Salih Atac and Sascha Wilhelm Lead Final 16 in Event #3: €1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Max
Out of a field of 811 entries in Event #3: €1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Max, only 16 players remain in the chase for the elusive gold bracelet that is up for grabs during the 2025 World Series of Poker Europe. The biggest slice of the €850,000 prize pool will be up for grabs on the final day at King's Resort in Rozvadov, and three of the finalists aim to double their bracelet tally while all other hopefuls are in the hunt for a maiden triumph.
Toward the end of the evening, it was a two horse race between Salih Atac and Sascha Wilhelm for the top spot on the podium and it was Atac who came on top with a stack of 4,315,000 after he scored the final elimination of the night. Wilhelm had that many chips at his disposal earlier, but lost a chunk of them to bag up 3,360,000, while Italy's Filippo Ragone rounds up the podium with 2,975,000.
One year ago, Wilhelm earned his first WSOP gold bracelet in Las Vegas after taking down Event #86: $1,000 Mystery Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha and has once again showcased his talents in the four-card variant today. Tobias Peters entered the winner's circle here at King's Resort two years ago and bagged up 830,000 while Rifat Palevic is the only other former winner, with a stack of 690,000.
Top Ten Chip Counts After Day 2
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Salih Atac | Switzerland | 4,315,000 | 108 |
| 2 | Sascha Wilhelm | Germany | 3,360,000 | 84 |
| 3 | Filippo Ragone | Italy | 2,975,000 | 74 |
| 4 | Vitaliy Kryza | Ukraine | 1,630,000 | 41 |
| 5 | Daniel Bang-Ortmann | Denmark | 1,580,000 | 40 |
| 6 | Javier Francort | Netherlands | 1,570,000 | 39 |
| 7 | Ersin Kanik | Turkey | 1,285,000 | 32 |
| 8 | Patrick Ronacher | Austria | 1,285,000 | 32 |
| 9 | Pablo Heredia | Austria | 1,095,000 | 27 |
| 10 | Eran Carmi | Israel | 1,055,000 | 26 |
Omaha specialist Javier Francort finds himself in familiar territory as he once again reached the final two tables of a WSOP Europe bracelet event on consecutive days. Earlier on, he bowed out in 13th place in Event #2 €350 No-Limit Hold'em King's Million for €5,800 before returning to his seat in the main arena. The Dutchman advanced with 1,570,000 and has a top ten stack at his disposal for the final day.
Austria-based Spaniard Pablo Heredia is chasing a second final table of the series, albeit with a shorter stack of 1,095,000, and Eran Carmi (1,055,000) would also be a repeat finalist after two Omaha final table appearances at King's Resort in the past.
The penultimate tournament day began with 123 survivors who had made it through the four starting flights, were in the money, and each of them had locked up at least €2,485 for their efforts. Among the early casualties were Antoine Vranken, Marco Di Persio, Michal Mrakes, David Hu, and Alfredo Vega Meister.
Denis Gergoc started Day 2 as the chip leader and was the first to reach seven figures, but the Swiss player ultimately had to settle for 66th place. He lost a big pot to Stanislav Koleno, set under set, when both players also held the connecting flush draw, before hitting the rail soon thereafter. There was no happy end for the Slovakian either, though, as he fell to Tobias Peters.
Francort jumped up on the leaderboard with a fortunate two-outer to bust Manig Loeser and Lucas Lopes, then cruised for the remainder of the evening on a comfortable stack size.
Wilhelm won a massive pot against Konstantin Razinkov to reach the top of the leaderboard and then traded the spotlight back and forth with Atac when both kept up the aggression with their big stacks. Ultimately, the day finished more than two levels early after three eliminations in as many minutes, sending the final 16 players to an early sleep.
There are around 13 minutes left in Level 25 at blinds of 20,000/40,000 with a big blind ante of 40,000, and the final day is scheduled to commence at 1 p.m. local time on Tuesday. The final 16 contenders will move upstairs to the feature table area, and the conclusion of this WSOP Europe bracelet event will potentially be live-streamed on the King's Resort YouTube channel.
All PokerNews updates will follow, in sync with the 30-minute delay if so, until a winner has been crowned. Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of this one and updates on all the other bracelet events during the 2025 WSOP Europe!