Event #5: €1,350 Mini Main Event | 2025 WSOP Europe

Player	Chips	Progress
Yuhan Wang	129,300,000 32,700,000	32,700,000

Stanislav Koleno	Busted

Player

Chips

Progress

Yuhan Wang

129,300,000

32,700,000

Stanislav Koleno

Busted

What could be better than winning a WSOPE bracelet as your first-ever live victory? Yuhan Wang now belongs to the select group who knows that feeling, as he was crowned the 2025 champion of Event #5: €1,350 Mini Main Event at the 2025 World Series of Poker Europe, held at King’s Resort in Rozvadov.

Wang outlasted a field of 1,293 entries, which generated a total prize pool of €1,518,628, claiming the gold bracelet and the top prize of €226,850 (including a €10,350 WSOPE Main Event ticket).

The Chinese player defeated Stanislav Koleno in heads-up play. The Slovakian earned €154,650 for his runner-up finish, while France’s Christophe Vincent completed the podium in third place (€112,450).

Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Yuhan Wang	China	€226,850*
2	Stanislav Koleno	Slovakia	€154,650*
3	Christophe Vincent	France	€112,450*
4	Gal Naim	Israel	€83,650*
5	Francesco Zappala	Switzerland	€63,650*
6	Besnik Aruqi	Kosovo	€49,750*
7	Dan Sfarlea	Romania	€39,900*
8	Salih Atac	Switzerland	€32,850*
9	Roman Isaienko	Ukraine	€27,750*

*The top 12 players received a €10,350 ticket to the WSOPE Main Event

Winner's Reaction

Wang’s phone started ringing as soon as he won the final hand. “Thank you, thank you, it’s unbelievable,” he quickly said before hanging up to go on stage and lift his first gold bracelet. “It feels kind of unreal,” he added, surrounded by friends. “Before coming here, I never thought I could win a bracelet, so it feels unreal to hold it now. It’s one of my first big tournaments and my first live win, so it means a lot to me.”

If victory wasn’t on his mind from the start, a double-up on the very first hand of the tournament made the 27-year-old believe this one could be different. “I ended Day 1 with 719,000, above average, but on Day 2 I went down to just 10 big blinds. I managed to get back to 20 big blinds, which was manageable,” he recalled. “After that, I doubled in a huge pot and things started to go smoothly. I made another crucial double-up at the start of Day 3, and then my game just felt perfect.”

That “perfect game” carried him all the way to heads-up play, where he began second in chips. Despite lacking both training and experience in the format, Wang entered the final battle with a clear plan: “I wanted to find out how my opponent played, to learn from him and take advantage. So at the beginning I limped a lot because I needed some time to adjust. Then I climbed back thanks to those adjustments.”

The strategy paid off, earning him his first bracelet, with perhaps another one to come. “I hope so! I’ll be 99% in the Main Event,” Wang said before heading off to celebrate with his friends.

Day 3 Action

With 23 remaining players, Day 3 of the €1,350 Mini Main Event began in an unexpected way with Patrick White moving all in on the turn with eight-six, holding absolutely nothing. Francesco Zappala couldn’t have hoped for a better spot with a set of kings and scored the first elimination of the day.

White was soon followed to the payout desk by Mike Koch (22nd - €7,250), Emad Zarghami (21st - €7,250), Karol Konopka (20th - €7,250), and Jakub Sterba (19th - €7,250), all eliminated in more traditional fashion.

Dimitrios Michailidis (18th - €7,250) was next to go, becoming the only casualty of a three-way all-in that put Roman Isaienko back on track. This elimination, along with Eusebiu Jalba’s exit in 17th place (€8,800), led the 16 remaining players to the final two tables and the first break of the day.

Despite the fast start, the pace slowed down to a single elimination over the next 90 minutes, though five players managed to double up during that time. Calin Ciolte eventually lost a flip to Salih Atac to finish in 15th place (€8,800), sparking a wave of bustouts as Andrei Spataru (14th - €8,800), Vlastimil Pustina (13th - €10,879), and Roberto Manfredi (12th - €21,229) quickly followed.

Daniel Elhaiany was next to hit the rail. However, his elimination seemed almost anecdotal compared to the hand that came just before, where Elhaiany lost nearly all of his chips after four-betting all in with seven-deuce into ace-queen. Moments later, Alkiviadis Stamatis (10th - €23,000) saw an ace hit the river to crack his jacks, sending him out on the final table bubble.

It then took only three hands to see the first bustout, as Isaienko called off his stack with second pair, only to run into Gal Naim’s pocket aces.

After Christophe Vincent doubled up, Naim nearly lost his stack after prematurely mucking his hand while all-in. His mistake, however, had no consequences, and he reached the next pay jumps thanks to flips lost by Salih Atac (8th - €32,850) and Dan Sfarlea (7th - €32,850).

Besnik Aruqi then doubled up with aces, but it wasn’t enough to stay in the tournament as he was ultimately eliminated in 6th place (€49,750) with queen-jack against Vincent’s ace-four. Three hands later, Zappala wasn't more fortunate with jacks against Naim’s ace-king, finishing in fifth place for a total of €63,650.

Meanwhile, Yuhan Wang doubled up and doubled up again a few hands later thanks to a set of sixes, leaving Naim on fumes. Naim tried to survive with ace-six, but ran into Vincent queens to take the fourth place and let the last three contenders enjoy the first (and only) break of the final table.

Once back at the table, Vincent saw his dreams of a WSOPE bracelet come to an end when he called off his stack with queen-jack against Koleno’s ace-queens. The Frenchman earned €112,450 for his third-place finish and allowed Koleno to start the heads-up play with a 2.5:1 lead.

The first hands of the final duel went in Wang’s favor, with the Chinese player steadily closing the gap. Koleno struck back by crossing the 100-million-chip mark, but Wang regained momentum and even seized the chip lead. He never relinquished it, and sealed the victory on his first opportunity, when his ace-eight held against Koleno’s ace-six to claim the gold bracelet.