Get the trumpet, drums and confetti cannons ready as the latest champion from the 2023 World Series of Poker Europe will be determined later today. At 2 p.m. local time, the final day of Event 5: €550 NLH Colossus gets underway, and the remaining field of 16 will play down until a winner is crowned.
Awaiting the eventual victor is the first place spoils, which consist of €200,000, entry into the €10,350 WSOPE Main Event and the coveted gold bracelet. From those that are still in contention of grabbing the lion's share of the €1,632,1000 prize pool, only Samuel Stranak (4,800,000) has tasted victory under the WSOP umbrella before. The Slovakian went the distance in Event 4: €2K Pot-Limit Omaha at King's Resort in Rozvadov in 2021, netting him €101,764 for his biggest career score. Stranak will need to finish inside the top two if he wants to eclipse that figure.
The rest of the field is made up of some seasoned veterans, up-and-comers and relatively unknowns. Dennis Magro (10,000,000) currently leads the pack of survivors and can be considered to be in the first category, with tournament results dating back to 2009.
Day 1a chip leader Xhavit Berisha remains in the upper echelons of the chip counts and brings in 8,650,000. At one point on Day 2, it looked like he was heading out of the door, but a timely double and a period of sun-running kept his WSOP dreams alive.
Rounding out the top three stacks is Ermanno Di Nicola (8,275,000). Like Stranak, the Italian is no stranger to the bright lights of a WSOP final table, having made two of them in his career. Coincidentally, he made the same FT that Stranak won, and now they meet again in the No Limit Hold'em streets two years later.
Arguably the most accomplished players that still have chips are Tobias Peters, Vadzim Lipauka and Andrej Desset. The trio are the only players to have breached the $1 million in live tournament earnings, with Peters at the top with $2,727,111.
Start of Final Day Chip Counts
Place
Name
Nationality
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Dennis Magro
Germany
10,000,000
50
2
Xhavit Berisha
Kosovo
8,650,000
43
3
Ermanno Di Nicola
Italy
8,275,000
41
4
Alain Saka
Poland
8,150,000
41
5
Gianluca Gallo
Italy
7,975,000
40
6
Julien Loire
France
7,125,000
36
7
Cristian David
Romania
6,300,000
32
8
Samuel Stranak
Slovakia
4,800,000
24
9
Stefan Fabian
Romania
4,475,000
22
10
Elia Salerno
Italy
3,925,000
20
11
Juuso Luokkanen
Finland
3,525,000
18
12
Tobias Peters
Netherlands
3,400,000
17
13
Alessandro Predaroli
Italy
3,375,000
17
14
Vadzim Lipauka
Belarus
2,675,000
13
15
Andrej Desset
Slovakia
2,200,000
11
16
Angelo Marrone
Italy
800,000
4
The current prize that the final 16 have locked up is €9,200, with the pay jump rising to €11,500 when 13 are left.
Event #5: €550 Colossus Remaining Payouts
Place
Prize
Place
Prize
1
€200,000*
8
€23,350*
2
€115,000*
9
€18,275*
3
€87,000*
10-11
€14,474*
4
€66,000*
12-13
€11,500*
5
€50,500*
14
€9,200*
6
€38,880*
15-16
€9,200
7
€30,000*
* €10,350 WSOPE Main Event Day 1a ticket added
Day 3 is scheduled to begin on November 6 at 2 p.m. local time and play down until a winner is crowned. Play will resume with 27:12 remaining on Level 33, which features 100,000/200,000 blinds with a 200,000 big blind ante.
Be sure to stick with PokerNews as we continue to bring you all the action until we know the name of the next WSOPE gold bracelet winner!