The World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) crowned a new champion Wednesday after the final six players in the €10,350 Main Event NLH European Championship battled down to a winner. When the dust settled, Simone Andrian stood alone atop the winner's podium, claiming the title, the highly-coveted bracelet, and the €1,300,000 top prize.
For those who missed the action on the WSOP YouTube channel, you can still catch the full replay now.
Following Tuesday's action, which saw the eliminations of Fabian Gumz (9th), Luka Bojovic (8th), and Robin Berggren (7th), Italy's Andrian started final table proceedings with a commanding chip lead, on 168BBs. Urmo Velvelt, of Estonia, was the only player even close to Andrian in the chip counts, but his 78BBs still left him with a lot of ground to make up. Starting third in the counts was Poland's Mariusz Golinski, sitting on a stack of 68BBs.
The bottom half of the counts saw Israel's Ran Ilani on a stack of 32BBs, firmly ahead of Germany's David Hochheim (23BBs) and Italy's Enrico Camosci (18BBs).
Camosci exits, Hochheim and Golinski follow
On the shortest stack, Camosci was the first to find himself all-in and at risk when his ran into Velvelt's
. On the
flop, Camosci added flush outs to his survival options, but the
turn and
river failed to provide the cards he needed and his day ended in a sixth-place finish.
After managing to find a full double through the chip leader, Hochheim went up against Andrian once again in a blind versus blind confrontation. Andrian raised from the small blind and Hochheim moved all-in from the big blind. The German's needed to improve against the Italian's
, but the
runout didn't connect with his holding, and his run ended in a fifth-place finish.
Andrian notched another elimination when he raised preflop with , only to see an all-in from Golinski behind him. Andrian made the call and had his opponent's
dominated. Golinski was drawing incredibly thin on the
flop, but the
brought hope in the form of a gutshot straight draw. The river
improved both players, but not in the way Golinski needed and his Main Event story ended in a fourth-place finish.
Ilani bows out, heads up for the glory
It was a blind versus blind confrontation that saw Ilani head for the payout desk as well. Velvelt's raise from the small blind with led to a re-raise from Ilani in the big blind. After weighing his options, Velvelt opted for a small four-bet before Ilani moved all-in. The Estonian made the call and saw Ilani turn over his
as the two players headed to a runout in one of poker's classic flips. The
kept Velvelt's hand best and Ilani's run came to an end in a third-place finish.
In his exit interview, Ilani said, "It's the most classic flip, [we're] flipping for a lot of money I guess in those big pots. That's how poker goes. I was very, very, very fortunate to get here. I'm just enjoying the moment and appreciating it. I enjoyed every minute of it."
The heads-up battle between Andrian and Velvelt lasted over three hours as both players fought hard to lay claim to the coveted Main Event bracelet. Velvelt began proceedings with a slight edge over his opponent in the chip counts, but the swings of the format saw the lead trade hands multiple times.
Velvelt's aggression saw him take a sizable lead at one point, but Andrian made an impressive call with top pair on a connected board to seize the advantage. The final hand saw the Italian raise from the button with . Velvelt looked down at
and put in a three-bet. Andrian responded with another raise, essentially a min-click sizing, and Velvelt pounced on what he perceived as weakness with another raise, for all of his chips.
Andrian quickly called and the cards were on their backs. Velvelt needed to connect with a three-outer, but the flop kept Andrian's hand well ahead. The turn
brought in outs to a chop for the Estonian, but the
river kept Andrian best and his rail burst into celebratory chants, crying out in his mother tongue. The two players shook hands and, after five days of play, Andrian held aloft the WSOP Europe Main Event bracelet.
When asked about plans for his celebration, Andrian responded, "Not now because I will go to play poker in another location."
WSOPE €10,350 Main Event NLH European Championship final table results
Place | Player | Nationality | Prize (Euros) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Simone Andrian | Italy | €1,300,000 |
2 | Ulmo Velvelt | Estonia | €854,000 |
3 | Ran Ilani | Israel | €590,000 |
4 | Mariusz Golinski | Poland | €415,000 |
5 | David Hochheim | Germany | €297,000 |
6 | Enrico Camosci | Italy | €217,000 |
7 | Robin Berggren | Sweden | €161,000 |
8 | Luka Bojovic | Serbia | €122,000 |
9 | Fabian Gumz | Germany | €93,900 |
Feature Image Courtesy of WSOP.com/Tomas Stacha