Back in 2013, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe was entering its third year in France as Phil Hellmuth’s victory in 2012 prompted trips to Europe for some of the biggest stars of the felt including Jeremy Ausmus, Daniel Negreanu, Benny Spindler and Dominik Nitsche. But who would end up with a WSOP gold bracelet and hundreds of thousands of Euros? The seven events from the previous years were increased to eight events in 2013 offering even more opportunities for poker players from around the globe. Once again, it was a thrilling ride for poker players and fans alike on the South Coast of France.
JOIN THE POKER TABLES AT THE WSOP!
The Barriere Welcomes All
Two casinos hosted the action in 2011 and 2012 in France, but in 2013, all eyes were on the Casino Barriere in Enghien-les-Bains, as eight WSOP bracelet events took place under the same roof for the first time in the country’s poker history. The opening event broke new ground as the first-ever WSOP Ladies Event was hosted outside America. With 65 entries, just seven players made the money in an event that cost €1,100 to play.
Of those seven, five hailed from the home country but despite the presence of experienced professionals such as Gaelle Baumann, there was not to be a French victory in Event #1. After Baumann min-cashed for €3,200 in seventh place, Australia’s Jackie Glazier outlasted four more French players and American Sherrie Lindsey-Jones to win the top prize of €21,850. Glazier’s WSOP bracelet win was a huge deal, with the proud Aussie banking almost €1.5 million in ranking events over her career.
The second event on the schedule was a No Limit Hold’em costing the same amount as the Ladies Event but had a phenomenal 659 entries, meaning 72 players cashed. Amongst them, Dominik Nitsche reached 55th place for €1,930, Barry Greenstein bagged €2,619 in 35th, and Chino Rheem cashed for €4,599 in 22nd place. The bracelet was eventually won by Swedish player Henrik Johansson. He won an incredible €129,700 and his only lifetime WSOP title, this is also, to date, the only WSOP final table he has made. The 2023 WSOP Main Event champion Daniel Weinman came fourth for a score of €43,772.
Ausmus Pots Rivals, Roger the Hero Again
The next event, a €5,300 NLHE Mixed Max event, saw France finally book a win. Darko Stojanovic, the only French player to make the final table, outlasted luminaries such as Shannon Shorr (5th) and Noah Schwartz (4th) to win the top prize of €188,160.
In the following event, a €1,650-entry Pot Limit Omaha tournament, a top prize worth €70,324, was up for grabs. Plenty of big names survived from the 184 entrants to the 21 money places, with Max Pescatori (21st for €2,997) earning a min-cash. Jonathan Little (7th for €10,102) made the final table, and Jason Mercier (4th for €23,036) just missed out on a podium place. German mixed game legend Jan-Peter Jachtmann finished third for €31,367 before Finnish player Juha Helppi battled Jeremy Ausmus for the gold. Ultimately, Ausmus prevailed for his first WSOP bracelet and the top prize of €95,054. Since then, Ausmus has won six WSOP bracelets and become one of the most feared and respected poker players in the world.
Roger Hairabedian has previously won big in his home country and followed up on his 2012 WSOP Europe bracelet win in PLO by bagging the title in the €2,200 NLHE event for €148,820. Beating the legendary Erik Seidel heads-up, Hairabedian’s vivacious personality and dominant on-the-felt personality won the day as the American Seidel – now a 10-time WSOP title holder – fell short in the end.
Kid Poker Helps Himself to Candy
Daniel Negreanu is a WSOP legend, but in 2013, he won what would turn out to be not just his sixth bracelet but one he would remember for the longest time out of them all. Before Negreanu would find his sixth, the €3,250 PLO Mixed Max event would be played and won by Noah Schwartz for €104,580, the only bracelet to date in his career, before the biggest buy-in event of the series, the €25,600-entry High Roller event.
With 80 entries featuring some of the best players in the world, Erik Seidel once again bagged profit with an eighth-place finish worth €55,400. Scott Seiver fell in sixth for €74,600, and German player Philipp Gruissem came close in third for €250,000. It was, in the end, Daniel Negreanu who won as Kid Poker defeated Brazilian player Nicolau Villa-Lobos for a top prize of €725,000, a score that is, incredibly, outside the top 10-lifetime cashes in Negreanu’s amazing career.
