WSOP Europe Update: Martini Shakes It Up, Scoring Two Bracelets in a Single Week

The World Series of PokerEurope continues at King’s Casino Resort in Rozvadov, Czech Republic. Many new bracelet winners have emerged as European vie for some hardware.

The standout over the last week was France’s Julien Martini, who grabbed two bracelets.

The festival runs through Dec. 8  with more than €11.5 million guaranteed. The €10,350 Main Event is also now underway and is set for Dec. 3-8 with a €5 million guarantee. Here’s a look at some of the winners over the last week of action.

Event 5: €550 Colossus (Nov. 24)

It took multiple days but Kosovo’s Edmond Jahjaga won his first bracelet after taking down the Colossus event.

Jahjaga defeated France’s Riadh Farhart in heads-up play for the title. The event featured 2,478 entrants and Jahjaga won €147,775 for his victory. 

“It means a lot to me,” Jahjaga told WSOP.com. “I don’t know how to describe it because it comes so unexpected. The whole experience feels like a movie and it just happened.”

Event 6: €1,650 NLHE/ PLO Mixed (Nov. 25)

The mixed event drew in 339 players to create a €483,075 prize pool. Antoine Vranken of the Netherlands scored his first bracelet after defeating Moncef Karoui of Tunisia.

Originally this event was scheduled to be a two-day event but the tournament went into a third day. Ten players returned to Day 3 to chase the gold including a short stacked Vranken. However, he stayed patient and was able to make a run to score the win.

Event 7: €5,000 PLO (Nov. 27)

Denmark’s Maximilian Klostermeier crushed the competition in the €5,000 PLO event. This was the second bracelet win for Klostermeier. His first bracelet was won in 2019 in a PLO event as well.

Klostermeier defeated 184 players to score a payday of €204,010. The total prize pool for this event was €830,300.

Bulgaria had a heavy presence at the final table as Nikola Minkov, Vasil Medarov, and Veselin Karakitukov all made an appearance. 

Event 8: €2,500 Short Deck (Nov. 28)

Frenchman Julien Martini (pictured above in lead image) won his second bracelet on Tuesday after winning the Short Deck event. The event drew in 98 players and created a prize pool of €214,130

Martini won €60,009 for first place. For those new to Short Deck, the game  uses a 36-card deck with all the twos, threes, fours, and fives taken out. This changes the odyssey for a couple hands:

  • A flush beats a full house
  • Three of a kind beats a straight

Event 9: €1,100 Turbo Bounty Hunter (Nov. 29)

Romania’s Sergiu Covrig showed to be the top bounty hunter last week after defeating Germany’s Michael Strauch

Covrig grabbed his first bracelet and €79,282 for the victory. This event also needed an extra day of play as 604 entries jumped into the field. The prize pool was a total of €214,130

Besides Strauch, Tim Novotny and Pierre Trauer also represented Germany at the final table. 

Event 10: €25,000 Platinum High Roller (Nov. 29)

Ukraine’s Andriy Lyubovetskiy won €518,430 after defeating Joni Jouhkimainen heads up in this high stakes affair. This was the second time in a week Jouhkimainen scored a runner-up for a finish.

The total prize pool reached €1.7 million and included 72 players. 

Event 11: €1,650 NLHE Six-Handed (Nov. 30)

Italian player Simone Andrian netted his first bracelet and €158,616 after topping the Czech Republic’s Josef Snejberg in heads-up play. 

Andrian defeated a field of 535 entries to capture the gold. The Czech Republic also claimed the fifth-place spot as Jan Bednar scored €31,320.

Event 12: €2,000 Eight-Game Mixed (Dec. 1)

Most players are lucky enough to win one bracelet in a lifetime, but for Julien Martini he grabbed two in a week.

On Thursday, Martini won €33,910 and his second piece of hardware. He defeated 61 entries and took his piece of the €107,207 prize pool. 

On the final day, 10 players were left including Max Pescatori of Italy. However, Pescatory, Borja Gross, and Roland Israelashvili all busted out in the first few minutes when action restarted

Upcoming WSOP bracelet events

The WSOP Europe is wrapping up over the next few days. A few final events remain including the Main Event. Here’s a look at this week’s action:

  • 10,350 Main Event  (Event 14, Dec. 3-8)
  • €3,000 Closer (Event 15, Dec. 6)

* Lead image courtesy WSOP/PokerNews

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