Ukraine's Volodymyr Kokoulin has claimed the first World Series of Poker gold bracelet of his career by triumphing in Event #2 of the 2024 WSOP Europe festival, €550 Pot-limit Omaha. Kokoulin topped a 642-entry field to record his career best live-tourney payday of €56,100 in addition to the bracelet.
Kokoulin eliminated Poland's Tomasz Kozub to clinch the win, leaving Kozub to collect runner-up money of €37,400. Third place and €25,500 went to Bulgaria's Hristiyan Banov.
As in Event #1, which also concluded on Tuesday, this PLO tourney just covered its pre-series guarantee of €1 million. The tourney's 642 total entries -- 379 players, plus 263 re-buys -- created a €301,740 prize pool. exceeding by just three the 639 entries needed to cover the guarantee. 97 players went on to make the money in the event.
Runner-runner flush key to victory rush
Kokoulin's drive to the win was an unlikely occurrence, even when he'd made the final four spots in the event. All in and way behind Claudio Di Giacomo's flopped set with his own two pair, Kokoulin hit a runner-runner flush for a double-through and a huge pot in a spot where Kokoulin's chances of winning were roughly 1 in 25. The pot propelled Kokoulin into the lead and left Di Giacomo on the brink of elimination, and Di Giacomo exited soon after.
Kokoulin expanded his edge in the hands that followed and held nearly three-fourths of the chips in play when Kosub busted Banov to bring on heads-up play. The margin was nearly nine-to-one when a cooler hand ended the event: A very short-stacked Kozub found pocket jacks and some hope, but Kokoulin waited with queens, which held up during the runout and completed his run to the bracelet.
2024 WSOP Europe Event #2: €550 Pot-Limit Omaha Final-table results:
- Volodymyr Kokoulin (Ukraine) - €56,100
- Tomasz Kozub (Poland) - €37,400
- Hristiyan Banov (Bulgaria) - €25,500
- Claudio Di Giacomo (Italy) - €17,800
- Ivan Nikolov (Bulgaria) - €12,600
- Stefan Kostner (Austria) - €9,200
- Andrei Shpak (Belarus) - €6,800
- Damjan Radanov (United States) - €5,100
