Simone Andrian Wins Second-Largest WSOP Europe Main Event

The 2024 World Series of Poker Europe is now officially in the books, with 15 gold bracelets and $18.8 million in prize money having been awarded from Sept. 18 through Oct. 9. All told, nearly 11,500 total entries were made throughout the festival, which was once again hosted at the Kings Casino Rozvadov in the Czech Republic. This marked the seventh time that this series was held at this venue, which is situated near the German border.

The first four tournaments were covered in the previous issue of Card Player, and included wins from Vivian Saliba, Chris Campisano, Przemyslaw Szymanski, and Volodymyr Kokoulin. In this article, we will look at the results from events 5-15, which include the marquee main event and the two other largest buy-in tournaments on the schedule.

Italian Triumphs In Championship Event For $1.4 Million

This year’s WSOP Europe €10,350 buy-in championship drew a sizable field of 768 entries, blowing away the event’s €5 million guarantee to create a final prize pool worth more than $8 million when rendered in US dollars. The only WSOPE championship to end with a larger field was the 2023 running, which set the record for the tournament with 817 entries.

The largest share of that money was captured by eventual champion Simone Andrian, who weathered a grueling heads-up clash to secure his third career WSOP gold bracelet and the top prize of $1,443,000.

He also added his name alongside the likes of legends of the game that have triumphed in this tournament over the years, including Annette Obrestad (2007), John Juanda (2008), Barry Shulman (2009), Phil Hellmuth (2012), and Adrian Mateos (2013).

This was the first seven-figure score for the Italian player, making it by far his largest payday yet. Prior to this career-defining victory, his best cash was the $177,650 he earned for taking down the 2021 WSOPE €1,650 six-max no-limit hold’em event. That was his first bracelet win. His second came just over a month ago in the 2024 WSOP Online International $800 deepstack event for another $156,230.

This victory also awarded 2,280 Card Player Player of the Year points to Andrian. This was his second title and fourth final-table finish so far, having also won a $2,200 buy-in event at the Merit Poker Western Series back in January for $165,000 and 720 points. With 3,660 total points, he has surged into 31st place in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

This event featured two starting flights and four more days of combined field action inside Kings Resort Rozvadov in the Czech Republic. The top 116 finishers made the money, with big names like 2024 WSOP main event third-place finisher Niklas Astedt (98th), Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom (48th), WPT champion David Dongwoo Ko (44th), bracelet winner and WPT champion Dietrich Fast (42nd), six-time bracelet winner Shaun Deeb (34th), Sirzat Hissou (26th), and three-time bracelet winner Anson Tsang (10th) running deep.

The final day began with Andrian leading and just six contenders remaining. The first player to hit the rail was Italy’s Enrico Camosci.

The bracelet winner and high-stakes tournament regular was the short stack to start. He eventually got his last 14 big blinds in preflop, three-bet calling off with A J from the small blind. Urmo Velvelt, who opened from the hijack and four-bet shoved over Camosci’s three-bet, held pocket eights.

Camosci flopped the nut flush draw, but improved no further from there and was eliminated in sixth place ($240,870). He now has nearly $4.8 million in recorded scores after this latest deep run.

David Hochheim three-bet shoved with A-4 from the big blind facing a small blind open from Andrian. This time around, the Italian ‘had it.’ He quickly called with pocket queens and held to send Hochheim packing in fifth place ($329,670).

Mariusz Golinski’s run in this event came to an end when his A J ran into the A Q of Andrian. The Q 9 7 8 A runout was not without a twinge of drama, but ultimately Andrian made aces up to drag the pot and eliminate Golinski in fourth ($460,650).

When three-handed play began, Ran Ilani had roughly one-fifth as many chips as Velvelt, who was in second on the leaderboard at the time. Ilani got off to a strong start, though, managing a couple of early double-ups to claw his way out of the danger zone. Had he won a classic preflop race in his next all-in, he would have moved into second chip position.

His A-K was unable to outrun the pocket queens of Velvelt, though, and Ilani was knocked out in third place ($654,900). This was the largest score yet for the Israeli player, surpassing the $166,552 he earned as the runner-up in the 2021 WSOP $800 deepstack event.

Velvelt held a slight lead going into heads-up play thanks to that knockout. The two traded the lead between them over the course of roughly three hours of one-on-one play with the bracelet hanging in the balance.

Andrian eventually jumped back out in front after winning a big pot with top pair against a pair and gutshot for Velvelt, with the chips going in on the turn. Andrian improved to jacks up on the river to take more than a 4:1 chip lead.

Not too long after that, Andrian opened for a min-raise on the button with pocket tens. Velvelt three-bet from the big blind with A 10 and Andrian four-bet. Velvelt shoved and Andrian called. The board came down 9 6 2 7 K and the pocket tens held to bring the event to a close.

Velvelt earned $947,940 as the runner-up, the largest score yet for the Estonian.
Pichierri And Kabrhel Capture High Roller Bracelets

This series featured tournaments with buy-ins ranging from as low as €350 up to €50,000. The two highest-stakes events on the schedule were, as might be expected, won by experienced players who already had WSOP victories under their belts.

Italy’s Alessandro Pichierri took down the €25,000 no-limit hold’em GGMillion€ event, besting a field of 38 entries to earn $372,849 and his second bracelet. His first came back in 2021, when he took down the €3,000 no-limit hold’em Closer event at this same venue during that year’s WSOPE.

Thanks to this latest win, Pichierri is one of just four Italian players to have earned multiple bracelets, joining Andrian, four-time bracelet winner Max Pescatori, and Ermanno Di Nicola (more on him later).

