Vivian Saliba, Chris Campisano Headline Early WSOP Europe Winners

It’s bracelet season, yet again.
Just 69 days after the final bracelet of the 2024 World Series of Poker was awarded in Las Vegas, the first of 15 WSOP Europe bracelets was handed out at the Kings Casino Rozvadov in the Czech Republic.
The first four events are already in the books at time of publishing, with many of the largest tournaments still yet to play. The four completed events attracted 5,666 entries between them, with more than $3.6 million in prize money awarded.
The first event of the festival saw Poland’s Przemyslaw Szymanski beat out a field of 3,509 entries in the €350 buy-in no-limit hold’em ‘Opener’ tournament to secure the hardware and the top prize of $128,039.
This was the largest score yet for Szymanski by far, blowing away the $2,436 he earned for a runner-up finish in a €115 buy-in at the 2021 European Poker Festival. This event was up just six entries year-over-year, with the showing seeing the €1 million guarantee bested by nearly €40,000.
There were seven starting flights to choose from, including one run at Kings Resort Prague. The final day began with just 20 contenders remaining and Szymanski in a virtual tie for the lead with Dmitrij Fadeev.
Those two finally clashed once the field narrowed to five. Szymanski held A-Q facing the pocket kings of Fadeev. After all of the chips went in preflop, and the board brought the other three queens to give Szymanski quads and the double-up, Fadeev was left short and was soon eliminated in fifth place ($41,681).
During heads-up play, Daniel Trunk got all-in with trip fours leading the aces and fours of Szymanski and was one card away from securing the bracelet. The A♣ on the end improved Szymanski to aces full, however, leaving Trunk on fumes.
He was soon all-in with K♣ 4♦ facing 9♣ 3♣. The board came down K♠ J♦ 3♠ A♥ 9♠ and Szymanski once again sucked out to make nines up for the pot and the title. Trunk earned $88,967 as the runner-up.
Event no. 2, the €550 pot-limit Omaha eight-max tournament, ended up with 642 entries. After three starting flights and two more days of action, Volodymyr Kokoulin emerged victorious with the title and the top prize of $62,271.
This was the first bracelet win for the Ukrainian player, who finished runner-up in a WSOP International Circuit ring event earlier this year at the same venue.
This event featured a €300,000 guarantee, which was narrowly surpassed by the time registration came to a close. The top 97 finishers made the money, with plenty of big names running deep.
Tomasz Kozub knocked out Hristiyan Banov in third to enter heads-up play facing a 3:1 deficit. Kokoulin extended that advantage even further before the final hand was dealt. All the chips got in preflop with Kokoulin holding Q♠ Q♥ 7♦ 4♠ against the J♥ J♣ 8♣ 5♦ of Kozub. The board ran out 7♣ 6♠ 2♦ 5♥ 8♦ and Kokoulin made an eight-high straight to scoop the pot.
Frederic Marechal came into the final table of the WSOPE €1,350 no-limit hold’em mini main event as the clear chip leader, and at one point in heads-up play held more than a 3:1 chip advantage over Christopher Campisano. But in poker, as with many things, it ain’t over til’ it’s over.
Campisano fought back, reeling off multiple double-ups to overtake the lead and then close out the win. As the champion, the Italian player earned a career-high $236,819 payday and his first bracelet. Prior to this massive victory, Campisano’s top recorded score had been a modest $5,624 cash for placing 29th in a €1,100 buy-in event at the Eureka Rozvadov series this spring.
This event attracted 1,286 entries across four starting flights, falling just short of beating the €1.5 million guarantee. The top 195 finishers earned a share, with multiple knockouts in rapid succession just ahead of the bubble resulting in multiple players splitting a min-cash.
The final day began with eight remaining and Marcechal sitting on more than a third of the total chips in play. The Belgian was not involved in any of the first few knockouts of the day but still remained in the lead at the first break in action despite not having a hand in eliminating Luc Ramos (8th – $34,466), Luigi Pignataro (7th – $41,792), or Frederik Thiemer (6th – $52,004).
Marachel did win a preflop coin flip with K-Q against the pocket jacks of Andreas Krause (5th – $66,545), flopping a pair of kings and rivering a flush to narrow the field to four.
Campisano picked up pocket aces and called the all-in of Xiaohua Yang, who had three-bet shoved over Marechal’s open from under the gun with K-J. Marechal got out of the way and the overpair held up for Campisano. Yang earned $87,302 as the fourth-place finisher.
Dimitrios Anastasakis held the lead for a bit during three-handed play, but eventually lost a key all-in with K-Q against the A-7 of Marechal. An ace-high runout left Anastasakis on fumes, and he was eliminated soon after by Marechal. The Greek player was awarded $117,494 for his third-place showing.
Campisano entered heads-up play with a 3:2 lead. After a back-and-forth battle that, as previously mentioned, sometimes leaned heavily in Marechal’s favor, Campisano was able to wrestle control for the final time.
In the final hand, Campisano shoved from the button for 17 big blinds effective with K♦ 9♦. Marechal called with A♦ 3♣ and the board came down Q♦ 6♦ 2♠ K♥ 3♦ to give Campisano a flush for the win. Marechal earned $161,561 as the runner-up, by far his largest live tournament score yet.
The fourth and final winner included in this recap is Brazil’s Vivian Saliba, who has now recorded three of her top five tournament scores while playing pot-limit Omaha. Her latest PLO deep run saw her outlast a field of 229 entries in the €2,000 buy-in at this festival, earning $101,454 and her first bracelet for the win.
Saliba now has nearly $800,000 in recorded earnings, with this being her second-largest score yet. Her top payday remains the $308,888 she earned as the fourth-place finisher in the 2019 WSOP $888 Crazy Eights event, which sported a field of 10,185 entries.
The second and final day of this event took more than 17 hours to complete, which meant that Saliba didn’t hoist the bracelet until the wee hours of the morning. The final day began with 50 players remaining and defending champion Hokyiu Lee in the lead. Lee ultimately bowed out in third place, earning $44,511 for his impressive attempt at going back-to-back in this event.
Heads-up play began with Saliba holding a nearly 2:1 lead over Markus Anheier. The tables were turned thanks to a big all-in with Anheier’s A♠ K♦ J♠ 10♦ outrunning the K♠ K♥ J♦ 6♠ of Saliba. Anheier ended up with aces full of tens by the river to move ahead in the chip counts.
Saliba found a double up to pull nearly even, and then edged back in front. She managed to continue to build her stack up ahead of the final hand of the tournament, where she made a flush against Anheier’s two pair. Anheier earned $66,267 as the runner-up, the largest live score yet for the German player. ♠
WSOP Europe – Kings Casino – Rozvadov, Czech Republic

