Max Neugebauer Wins Record-Setting World Series of Poker Europe Main Event

The 14th running of the World Series of Poker Europe featured 15 gold bracelet events from Oct. 25 – Nov. 15, with over €15 million in guaranteed prize money up for grabs. More than 13,500 total entries were made throughout the series, resulting in $21,431,194 in total cash paid out.

This marked the sixth time that the WSOPE was held at King’s Resort Rozvadov in the Czech Republic. Each of the past three runnings have seen a new record turnout for the main event, and this year was no different with a seven percent increase on last year’s 763-entry field. A total of 817 turned out to blow away the €5 million guarantee to create a final prize pool of €7,761,500 ($8,300,148).

In the end, it was 26-year-old Austrian player Max Neugebauer who walked away the champion of the largest WSOPE main event ever held.

The final hand of the tournament saw the former basketball pro make a hero call with third pair facing a multi-barrel bluff that ended in a river shove by his heads-up opponent, Eric Tsai. After some tense time in the tank, Neugebauer found the impressive call to win the tournament, locking up his first WSOP gold bracelet and the top prize of $1,590,000.

This was by far the largest score for Neugebauer, blowing away his $27,000 payday for a seventh-place finish in a $2,500 buy-in event at the Venetian DeepStack Championship Poker Series this summer.

On top of the hardware and the money, Neugebauer also took home plenty of rankings points thanks to this huge victory. The 2,280 Card Player Player of the Year points he secured were enough to move him into 113th place. With 1,250 PokerGO Tour points, Neugebauer also surged into 19th place on the 2023 PGT leaderboard.

This tournament played out over the course of two starting flights and four more full days of action. Plenty of big names were among the 123 players to make the money, including Daniel Dvoress (109th), Manig Loeser (98th), Tobias Peters (93rd), Omar Eljach (89th), Stoyan Madanzhiev (67th), Leon Sturm (58th), Viktor Blom (55th), Stephen Chidwick (44th), Adrian Mateos (42nd), Anson Tsang (36th), and Davidi Kitai (33rd).

The final day began with eight players remaining. Tsai was in the lead while Neugebauer sat in third chip position to start. Alf Martinsson was the first to fall, with his last ten blinds going in with A-3 facing the pocket tens of Michele Tocci. With tens full of sixes by the river, Tocci scored the knockout to send Martinsson home in eighth place ($156,880).

Ruslan Volkov’s run then came to an end in seventh place ($204,580) when his pocket tens were unable to hold up against the A-10 suited of Kasparas Klezys, who spiked an ace on the turn and held from there to narrow the field to six.

After three hours of six-handed play, two eliminations happened in relatively rapid succession. The first saw Michael Rocco’s pocket aces hold up against the A-5 of Nils Pudel ($270,300), who had three-bet shoved over Rocco’s button open from the big blind.

The very next hand, Rocco opened from the cutoff with A-9 and then four-bet shoved for 28 big blinds effective over the three-bet of Tsai from the button. This time, Tsai had picked up two aces. He called and held to take a big chunk out of Rocco’s stack.

Rocco soon got all-in, shoving from the big blind against a small-blind limp from Tocci, who once again had pocket tens. Rocco’s A-7 was unable to come from behind and Rocco was eliminated in fifth place ($361,460). The American poker pro was at his second final table of the series, having placed second in the €25,000 high roller for another $386,900. These two big scores increased his career earnings to more than $4.7 million.

Neugebauer overtook the lead during four-handed action, and then added to his advantage by busting Kasparas Klezys, who shoved his last 10 big blinds with Q-8 from the small blind. Neugebauer called with K-J and made two pair to drag the pot. Klezys earned a career-high payday of $491,840 for his deep run.

The next big clash saw Tocci limp from the button with pocket sixes and then call a 13-big-blind shove from Tsai, who had pocket deuces in the small blind. The board ran out A A 10 2 3 and Tsai turned a full house to double through Tocci, leaving him on fumes. He somehow found pocket jacks on the next deal and got all-in against the K-4 of Neugebauer, who drilled a brutal king on the river to eliminate Tocci in third place. The Italian was awarded $677,340, by far the largest cash on his résumé.

