Darius Neagoe Wins 2nd Bracelet in €1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Mystery Million
Table Of Contents
The moment Darius Neagoe waited more than 14 long hours of play for wasn’t the last card being dealt on the river, putting his second World Series of Poker bracelet around his wrist, or the accolades that will come from being a multiple-time WSOP champion. It was the raucous cheering of his rail, their dancing and shouts of encouragement throughout a grueling day, that he'll remember most from his Event #12: €1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Mystery Million title.
It took until 4:30 a.m. as an early morning chill descended upon King’s Resort in Rozvadov, for Neagoe to finally dispatch the jovial, chainsmoking Rene Schnitzler heads-up to beat out a field of 692 and win the €100,350 top prize. His friends, including fellow Romanian pros Adrian State and Traian Stanciu, stayed up along with him, and for Neagoe, that meant more to him than bracelet No. 2.
“Well, it’s nice. But I’m not chasing bracelets. I’m chasing these moments with my friends. We have fun. We play good poker. And that’s what it’s all about,” Neagoe said. “They are really, really happy, but they are very good players. I’m chasing them, you know. They are amazing, and I’m very proud of them, and they are very proud of me.”
Final Table Results
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darius Neagoe | Romania | €100,350* |
| 2 | Rene Schnitzler | Germany | €70,850* |
| 3 | Matthias Gude | Germany | €51,350* |
| 4 | Elia Salerno | Italy | €38,950* |
| 5 | Josef Gulas | Czechia | €30,650* |
| 6 | Georgios Tsouloftas | Cyprus | €25,050* |
| 7 | Scott Reynolds | United Kingdom | €10,850 |
| 8 | Antonio Fragale | Italy | €8,200 |
*- includes €10,350 ticket into the Main Event
Nearly a year ago to the day, at almost the same hour, Neagoe won his first bracelet in the €1,100 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo Bounty Hunter. He’s the sixth player in the nearly 20-year history of the WSOP Europe to win multiple bracelets, and the second Romanian with at least two WSOP bracelets, joining Alexandru Papazian. The prize money, which also included pulling the €40,000 mystery bounty, pushes his live earnings past $400,000. It was the Year of Romania in Rozvadov, yet again. “It’s really nice. I love it here. I love the atmosphere. Everything is perfect here,” Neagoe said.
His heads-up opponent, Schnitzler, was the antithesis of a studious pro. He acted fast. He made big all-in shoves. He engaged in a constant stream of table banter. And he smoked, a lot. The German admitted he’s not a professional poker player but loves to gamble, “five days a week,” he said, and it made for plenty of entertainment even for his opponents.
“Okay, that dude is amazing. I love him. He was very aggressive. He was very fun. And I think he has a smoking problem,” Neagoe said. “He needs to take a break from smoking. But he was a really nice guy, and I’m happy I made heads-up against him."
Day 2 Action
The day began with 104 players remaining, all of them in the money and with a mystery bounty hanging over their heads. Frankie Cucchiara (97th), Ran Ilani (88th), Fabio Peluso (86th), Colossus champion Jose Gomez Casillas (76th), and Bounty Hunter Opener champion Pawel Wojciechowski (71st) were among the first to be sent to the rail, while Patrik Jaros (32nd), last year’s Main Event runner-up Urmo Velvelt (31st), and Manig Loeser (28th) would join them.
Start-of-day chip leader Ian Simpson ran his sixes into Neagoe’s tens to fall in 24th place. Corey Hochman (20th), Mauricio Salazar Sanchez (19th), and Mini Main Event champion Yuhan Wang (15th) also fell just short of the final table. Neagoe hit trip kings in a three-way all in to scoop the pot, knocking out Yehonatan Behor in 14th while earning a double up off Konstantinos Nanos. Nanos was left with less than a big blind and eliminated right after.
Schnitzler made two pair on the river to bust Christian Schneider and Kevin Fluegel on the final table bubble, taking a big chip lead over the remaining eight players with 8,200,000, while Neague was in third with 3,600,000.
Neagoe scored the first knockout at the final table, shoving from the small blind as Antonio Fragale called for 3,100,000 with two eights. Neagoe had king-eight and spiked a king on the flop to leave Fragale with one out. No miracles arrived and Fragale was eliminated in eighth place, but not before claiming the €75,000 top bounty prize.
Neagoe also busted Scott Reynolds in seventh, calling a shove for 1,300,000 with ace-three and holding against Reynolds’ queen-jack. Georgios Tsouloftas then shoved for 2,675,000 and Schnitzler called with two nines. Tsouloftas was racing with king-queen, but he couldn’t connect with the board and fell in sixth place.
With five players remaining, Schnitzler asked the rest of the table if they could take a quick break for him to have a smoke. His opponents turned him down, citing the late hour and the long day they had already endured to get to that point. But he kept prodding, even offering to pay a €500 fine for smoking at the table. When Elia Salerno picked up queens against Josef Gulas’ jacks to double up, Gulas, the father of the 2021 Main Event champion, was left with 1,175,000 and soon eliminated by Matthias Gude, who won the pot with just 10-high. It was then that they finally agreed to let Schnitzler satisfy his urges.
Once they returned, Schnitzler bet 800,000 on the turn and Neagoe raised to 2,000,000. Schnitzler then reraised to 4,000,000 and Neagoe called. The river was checked down and Neagoe showed a set of fives to win the massive pot and open a commanding chip lead.
Schnitzler doubled up off Gude right before another break, leaving Gude on an extreme short stack. He quickly found a double off Schnitzler, then spiked a set of deuces to send Salerno to the rail in fourth place. Gude hit another set of sixes to double off Neagoe, while Schnitzler then made a straight to earn his own double against Neagoe.
Gude then shoved all in for 5,800,000 with ace-seven, but he found himself dominated by Neagoe’s ace-eight and couldn’t improve as he headed to the rail in third place. Neagoe led Schnitzler 17,500,000 to 10,200,000 at the start of heads-up and had a chance to end the match quickly. Schnitzler was all in for 6,800,000 with two fours and up against Neagoe’s sixes, but Schnitzler spiked a set on the turn to double up.
Schnitzler then ran ace-eight into Neagoe’s queens, and Neagoe was a card away from the bracelet until Schnitzler spiked a “Seven from Heaven” on the river to make a straight and double into the chip lead. Neagoe then doubled up with ace-five against queen-ten before his fours outraced Schnitzler’s ace-eight, dodging a flush draw going to the river to move back into a big lead.
In a limped pot, Schnitzler shoved for 11,500,000 with top pair of jacks and Neagoe called with a flush draw. With his rail chanting for a heart, Neagoe found the queen of hearts on the turn to make his flush and seal a victory, setting off a boisterous celebration among the Romanian contingent.
It was already early morning in Rozvadov by the time the last card was dealt, but that didn’t dampen the Romanian enthusiasm or Neagoe’s focus on his goal. “I try to eat well, to sleep well, and do a lot of sports with my friends. All the things that a professional needs to do so we can get through the long hours of playing,” he said. “You need to be in shape. You have to do everything right.”
The Main Event starting tomorrow is next on Neagoe's schedule, but after such a long day on his way to the title, he's not planning on joining the field early. "I'm really tired. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm really, really tired. So I'm going to take it a little bit slow and see what happens."
Schnitzler might have stolen the show and threatened to crash the celebration, but Neagoe once again stayed steady and got the prize in the end.
That concludes PokerNews' coverage of Event #12: €1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Mystery Million. Stay tuned as the Main Event kicked off at noon local time today.
