The 2024 WSOP Europe is officially in the books. It created 15 new bracelet winners and awarded €16.7 million in prize money across the board.
As always, the Main Event stole the show, taking place near the end of the Series. The organizers put a traditional €5 million guarantee on it, but the tournament handsomely smashed that promise, becoming the second-largest Main Event in the WSOP Europe history.
Simone Andrian of Italy was the last man standing, pocketing €1.3 million for his efforts and claiming his second WSOP bracelet. This was, by far, Andrian’s largest tournament cash, and it was another great poker story to come out of Rozvadov’s Kings Casino.
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A Thorny Path to Victory
This year’s WSOPE Main Event attracted a total of 768 players, bringing the overall prize pool to just over €7.2 million. This meant that the winner would pick up €1,300,000, while everyone making their way to the final table was guaranteed a six-figure payout.
Simone Andrian was one of the 768 hopefuls in the chase for that massive first-place payout and the prestigious bracelet, but compared to many of his competitors, his experience was lacking.
Andrian joined the live poker scene in 2021, but, to his credit, during the few years he was on the live grind, he managed to pick up a WSOP bracelet in Rozvadov, and he managed a few top finishes in PokerStars LIVE and WPT events.
This year, he found himself in a great position once again, as he came to the WSOP Europe Main Event final table as the chip leader, with only a few pay jumps separating him from the biggest cash of his career.
Simone managed to utilize his stack well and he got to the final stage of the tournament, with just one player standing between him and the bracelet. On paper, the Italian was a favorite over Estonia’s Urmo Velvelt, but he turned out to be a tough nut to crack.
It took Andrian Simone three full hours to dispatch his opponent, going through many ups and downs on his way to victory.
Eventually, he was able to close the deal and secure his second bracelet and €1.3 million at Kings Casino in Rozvadov — the very place where his live poker career took off.
Another Great Year for WSOP Europe
This year marked 15th anniversary of the World Series of Poker Europe. The series has been taking place since 2007, but it skipped a few years for different reasons.
Over these 15 iterations, the WSOPE has gone from strength to strength, with its schedule constantly expanding and more and more players flocking to Rozvadov’s King Casino, a place that’s been the official venue of the Series since 2016.
This year, there were 15 bracelet-awarding events on the schedule and the total guarantee of €15,000,000 was placed across the board. By the time the dust settled, this guarantee was handsomely exceeded, as WSOPE players took home over €16.7 million in prizes.
Despite exceeding its cumulative guarantee, the Series did feature a few small overlays, but it was an overall success. This is especially true for the Main Event, which was the second-biggest since 2007.
In total, there were over 11,000 entries across all tournaments, and several events saw a turnout in excess of 1,000 entries. The largest one by far was the very first tournament, the €350 Opener, which saw a field of 3,509.
The WSOP Europe may be over, but there are more opportunities for gold bracelets this year as the 2024 WSOP Paradise is quickly approaching, with 15 more of everyone’s favorite pieces of poker jewelry up for grabs!