With that, Neugebauer entered heads-up play holding a 4:1 lead over his opponent. Tsai was able to close the gap a bit in the early going, but was still well behind when the previously mentioned, dramatic final hand arose.

Tsai min-raised from the button with J 9. Neugebauer called out of the big blind with J 8 and the flop came down Q 8 7. Neugebauer checked with his second pair and Tsai bet with his gutshot straight flush draw. Neugebauer called and the A rolled off the deck on the turn.

Neugebauer checked again and Tsai unleashed an overbet. Neugebauer called and the 4 completed the board. Neugebauer checked for a third time and Tsai, who had missed completely, moved all in. Neugebauer mulled over the huge decision for over two minutes before flicking in a chip and announcing a call. Just like that, it was all over.

Tsai, a poker vlogger from Taiwan, earned $944,460 as the runner-up, bringing his lifetime earnings to more than $1.4 million.

Reigning Main Event Champion Omar Eljach Shines In Early Events

The very first bracelet event of the festival was the €1 million guaranteed €350 no-limit hold’em ‘Opener’ tournament. A total of 3,503 entries were made across six starting flights, surpassing the guarantee by about €48,000.

In the end, Lukas Pazma emerged victorious with the title, the bracelet, and the top prize of $127,571. This was not only Pazma’s first bracelet, it was his first overall live title. The Slovakian’s best score is a third-place finish in the WPT Prime Lichtenstein event for $143,360. He now has nearly $311,000 in recorded earnings.

Omar Eljach took down last year’s WSOPE main event for $1,380,129. He earned his second career bracelet in the second event on the schedule this year, the €550 pot-limit Omaha eight-max.

The Swedish player outlasted a field of 719 entries for the top prize of $69,854. The strong turnout saw the event’s €300,000 guarantee easily cleared. He was not yet done making deep runs at this year’s series, though.

The €1,350 mini main event drew a sizable turnout of 1,729 entries, resulting in a final prize pool of $2,114,750. The largest share of that money went to Greece’s Sokratis Linaras, who walked away with $328,971, and his first gold bracelet.

Before this big win, Linaras’ top payday on the live circuit had been a $104,325 score secured as the champion of a €5,200 pot-limit Omaha event held at the EPT Monte Carlo stop this spring.

Eljach, who was just a handful of days removed from earning his second bracelet, finished fourth for $109,551.

The first four-figure buy-in event to wrap up was the €2,000 pot-limit Omaha event. A 206-entry turnout built a final prize pool of €362,045, once again surpassing the €300,000 guarantee. The last player standing was Hok Yiu Lee. The Hong Kong resident earned his first bracelet and $96,654 for the win.

This was Lee’s largest score yet, blowing by the $63,732 he received as the sixth-place finisher in a €10,300 buy-in pot-limit Omaha event at the EPT Barcelona stop in 2016. His lifetime tournament earnings now sit at $259,000.

The next tournament to wrap was another large-field no-limit hold’em affair in the €550 Colossus. With 3,436 total entries, the prize pool grew to $1,751,080, resulting in six-figure paydays for the top three finishers. The largest payout of all was the $222,971 for eventual champion Ermanno Di Nicola.

This was the first bracelet win for the Italian, who came close in 2021 when he finished third in a €5,000 pot-limit Omaha event at that year’s WSOPE. Di Nicola now has more than $561,000 in recorded earnings after this latest victory.

The highest buy-in yet came in the €5,000 pot-limit Omaha event, which drew 202 players to make a $966,222 prize pool. That meant that eventual champion Wing Po Liu walked away with $243,800 and his first bracelet after dragging the final pot. The Hong Kong native had a dozen prior cashes in WSOP events, but had never made a final table prior to this tournament.

Liu had some stiff competition to contend with down the stretch, including two-time bracelet winner Oleksii Kovalchuk (9th), three-time bracelet winner Anson Tsang (4th), and none other than Omar Eljach, who was at his third final table of the series. Eljach earned $150,308 as the runner-up.

Just one day after recording a fifth-place finish in the Colossus, Dutch poker pro Tobias Peters navigated his way through 495 entries to take down the €1,650 six-max event. For the win, Peters was awarded his first gold bracelet and $162,657, the largest score of his career. He now has nearly $2.3 million in recorded tournament earnings across 188 in-the-money finishes.

