Seven years after first arriving in the Czech-German border town of Rozvadov, the 2024 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event saw its biggest attendance ever. With a top prize of €1,300,000 and a prize pool of over €7,200,000, the event drew envious gazes from around the world as it awarded the 15th gold WSOPE Main Event bracelet to its champion.
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Opening Events Reward New Names
As the 2024 WSOPE began, with 15 bracelets to be awarded, all eyes were on Rozvadov as play got underway in the opening event. Costing €350 to play, the 3,509-entry field was whittled down to 359 in-the-money players, with Kazakh player Przemyslaw Szymanski winning the €115,350 top prize and the gold bracelet.
In Event #2, the Ukrainian player Volodymyr Kokoulin won the €56,100 top prize and the bracelet in the Pot Limit Omaha 8-Max event. The following event, the €1,350 Mini Main Event, saw a top-quality field reduced to 193 players in profit as Italian sensation Christopher Campisano reigned supreme, earning €213,350.
The opening events may have been won by some lesser-known players, but Brazil’s Vivian Saliba shot to fame when she took home her first bracelet in the €2,000 PLO Event #4. A guaranteed €300,000 prize pool was increased to just under €400,000 by the time late registration closed. Saliba, a known pro with a history of success in PLO, was one of 35 players to finish in the money.
Frenchman Thomas Eychenne finished 22nd for €4,340, Hungary’s Ferenc Deak came 12th for €5,100, while Israeli Eran Carmi made the final table but fell short of glory in seventh place for €11,000. Saliba’s victory came when she beat German player Markus Anheier heads-up to take home a top prize of €91,400.
Pichierri Picks Up Gold
In Event #5, The Colossus lived up to its grandiose name, welcoming an incredible 2,799 entries to the tournament with a €550 buy-in and €1.5 million guaranteed prize pool. Despite deep runs from British-based players Hong Pham (ninth for €24,750) and Paul Runcan (4th for €67,850), it was Michal Schuh who won, as the home-grown Czech player banked an incredible €172,369.
It was back to PLO in Event #6, as Dennis Weiss won the €5,000-entry tournament for a top prize of €159,897. There were strong performances from Nikola Minkov (third for €68,791), Victor Dota (fourth for €47,566), Jonas Kronwitter (fifth for €34,126) and Fahredin Mustafov (ninth for €13,477), with 22 players making the money places. The first of two Italian winners followed with the victory for €111,250 for Ermanno Di Nicola in the €1,650 6-Max Event #7.
In the €25,000 GGMillion$ LIVE bracelet event, otherwise known as Event #8 on the 2024 WSOPE schedule, there was another Italian winner, as Alessandro Pichierri triumphed for his second WSOP bracelet win and €335,900. There were just six players who made the money places, with King’s Casino owner Leon Tsoukernik making it all the way to fourth place for a €98,200 score.
Swiss player Salih Atac missed out, finishing in third place for €141,500, and it was a heads-up battle between the debutant eventual winner and one of the most fearsome players in the world of poker—Alex Foxen. Foxen was a Global Poker Index world number one, a crusher at the tournament felt with over $40m in live tournament earnings, but Pichierri belied his underdog status as he triumphed for his first WSOP victory, relegating Foxen to runner-up for a score of €223,900.
Kabrhel the King in Diamond High Roller
Plenty more players won gold in a series where no single player bagged more than one. The €1,100 Mystery Bounty was won by German player Amir Mozaffarian for €69,050, while Patrick Bueno claimed victory in the 8-Game Mix Event #10 for €43,400. Darius Neagoe took down Event €11, the €1,100 Turbo Bounty Hunter for €63,650, and another turbo event, the €1,000-entry Event #14, was won by Chinese player Zewei Ding for €35,351. Marius Schneider bagged gold in Event #15, The Closer, for €44,000.
The €50,000-entry Diamond High Roller welcomed some of the best players in the world to its tournament, with 26 entries and four re-entries as players battled for a share of the €1,395,900 prize pool. Making it into the money was Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom, with the Swede min-cashing for €132,900 after his countryman Niklas ‘Lena900’ Astedt busted in sixth to bubble the event.
