Italian pro Simone Andrian didn’t even play live poker until 2021. Since then, he has taken the poker world by storm and is now the owner of his third WSOP gold bracelet, this being the most prestigious of them all.
After five days and outlasting 767 fellow competitors, Andrian earned the lion’s share of the €7,219,200, winning €1,300,000, which more than doubled his previous career live tournament earnings. Andrian topped Estonian Urmo Velvelt after well over three hours of a rollercoaster of heads-up play to become WSOP Europe’s 15th Main Event winner.
After the exhausting duel in Rozvadov, Andrian shared his joy with PokerNews.
“It’s amazing. By far the biggest score of my career. I couldn’t be more happy” he said after the win. “I’ve been playing here (at King’s Casino) a lot and to have that kind of score here feels special.”
Usually, heads-up play starts with stacks around 20-60 big blinds deep. However, Andrian and Velvelt both had piles before their duel and the two knew they’d have to battle for several hours.
“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.”
| Place | Player | Prize (EUR) | Prize (USD) | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Simone Andrian | €1,300,000 | $1,423,827 | Italy |
| 2 | Urmo Velvelt | €854,000 | $935,378 | Estonia |
| 3 | Ran Ilani | €590,000 | $646,221 | Israel |
| 4 | Mariusz Golinski | €415,000 | $454,545 | Poland |
| 5 | David Hochheim | €297,000 | $325,301 | Germany |
| 6 | Enrico Camosci | €217,000 | $237,677 | Italy |
| 7 | Robin Berggren | €161,000 | $176,341 | Sweden |
| 8 | Luka Bojovic | €122,000 | $133,625 | Serbia |
Velvet started heads-up play with a slight 40.4 million to 36.4 million chip lead, with both players expecting a very long, drawn-out dogfight. Andrian took the early lead but Velvelt pulled back to even after turning a straight against the Italian’s top pair.
Velvelt then went on a rampage, taking down a two-street pot before five-bet shoving pocket eights against Andrian’s ace-eight. While having pulled away, he bluffed off kings high into Andrian’s two pair to see the gap close. However, the Estonian found a way to battle back and take a 3:1 chip lead.
The momentum completely shifted when Andrian made a huge hero call with a pair of fives after Velvelt triple-barreled an ace-high board with just seven-deuce. Shortly after, Andrian hero-called on a wet jack-high board on the turn with top pair against Velvelt’s bottom pair and gutshot straight draw. The Italian held to take a commanding 4.5:1 chip lead.
Andrian would seal the title after a pair of strong hands collided. Velvet five-bet jammed his ace-ten into Andrian’s pocket tens. The tens would hold and give the poker pro bracelet number three.
With that, WSOP Europe has officially come to an end, with 15 bracelets being awarded to 15 players from nine different countries. The Italians reigned supreme, with four bracelets (Christopher Campisano, Ermanno Di Nicola, Alessandro Pichierri, Andrian) while the Germans won three bracelets. Home country Czechia won two bracelets, including Martin Kabrhel, who won the prestigious €50,000 NLH Diamond High Roller.
| Event | Champion | Earnings | Entries |
|---|---|---|---|
| Event #1: The €350 NLH Opener | Przemyslaw Szymanski | €115,350 | 3,509 |
| Event #2: €550 Pot-Limit Omaha | Volodymyr Kokoulin | €56,100 | 642 |
| Event #3: €1,350 Mini Main Event | Christopher Campisano | €213,350 | 1,286 |
| Event #4: €2,000 Pot Limit Omaha | Vivian Saliba | €91,400 | 229 |
| Event #5: €550 NLHE Colossus | Michal Schuh | €171,350 | 2,799 |
| Event #6: €5,000 Pot Limit Omaha | Dennis Weiss | €159,897 | 141 |
| Event #7: €1,650 NLH 6-max | Ermanno Di Nicola | €111,250 | 351 |
| Event #8: €25,000 NLH GGMillion€ | Alessandro Pichierri | €335,900 | 38 |
| Event #9: €1,100 NLH Mystery Bounty | Amir Mozaffarian | €69,050 | 515 |
| Event #10 €2,000 8-Game Mix | Patrick Bueno | €43,400 | 90 |
| Event #11: €1,100 NLH Turbo Bounty Hunter | Darius Neagoe | €63,650 | 458 |
| Event 12: €50,000 NLH Diamond High Roller | Martin Kabrhel | €529,000 | 30 |
| Event #13: €10,350 Main Event NLH European Championship | Simone Andrian | €1,300,000 | 768 |
| Event #14: €1,000 NLH Turbo Freezeout | Zewei Ding | €35,351 | 152 |
| Event #15: €550 NLH Closer | Marius Schneider | €44,000 | 473 |