Two-time bracelet winner Barny Boatman fell just one spot shy of adding a third, taking home $104,781 as the runner-up. The longtime British pro now has almost $3.5 million in tournament scores.

Sweden’s Tobias Garp was the last player standing in the €1,100 mystery bounty event. The 35-year-old poker player and assistant soccer coach secured $97,838 from the main prize pool to go with his first bracelet after outlasting a field of 803 entries. The strong turnout saw the event’s €300,000 guarantee easily surpassed, with €562,100 ultimately paid out among the top 121 finishers.

The lone mixed-game tournament on the schedule featured a €2,000 buy-in. A total of 97 entries were made by the time registration closed in the eight-game affair, creating a final prize pool of €170,477 that easily surpassed the €100,000 guarantee.

The top 15 finishers made the money, with the largest share going to eventual champion Dainius Antanaitis of Lithuania. He earned $50,636 and his first gold bracelet after scooping the final pot during a hand of Omaha eight-or-better.

Dvoress And Suvarna Capture High Roller Titles

Daniel Dvoress is one of the top tournament players in the world, consistently battling against the best of the best at the highest stakes offered, whether live or online. It was no surprise when the Canadian won himself a WSOP bracelet. Still, it was a bit unexpected that his first victory came in a low buy-in, large field event with the WSOP Online Millionaire Maker.

A few years removed from that breakthrough at the series, Dvoress nabbed his second bracelet, this time in the €25,000 high roller GGMillions. Dvoress outlasted a field of 89 entries to earn the hardware and the top prize of $636,000.

At the final table he had to contend with the likes of Niklas Astedt (6th), Leonard Maue (5th), two-time bracelet winner Martin Kabrhel (3rd), and main event final tablist Michael Rocco (2nd).

A few days after taking down that event, Dvoress once again found himself at a high roller final table. He went on to finish third in the €50,000 event, adding another $281,960. This was his 16th final table of the year, with three titles won and more than $4.9 million in Card Player Player of the Year earnings piled up along the way. His 5,614 POY points are good for 11th in the overall standings.

While Dvoress bowed out in third place, Santhosh Suvarna eventually came away with the title. The Indian player earned his first gold bracelet and $689,000 as the champion. He is having a breakout year on the live circuit, with eight final-table finishes and now two titles won. The vast majority of his $6.5 million in lifetime cashes have been earned in 2023.

Suvarna had to overcome a field of 37 high rollers, with several big names in competition down the stretch. Among those that cashed were Martin Kabrhel (6th), Chris Brewer (4th), Dvoress (3rd), and Ren Lin (2nd).

Brewer and Lin are both currently sitting inside the top six in the POY standings, with each having made 25 final tables this year. Lin has won two titles along the way, while Brewer has captured five, including two bracelets. With more than $13.4 million in POY earnings, Brewer trails only Ike Haxton ($14.5 million) in that key metric.

Andersson, Gleissner, And Nass Nab Bracelets Down The Stretch

The final handful of days at the WSOPE saw several bracelets awarded outside of the main event. The first went to Sweden’s Joakim Andersson, who bested a 570-entry field in the €1,100 turbo bounty. Andersson walked away with his first bracelet and $85,171 from the main prize pool.

French bracelet winner Jonathan Pastore came within a few spots of securing his second, but ended up finishing fourth for $22,552.

The next event up on the agenda was another turbo. This time around it was a €1,000 buy-in freezeout with 182 entries, with a prize pool of $201,404. The fast-paced affair crowned a champion by the end of a single day’s play. That player was Berndt Gleissner of Germany, who picked up his first bracelet and $49,502 for the win.

This was Gleissner’s third live tournament title, having previously won two side events at European Poker Tour stops. He now has nearly $600,000 in recorded cashes to his name.

The last event on the schedule was appropriately dubbed the Closer. The €550 tournament had drawn 628 entries by the end of registration, good for a $319,002 prize pool. The largest share of that money was paid out to another German player in Maurice Nass.

This was only the third recorded score for Nass, with his two previous cashes being for just shy of $6,000 total. This win was worth $63,600 and his first bracelet. ♠