The GGPoker Global Ambassador celebrated in France, and his sixth bracelet win meant he had won in Europe and the Asia-Pacific territory, adding to his four bracelets claimed in Las Vegas. Incredibly, it would be the last WSOP title Kid Poker would win for over a decade as Negreanu entered what would become a haunting period without a bracelet win. Consistently putting himself in the position for glory, Kid Poker missed out on the candy until 2024, when he won the fabled €50,000 Poker Players Championship for $1.17 million.
Way to end a drought, Daniel!
The Main Event Takes Over
Lasting through October 25th, the 2013 WSOP Europe Main Event featured 375 entries as each player put down the equivalent of €10,450 as they shot for glory and a top prize of one million Euros. Just 40 players made the money, and previous winners of the series and big names alike performed well, with Daniel Negreanu (25th for €21,750), Jeremy Ausmus (16th for €27,250) and Shannon Shorr (8th for €77,500) all excelling.
Benny Spindler departed in sixth place when his ultra-aggressive pre-flop stance eventually tripped him up, a bluff with three-deuce on the river when the board had given French player Jerome Huge a massive two-pair. A couple of hands later, the short-stacked Spindler went to the rails. The longest-lasting American, Ravi Raghavan, was next to go in fifth place for €176,000 before Jerome Huge departed in fourth for €251,000 when he lost with just a pair of threes to his countryman Soulier’s aces and queens.
Three-handed, the trend of busting out on a bluff continued as German Dominik Nitsche departed for €400,000. Losing with nine-eight to Mateos’ ace-seven in a pot worth over 45 big blinds, meaning Mateos would go into the final battle for the bracelet with more than 80% of the chips in play.
Mateos Conquers Europe
Heads-up, Soulier slowly ground his way back into the event, even taking the lead at one point as his experience seemed to make the difference. Mateos was undeterred and continued to play fearless poker. It took 100 hands to build another impressive lead, but only this time, it wouldn’t slip, As Soulier shoved with eight-nine on a flop of J-9-4, and Mateos called with ace-king. A king on the turn put him ahead, and no trouble spoiled the part on the river, meaning the Spanish teenager was crowned the champion.
“I feel incredible; it’s an amazing achievement,” Mateos admitted after describing the best result of his poker career at that time. “It was a tough heads-up. I started really well, but Soulier played really well and doubled up through me. Then I changed my strategy to play smaller pots and I started to hit more. Everything went better, and I managed to win.”
Mateos’ attitude to playing the event at just 19 was refreshing, even if he couldn’t follow up by traveling to Las Vegas to play in WSOP events for another two years, with players needing to be at least 21 years old to compete in Sin City.
“Even though I’m young, I wasn’t feeling pressure,” he said. “I just tried to do my best. The bracelet means I’ve accomplished a great goal. And the money? I want to save it up and try to win more. I’ve gotten a lot of support from Spain and want to thank them all for their support. Now that a Spaniard has won something big, they’ll get motivated and start winning more tournaments. Its very important for the Spanish poker world because more people will play and see it as something they can win money in.”
Mateos was bullish about his poker career, and the man now known as ‘The Matador’ predicted his poker future upon victory.
“I think this is for the long run,” he said. “I hope to win more bracelets and more big titles. I’m going to try we’ll have to wait and see what happens.”
Over a decade later, Adrian Mateos has won over €51 million in live poker events and is in eighth place on poker’s all-time money list, and he has only just turned 30.
After the thrilling nature of the teenager’s victory in 2013, a year later, the WSOP announced that they would not return to Europe until 2015, after a year in the Asia-Pacific region. The 2013 venue was to be left behind as the WSOP said ‘au revoir’ to France and ‘guten tag’ to Berlin, Germany in 2015.
The WSOP Europe festival has not returned to France since Mateos’ victory over a decade ago.
| Player | Country | Prize | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Adrian Mateos | Spain | €1,000,000 |
| 2nd | Fabrice Soulier | France | €610,000 |
| 3rd | Dominik Nitsche | Germany | €400,000 |
| 4th | Jerome Huge | France | €251,000 |
| 5th | Ravi Raghavan | United States | €176,000 |
| 6th | Benny Spindler | Germany | €126,000 |
| 7th | Andrei Konopelko | Belarus | €101,000 |
| 8th | Shannon Shorr | United States | €77,500 |
| 9th | Danny Steinberg | United States | €59,500 |
2012 WSOP Europe 2014 WSOP Europe
About the Author: Paul Seaton has written about poker for over 10 years, interviewing some of the best players ever to play the game such as Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Over the years, Paul has reported live from tournaments such as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the European Poker Tour. He has also written for other poker brands where he was Head of Media, as well as BLUFF magazine, where he was Editor.
