Georgios Skarparis Wins 2024 WSOP Mini Main Event

Georgios Skarparis of Cyprus has won the 2024 World Series of Poker $1,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em ‘mini main event’, topping a field of 6,076 entries to earn his first bracelet and $554,925. He told WSOP reporters that the win was dedicated to the memory of his late friend and student Kyriakos Oxinos, who tragically passed away in a traffic accident in 2023.

This was the largest tournament result yet for Skarparis, topping the $167,070 he earned as the runner-up finisher in a $3,300 buy-in event at the 2022 Merit Summer Retro Series. He now has over $919,000 in career tournament earnings.

The 1,320 Card Player Player of the Year points awarded to the winner of this event were enough to move Skarparis within striking distance of the top 200 in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

This event took three days to play down to a champion. The top 912 finishers earned a piece of the $5,346,880 prize pool, but only five advanced to the final day. Among the many notables that ran deep in this event were Tony Miles (404th), Landon Tice (219th), Marsha Wolak (113th), Stoyan Madanzhiev (51st), James Carroll (36th), and Hunter Frey (9th).

Kyle Williamson held the chip lead going into day 3, with Skarparis hot on his heels.
Alexandre Barbaranelli scored the first knockout of the day, winning a flip with pocket eights against the A-K of Dirk Bruns (5th – $158,191). Williamson ended up finishing fourth after losing a couple of all-in showdowns during four-handed play. In his final hand, A-K was outrun by the Q-J suited of Skarparis. Williamson earned $208,444 for his efforts.

Mikhail Zavoloka got the last of his short stack in with 10-2, and was unable to overcome the Q-6 suited of Barbaranelli and the 6-5 suited of Skarparis. Queen high played in the end to send the pot to Barbaranelli. Zavoloka was awarded $276,695 as the third-place finisher.

Skarparis held more than a 3.5:1 chip lead when heads-up play began. The last hand of the tournament saw all of the chips go in preflop with Skarparis’ A9 leading the A3 of Barbaranelli. The board came down 775102 and Barbaranelli was eliminated in second place ($369,994).

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photo credits: WSOP / Hayley Hochstetler.

Visit the Card Player 2024 World Series of Poker page for schedules, news, interviews, and the latest event results. WSOP coverage sponsored by Global Poker.

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