Dainius Antanaitis Wins First Gold Bracelet in Event #10: €2,000 8-Game Mix
The only mixed-game bracelet of the 2023 World Series of Poker Europe has been awarded here at King's Resort in Rozvadov. By the end, it was Lithuania's Dainius Antanaitis who overcame the 97-entry field and bested Ian Bradley heads up in a one-sided match to claim his first gold bracelet along with the €47,770 first-place prize.
Antanaitis, who is primarily an online player, managed to navigate the entirety of Day 2 without any major hiccups. That included a dominant heads-up performance that went about as well as it could have for Antanaitis.
Winner's Reaction
"This is my first WSOP bracelet, it means a lot to me. It's like the same as being a world champion."
Antanaitis, who goes by the screen name “Dainiux” online, has already won multiple mixed-game titles on various platforms, but a recent lack of action motivated him to play more live events. "For many years I was playing mostly online, but maybe for the last two or three years, I switched to live. Online poker is not as active. Especially mixed games... they're dying out."
As far as how he achieved victory, Antanaitis said he just played his normal game and admittedly got lucky to end his heads-up battle against Bradley so quickly. "I didn't even lose a hand. That was crazy. I don't ever remember having this much luck in a heads-up match."
Antanaitis now plans to take the gold back home, having come to the WSOPE to play only in this tournament. "No-Limit Hold'em I can play anywhere. Winning a tournament like The Colossus wouldn't mean as much to me," Antanaitis explained. "Veni, vidi, vici! I come. I see. I win!"
Event #10: €2,000 8-Game Mix Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dainius Antanaitis | Lithuania | € 47,770 |
| 2 | Ian Bradley | United Kingdom | € 29,525 |
| 3 | Wooram Cho | South Korea | € 20,640 |
| 4 | Ioannis Angelou-Konstas | Greece | € 14,795 |
| 5 | Viktor Blom | Sweden | € 10,885 |
| 6 | Oleksii Kovalchuk | Ukraine | € 8,220 |
Day 2 Action
Day 2 began with 24 hopefuls returning to take their shot at WSOPE glory and claim a piece of the €170,477 prize pool. With 15 players making the money, it didn't take long for the bubble to burst. Among the less fortunate to bust out prior to the bubble were Michael Rodrigues, Hok Lee, Anson Tsang and Ole Schemion, who lost a monster pot to bust after getting all in against Wooram Cho and losing to a flush.
The money bubble burst after Alexander Dovzhenko committed the last of his chips against Daniel Habl in 2-7 Triple Draw. Dovzhenko was drawing live to double up, but ended up pairing his four against Habl's pat nine.
It took just over a level of play to reduce the field from 15 down to a final table of seven. Some notables who cashed, but fell short of the final table include Nacho Barbero (15th - €3,092), Wing Po Liu (13th - €3,540), and Max Pescatori, (10th - €4,185).
Final Table Play
Bradley entered the final table as chip leader and it looked to be his day after he won a few pots in the early going to extend his lead. Roland Israelashvili was the first to fall at the final table after running into quad sevens against Antanaitis in Stud.
After Oleksii Kovalchuk bowed in sixth place, Antanaitis claimed his second victim of the final table by drawing to a seven in 2-7 Triple Draw against online phenom Viktor Blom, who could only muster an eight and would have to wait another day to have his chance at the gold.
Like clockwork, Antanaitis was responsible for eliminating both Ioannis Angelou-Konstas and Wooram Cho in fourth and third place respectively. With Cho's elimination, which resulted from a straight versus straight cooler, Antanaitis claimed his first chip lead of the final table going into heads up play.
Heads up was a quick affair, with Antanaitis winning just about every hand in a series of medium-sized pots that all went Antanaitis' way. Bradley was a heavy favorite to at least chop, if not double, in the final hand, but Antanaitis benefitted from running kings in Omaha Hi-Lo to make trips against Bradley's two pair — ending the tournament in dramatic fashion.
That's a wrap for PokerNews' coverage of Event #10: €2,000 8-Game Mix. Be sure to check out our live reporting hub for continuing coverage of the 2023 World Series of Poker Europe and other tournaments from across the globe.