After the eliminations of Enrico Camosci (fourth for €159,000) and Fahredin Mustafov (third for €222,000), German player Sirzat Hissou made the final showdown for the bracelet. It was Kabrhel who prevailed, however, as he made use of a chip lead to get it in with pocket fives against the German’s ace-eight. There was an eight on the flop but a five also landed. That bottom set proved pivotal to Kabrhel as he shook his opponent’s hand and claimed gold. The famously fractious player celebrated his victory afterwards, admitting that he is aware of his image both at and away from the poker table.
“I think I’m both a hero and a villain,” he told PokerNews. “Most people really enjoy playing with me, especially in Las Vegas. But I understand that in higher-stakes situations, some players can feel a bit nervous, and I get that some moments with me might not be so pleasant. I’m just trying to have fun at the table for everyone involved, and hopefully, I’m succeeding at that.”
After winning the top prize and his second bracelet, Kabrhel spoke about being a father at the final table felt. “I love my family and enjoy time with my kids, but I would say I’m trying to show them some values and teach them things – that’s basically my role.”
Kabrhel taught his opponents a lesson and walked away with another massive prize. His second WSOP win coming in Rozvadov, as the first did.
It was time for the Main Event, whose winner would come from nowhere to claim the ultimate victory.
Comeback Kid Seals Epic Win
There were 768 entries in the 2024 WSOPE Main Event, and 116 of those players made it into the money places. Plenty of major names in the poker world made a profit, with Niklas Astedt (98th for €20,900) one of three dozen players to min-cash. German mixed game specialist and WSOP Main Event final table player Jan-Peter Jachtmann came 59th for €24,700, before Viktor Blom (48th for €27,100) and Shaun Deeb (34th for €34,700) came close, too.
At the final table, an early exit for Fabian Gumz (ninth for €93,900) was followed later by Enrico Camosci, as the Italian won €217,000 in sixth place. Ran Ilani came third for €590,000, before Simone Andrian and Urmo Velvelt went into one of the toughest heads-up matches ever to decide a Main Event in the World Series of Poker.
After three long hours, Andrian, who had been down very short in the Main Event earlier in the day, came back into the lead and went into the final hand, calling off Velvelt’s shove. The Estonian had moved all-in with ace-ten, but Andrian called with pocket tens to the raucous cheers from his rail. A clean board of 9-6-2-7-K pronounced him the winner as he claimed the biggest prize of his poker career – €1.3 million – and the fabled WSOPE Main Event bracelet.
The Champion in His Own Words
After winning, Andrian was mobbed by his friends as he tried to make sense of the past three hours and an epic week at the felt.
“It’s amazing. By far the biggest score of my career. I couldn’t be more happy,” Andrian told reporters after victory. “I’ve been playing here a lot and to have that kind of score here feels special. It was very, very tough.”
“We were super deep. Playing heads-up super deep, with 100 big blinds each, it’s tough. Usually, you don’t get to play super big pots.”
Having the support of his friends and fellow Italian pros was huge for the new WSOPE Main Event champion throughout. “[It was] super important, especially when I was short-stacked with 25 big blinds.”
After a stunning win in Rozvadov, Simone Andrian more than doubled his total tournament earnings in the live poker arena. The Italian, who his friends mobbed after the performance of his life, marked himself out as one to watch in the future in one of the biggest live poker events ever to be held in Europe.
| Player | Country | Prize | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Simone Andrian | Italy | €1,300,000 |
| 2nd | Urmo Velvelt | Estonia | €854,000 |
| 3rd | Ran Ilani | Israel | €590,000 |
| 4th | Mariusz Golinski | Poland | €415,000 |
| 5th | David Hochheim | Germany | €297,000 |
| 6th | Enrico Camosci | Italy | €217,000 |
| 7th | Robin Berggren | Sweden | €161,000 |
| 8th | Luka Bojavic | Serbia | €122,000 |
| 9th | Fabian Gumz | Germany | €93,300 |
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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.
