodia as of 2/15/25:

• Event #22: Hyper Turbo Mini HR – 1st place – $17,508
• Event #4: Single Day Megastack Mini HR – 4th place – $8,381
• Event #9: Mystery Bounty – 3rd place – $19,491
• Event #16: 1K Hyper Turbo – 3rd place – $5,276
• Event #17: 8 Max Survivor 2K Bounty – 57th place – $1,000
• Event #19: SHR Warmup – 12th place – $10,259
• Event #30: 10K Single Day Challenge – 4th place – $39,220

With a number of deep runs in the bag, Riyazati shared part of his strategy to overcoming tournaments, relaying

I’m one of those people that would prefer having the edge and having a lot of chips when I’m bagging. So if I feel like I’m gonna bag very small I will risk my chips.

Undoubtedly one of the players to watch, Riyazati is expected to be in full battle mode over the next week and a half.

Erik Rozhynskyi Closes In

However, Riyazati isn’t the only one making waves. Hot on his heels is Erik Rozhynski, a series multi-winner who has accumulated 1,150 points so far. The Ukrainian pro has certainly been a standout, particularly with his impressive victories in not one, but two Mystery Bounty events. His total earnings from these victories have already exceeded the $200,000 mark, making him the biggest earner at the festival up to this point. Rozhynski’s consistent success puts him in a great position to challenge Riyazati for the PoF title especially with nine more days of action ahead.

Thirty more events left on the table, leaving the race for the title wide open. The top three finishers will earn bonus prizes, heightening the excitement as the festival’s two marquee events – the WPT Prime and WPT Cambodia Championship, take center stage. The $5,000 prize for the WPT Cambodia Player of the Festival is a strong incentive for those already deep in the grind, and with the leaderboard so tight, the competition remains to be anyone’s to win.