Pichierri now has nearly $1.6 million in recorded tournament earnings, with this being his largest score yet. Prior to this, the $165,769 he took home along with his first bracelet was his top payday.

The top six finishers cashed in this event, with more than $1.1 million to be paid out among them when rendered in US dollars. Sirzat Hissou (6th – $72,150), Tom-Aksel Bedell (5th – $83,805), and Leon Tsoukernik ($109,002) all hit the rail inside the money.

Salih Atac was eliminated in third place at the hands of Alex Foxen, who notably eliminated his wife Kristen from the tournament twice en route to a second-place finish ($248,529). The American now has nearly $33.8 million in career cashes to his name.

A few days after Pichierri’s triumph, Martin Kabrhel took down the €50,000 high roller, besting a field of 30 entries to secure his third career bracelet and the top prize of $587,190. The Czech player became the 145th player in WSOP history to have won three or more bracelets.

All three of Kabrhel’s WSOP victories have now come at the WSOP Europe in his home country of the Czech Republic. His first came back in 2017, when he came out on top in the €1,100 bounty super turbo tournament for $63,000. The following year he triumphed in the prestigious €100,000 buy-in event at the same venue, securing a career-best score of $3 million.

Kabrhel now has more than $12.8 million in career earnings after his latest title, extending his advantage on the Czech all-time money list. He now sits roughly $2.8 million ahead of second-ranked Roman Hrabec, who ran deep but failed to cash in this event.

With 30 entries, this event surpassed its $1 million guarantee to build a final prize pool of €1,395,900 ($1,549,449), with only the top five finishers earning a share of that pot.

Viktor Blom was the first to be eliminated inside the money, earning $147,519 as the fifth-place finisher. He now has more than $6.1 million in recorded tournament cashes. Enrico Camosci, who later final-tabled the main event, placed fourth in this tournament, earning $176,490.

Kabrhel secured his first knockout inside the money when his pocket nines outraced the A 10 of Fahredin Mustafov ($246,420). He then finished off Sirzat Hissou, who picked up ($391,830) as the runner-up, the second-largest score yet for the German.

New Bracelet Winners

The second-largest field of the series was the 2,799-entry turnout that was made in the €550 no-limit hold’em Colossus event. Local Czech player Michal Schuh came out on top in the end, earning $190,199 while becoming just the 11th player from his home country to have secured a WSOP bracelet.

This was the largest recorded score yet for Schuh, topping the $90,192 he took home for a third-place finish in the 2017 WSOP International Circuit main event held at this same venue. He now has nearly $600,000 in lifetime earnings to his name.

The sixth event of the festival was the €5,000 pot-limit Omaha tournament. A total of 141 entries created a prize pool of $698,817. It took two days to narrow that field down to a champion, with Germany’s Dennis Weiss dragging the last pot. Weiss was awarded $177,486 and his first bracelet for the win.

This was not only Weiss’ first bracelet, it was his first live title ever. Prior to this victory, his best tournament performance was a fifth-place finish in a $1,100 pot-limit Omaha event at Venetian Las Vegas in July for $15,296.

It was, ‘another year, another WSOPE victory’ for Ermanno Di Nicola. Less than 11 months after he took down the 2023 running of the Colossus at the festival for $222,971, the Italian player came out on top in this year’s €1,650 no-limit hold’em six-max event to earn his second bracelet and the top prize of $123,488. This time around he overcame a field of 351 entries on his way to securing the gold.

Amir Mozaffarian made it down to the final two players in the PLO event won by Weiss, only to fall one spot short of securing the bracelet. Incredibly, just two days later, he found himself heads-up again with another WSOPE title on the line. This time around the German player came out on top, topping a field of 515 entries in the €1,100 mystery bounty tournament to earn $76,646.

With the $114,432 he earned as the runner-up in the PLO event, Mozaffarian cashed for $191,078 at this festival. As a result, his lifetime earnings now sit at more than $550,000.

France’s Patrick Bueno first cashed in a WSOP bracelet event back in 2001, finishing 36th in that year’s main event for a $30,000 payday. More than 23 years later, Bueno finally secured his first gold bracelet. He overcame a field of 90 entries in the €2,000 eight-game mix event, earning $48,174 along with the hardware.

It was his third cash of the series, having also placed 17th in the €550 pot-limit Omaha event and 65th in the €1,350 mini main event. Thanks to this win, Bueno now has nearly $1.1 million in career tournament earnings.

It only took one (admittedly long) day for the WSOPE €1,100 no-limit hold’em turbo bounty hunter event to play down from a field of 458 entries to a champion. After 32 completed 20-minute levels, Romania’s Darius Neagoe scored the final knockout of the day a bit after 3:00 AM local time.

For the win, Neagoe bagged his first gold bracelet and the top payout of $70,652. This was his largest live score yet, and also Neagoe’s second recorded tournament title, having previously taken down the 2019 888poker LIVE Bucharest €888 buy-in event for $69,776. With this latest win, his career earnings have surpassed $200,000.

The €1,000 no-limit hold’em turbo freezeout drew 152 entries, and also took just a single day to narrow that field down to a winner. When the dust settled, Zewei Ding was the only participant left standing. The Chinese player earned his first WSOP gold bracelet and the top prize of $39,240.

The final event on the schedule for the WSOPE was appropriately dubbed the Closer. The €550 buy-in no-limit hold’em affair attracted a field of 473 entries, resulting in a prize pool of $229,157. After two days of play, Germany’s Marius Schneider proved to be a closer in his own right. He overcame a chip deficit heads-up, doubled into the lead and then converted it into the title in short order.

For the win, Schneider earned $48,840. Prior to this win, his top recorded live score had been for just $1,529. Now, he is officially a gold-bracelet winner. ♠