Heads-up on a board of 4♦2♥J♠Q♠, Viorel Gavrila bet 275,000 from the hijack and Maximilian Huber raised to 850,000 on the button. Gavrila then moved all in for 2,300,000 and Huber called.
Gavrila turned over Q♣J♣ for two pair, while Huber was on a flush draw holding A♠8♠. The river was the 9♦ and Gavrila held on to double up on one of the last hands of the night.
It was the second-to-last hand of the evening when Przemyslaw Szymanski opened the action with a raise to 250,000 from the button. Rene Maaz in the small blind called, but Vitezslav Cech in the big blind had other plans, making a sizable three-bet to 900,000. Szymanski was the only player to call.
The flop came down 5♦2♣A♣, and Cech led out with a bet of 1,025,000. Szymanski responded with a raise to 375,000, which Cech called after some thoughtful consideration.
When the turn revealed the 6♣, Cech checked, and Szymanski seized the opportunity to go all in. Cech deliberated for a long time, weighing his options, but ultimately decided to fold, allowing Szymanski to take the massive pot.
A grand total of 3,509 entries were made across all starting flights of Event #1: €350 NLH Opener of the 2024 World Series of Poker Europe at King's Resort Rozvadov. The €1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool was met, eventually reaching €1,039,014. The majority of payouts were handed out today, as Day 2 of the tournament saw the 359 survivors being whittled down to just 20.
Germany's Dmitrij Fadeev was the most successful of them, bagging up 7,985,000 chips at the end of the day, worth 50 big blinds at the start of Day 3. This is only the second-ever WSOP event Fadeev has cashed in, the other one being the €550 Collosus at WSOP Europe in 2019. However, he placed himself in a prime position to capture the bracelet and the top prize of €115,350.
Not far behind Fadeev are King's regular Przemyslaw Szymanski (7,865,000) and Fadeev's fellow countryman Daniel Trunk (7,335,000), the two other players who managed to eclipse seven million chips.
End of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Day 2 Big Blinds
1
Dmitrij Fadeev
Germany
7,985,000
50
2
Przemyslaw Szymanski
Poland
7,865,000
49
3
Daniel Trunk
Germany
7,335,000
46
4
Georg Strebel
Switzerland
5,950,000
40
5
Viorel Gavrila
Romania
4,990,000
31
6
Rostyslav Sabishchenko
Ukraine
4,620,000
29
7
Marco Di Persio
Italy
4,105,000
26
8
Daniel Kschammer
Germany
3,985,000
25
9
Enrico Linke
Germany
3,340,000
21
10
Jozsef Dobos
Hungary
3,280,000
21
However, the most recognizable face still left in the field is that of Vladimir Troyanovskiy. The Russian poker veteran with over eight million in life-time earnings is hunting for a career-first bracelet. He will have his work cut out for him, though, as his stack of 1,330,000 will see him start with less than ten big blinds on Day 3.
Vladimir Troyanovskiy
Day 2 Action
Among the many contenders who showed up at the start of the day were bracelet winners Tobias Peters, Martin Kabrhel, Or Nezer, and Lukas Pazma, the latter of which being the defending champion of the €350 Opener. However, their day was short-lived as Peters, Pazma, and Kabrhel all booked an early exit, picking up €805.
Nezer made it a bit further and collected a four-figure payout of €1,040 for his 120th place, but also could not add a second bracelet to his trophy cabinet. Czechian regulars Michal Mrakes (289th - €805) and Josef Snejberg (53rd - €2,055), both in the top ten of Czechia’s all-time money list, were also present but failed to capture their first bracelet.
After Snejberg’s exit, the international field steadily moved towards the final three tables. On the way there, they lost Serbia’s best performer Milos Culjkovic (50th - €2,055), last woman standing Anna Tsyhryk (45th - €2,450), the final Belgian player Dominique Potenza (39th - €2,960), and Antonio Jelenkovic (30th - €3,615), who was the highest-placing Croatian player.
Antonio Jelenkovic
Eventually, Lishai Heshbon and Yunus Ekinci were eliminated in 25th and 24th place almost simultaneously, each receiving €3,615 for their efforts, leaving the remaining players to battle it out across three tables. Once there Catalin Diac, Carlos Fernandes Lourenco, and Daniel Biclea departed, picking up €4,470, before the day ended and the 21 remaining players bagged up for Day 3.
Day 3 will kick off tomorrow, September 23, at 1 p.m. local time, resuming in Level 32: 80,000/160,000 with a big blind ante of 160,000. All levels will remain 40 minutes in length, with a break after every three of them, and the players will play as many of them as needed to crown a winner. All players have locked up a cash prize of €4,470, but the hunt will be on for the glory, the bracelet, and the truckload of cash that comes with winning the tournament.
Remaining Payouts*
Place
Prize
1
€115,350
2
€80,150
3
€60,850
4
€47,250
5
€37,550
6
€30,650
7
€25,700
8
€22,050
9
€19,407
10-11
€17,425
12
€15,940
13-15
€5,590
16-20
€4,470
* Top 12 includes €10,350 WSOP Europe Main Event ticket
Make sure to check back in with PokerNews tomorrow to find out who will win the first golden bracelet of the 2024 WSOP Europe and will walk away with the six-figure first-place prize in the €350 Opener.