Event Player Payout (POY)
€350 NLH

Sept. 18-23

€1,000,000 GTD
Entries: 3,509
Prizepool: $1,154,864 1 Przemyslaw Szymanski $128,039
2 Daniel Trunk $88,967
3 Rostyslav Sabishchenko $67,544
4 Alberto Speranzoni $52,448
5 Dmitrij Fadeev $41,681
6 Georg Strebel $34,022
7 Antonio Menga $28,527
8 Viorel Gavrila $24,476
9 Jozsef Dobos $21,542
Event Player Payout (POY)
€550 PLO 8-Max

Sept. 20-24

€300,000 GTD
Entries: 642
Prizepool: $335,384 1 Volodymyr Kokoulin $62,271 (420)
2 Tomasz Kozub $41,514 (350)
3 Hristiyan Banov $28,305 (280)
4 Claudio Di Giacomo $19,758 (210)
5 Ivan Nikolov $13,986 (175)
6 Stefan Kostner $10,212 (140)
7 Andrei Shpak $7,548 (105)
8 Damjan Radnov $5,661 (70)
Event Player Payout (POY)
€1,350 NLH

Sept. 22-28

€1,500,000 GTD
Entries: 1,286
Prizepool: $1,674,450 1 Christopher Campisano $236,819 (960)
2 Frederic Marechal $161,561 (800)
3 Dimitrios Anastasakis $117,494 (640)
4 Xiaohua Yang $87,302 (480)
5 Andreas Krause $66,545 (400)
6 Frederik Thiemer $52,004 (320)
7 Luigi Pignataro $41,792 (240)
8 Luc Ramos $34,466 (160)
9 Vazha Kometiani $29,138 (80)
Event Player Payout (POY)
€2,000 PLO

Sept. 24-25

€300,000 GTD
Entries: 229
Prizepool: $442,036 1 Vivian Saliba $101,454 (384)
2 Markus Anheier $66,267 (320)
3 Hokyiu Lee $44,511 (256)
4 Alen Sabic $30,747 (192)
5 Thomas Hueber $21,867 (160)
6 Samuel Albeck $16,095 (128)
7 Eran Carmi $12,210 (96)
8 Milan Skacel $9,546 (64)
9 David Sosic $7,748 (32)