Murilo Garcia Leads Final Eight; Max Neugebauer Chases History in 2025 WSOP Europe Main Event
The 2025 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) €10,350 Main Event has reached its final eight players after an action-packed Day 4 at King’s Resort, Rozvadov. From 37 hopefuls out of 659 entries returning to the felt, only eight contenders remain in contention for the €1,140,000 top prize and one of the most prestigious bracelets in poker.
Max Neugebauer achieved a remarkable milestone already by becoming the third player in WSOP Europe history to reach the final table of the Main Event for the second time after Jason Mercier and Daniel Negreanu. The towering former basketball player returned as one of the shortest stacks and saw his tournament life on the line several times en route to a possible repeat victory. After more than fourteen hours of poker action, the Austrian won the all-in showdowns when it mattered the most and bagged up 11,025,000 in chips for second place on the leaderboard.
Only Brazil's Murilo Garcia Pedroso advanced with a larger stack of 13,400,000 and has locked up a new career-best score on the live poker circuit already, which previously stands at $101,455 for a runner-up finish at the 2024 Enjoy Poker Tour $1,650 Main Event in Punta del Este. Neugebauer won't be able to beat his top score from two years ago when he overcame a record field of 817 entries at this very venue, but a second WSOPE Main Event title would certainly secure his place in European poker folklore.
Four German-speaking contenders will aim to keep the title on home soil close to the border as Daniel Pidun (9,850,000), Gerald Karlic (7,900,000), and Matthias Gude (1,500,000) also made it through to the final day alongside the 2023 champion Neugebauer. Gude earned his entry through a deep run in Event #12: €1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Mystery Million when he finished in third place before jumping into the Main Event action the following day.
European live poker veteran Claudio Di Giacomo brings in a wealth of experience to the final eight as well and has one of the largest stacks of 10,250,000. Teemu Jaatinen (6.975,000) and Catalin Pop (5,025,000) sit in the middle of the pack with at least 20 big blinds at their disposal.
Final Table Seat Draw
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Catalin Pop | Romania | 5,025,000 | 20 |
| 2 | Max Neugebauer | Austria | 11,025,000 | 44 |
| 3 | Gerald Karlic | Austria | 7,900,000 | 32 |
| 4 | Matthias Gude | Germany | 1,500,000 | 6 |
| 5 | Teemu Jaatinen | Finland | 6,975,000 | 28 |
| 6 | Claudio Di Giacomo | Italy | 10,250,000 | 41 |
| 7 | Daniel Pidun | Germany | 9,850,000 | 39 |
| 8 | Murilo Garcia | Brazil | 13,400,000 | 54 |
Day 4 Action
All 37 players who returned for Day 4 had already secured €31,000 from the €6,138,585 prize pool, but after a grueling day on the felt inside King’s Resort, 31 of them saw their dreams of Main Event glory come to an end.
Italy’s Luca Maccatrozzo was the first to hit the rail after losing a flip early in the day, and he was followed soon after by Ratmir Kesidis, whose set was undone when Murilo Garcia rivered a flush. Two levels in, the field had already been trimmed to the final three tables, but 2025 Mini Main Event champion Yuhan Wang was not among them after losing a massive flip with pocket queens against Bastian Gallitzendoerfer’s ace-king.
On the final three tables, Ivan Tikhov saw his stack reduced to one third of a big blind after a clash with Robert Ashelm but he made the next pay jump nonetheless. His table featured a preflop all-in between Jan-Willem Nijmeijer with pocket queens and the ace-queen suited of wrecking ball Gallitzendoerfer, who spiked an ace on flop and turn to knock out the Dutch player.
Lulei Hu, Marco Di Persio, and Aliaksandr Shylko all fell before the field was down to the last two tables. After a short break, Martin Kabrhel returned as the chip leader with over 100 big blinds, once again putting on a display as he seemed to bulldoze over the field while having the time of his life. But the man who finally put a stop to the Kabrhel show was Gallitzendoerfer.
First, Gallitzendoerfer made a brilliant call against Kabrhel’s flop bluff shove with ace-queen high on a dry board, and had Kabrhel's king-queen crushed. “Crazy,” Kabrhel said as Gallitzendoerfer pulled in the pot. Only a few hands later, Kabrhel overbet shoved twice the size of the pot on the river with ten-high, and Gallitzendoerfer didn't take long to call with just top pair, muzzling Kabrhel for the first time all tournament.
Within the next few orbits, Kabrhel's participation in the Main Event came to an end in 14th place after he lost a flip with king-jack to the two sevens of Garcia. There was an eerie silence among the remaining thirteen, as a place at the final table was now in reach and the money jumps started getting juicy. From there on, the roller coaster ride continued as Jonas Lauck also went from chip leader to the payout desk to suffer the same fate as Kabrhel earlier on.
Dimitrios Gkatzas and Ivan Banic saw their hopes vanish thereafter before Gallitzendoerfer eventually bowed out against Garcia to set up the final nine players. With one hour of play left at night, the shortest stack had 19 big blinds while Garcia throned atop the leaderboard with a staggering 80 big blinds.
Karlic doubled with pocket aces against the ace-nine of Garcia to leap back into contention and the late night shenanigans didn't stop there.Claudio Di Giacomo picked up pocket kings to dispatch Ashelm, who flopped top pair with jack-ten suited and that brought the field down to the last eight hopefuls. Half an hour later, those eight bagged up their chips for the night to catch a few hours of sleep.
The remaining eight contenders return on Wednesday, October 8 at 4:00 p.m. local time to play down to a winner with the action resuming in level 30, featuring blinds of 125,000/250,000 and a 250,000 big blind ante. The final table will be streamed with a delay on the King’s Resort YouTube channel and the PokerNews live updates will follow the the cards-up coverage.
All players have already locked up a cash prize of at least €110,000 for their efforts and the largest slices of the €6,138,585 total prize pool will be up for grabs on the final day of the series when the last two gold bracelets are up for grabs.
Final Table Results and Remaining Payouts
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €1,140,000 | ||
| 2 | €757,000 | ||
| 3 | €525,000 | ||
| 4 | €370,000 | ||
| 5 | €265,000 | ||
| 6 | €195,000 | ||
| 7 | €145,000 | ||
| 8 | €110,000 | ||
| 9 | Robert Ashelm | Germany | €84,985 |
Stay tuned to PokerNews for continued live coverage from Rozvadov as the 2025 WSOP Europe Main Event heads into the final day where a champion will be crowned.