WSOPE Round-Up: Double Delight for Lyubovetskiy Denies Kabrhel His Third

Will Shillibier
Managing Editor
5 min read
WSOP Europe

Three more bracelets have been awarded at the 2022 WSOP Europe in Rozvadov. King's Resort has been full of activity as the Main Event reached its final table, but others have also been busy getting their hands on titles of their own.

The biggest win went the way of Yair van Ruiten who triumphed in the Pot Limit Omaha/No Limit Hold'em Mix for €85,405, while Karim Maekelberg won over €62,000 in the Bounty Hunter event. There was also a second WSOP bracelet for Ukrainian Andriy Lyubovetskiy after he topped a final table that featured two-time WSOP bracelet winner Martin Kabrhel.

Yair van Ruiten Wins Event #13 €1,650 Pot Limit Omaha/No Limit Hold’em Mix (€85,405)

Yair van Ruiten

The last mixed game bracelet of the festival was Event #13 €1,650 Pot Limit Omaha/No Limit Hold’em Mix won by Yair van Ruiten, who topped a field of 251 players to win €85,405. He defeated Ioannis Angelou-Konstas heads-up.

There were also cashes for WSOP regulars Allen Kessler and Roland Israelashvili while WSOP bracelet winner Jan-Peter Jachtmann narrowly missed out on a final table finish, exiting in 12th place.

Event #13 €1,650 Pot Limit Omaha/No Limit Hold’em Mix Final Table Results

PlacePlayerCountryPayout (EUR)
1Yair van RuitenNetherlands€ 85,405
2Ioannis Angelou KonstasGreece€ 52,772
3Christian PolkowGermany€ 36,561
4Ran IlaniIsrael€ 25,872
5Marco Di PersioItaly€ 18,756
6Rutger BoschNetherlands€ 13,927
7Steve GallettiFrance€ 10,598
8Manig LoeserGermany€ 8,270

Final Table Recap

Van Ruiten held a slender lead over Konstas when the final table of eight was reached, with Manig Loeser the only former bracelet winner still in the field. Unfortunately for Loeser, he fell in eighth to Yair while Konstas sent Steve Galetti to the rail in seventh place to move into the chip lead.

In fact, the first four eliminations came at the hands of four different players, with Christian Polklow and Ran Ilani sending Rutger Bosch and Marco Di Persio to the rail respectively.

Ilani had been as high as second in chips, but was eliminated in fourth after doubling up both Polklow and Van Ruiten. Polklow would exit in third place before a cooler of a last hand.

The board read 9442J after Konstas had raised flop and bet both turn and river. Van Ruiten then moved all in on his opponent who went into the tank for over five minutes before calling with AQ104 for trip fours. However, Van Huiten had flopped a full house with 99A10 to eliminate Konstas and secure victory, earning his first WSOP bracelet and €85,405 in the process. He also earned himself a ticket to the 2023 WSOP Tournament of Champions in Las Vegas.


Shaun Deeb Headlines WSOP Europe Main Event Final Table


Karim Maekelberg Wins Event #14: No-Limit Hold'em Bounty Hunter (€62,111)

Karim Maekelberg

Belgium's Karim Maekelberg has won his first WSOP bracelet in Event #14: No-Limit Hold'em Bounty Hunter after beating a final table that featured former WSOP Main Event champion Hossein Ensan.

Theo Schmitt would have to settle for second place despite coming into heads-up with a commanding chip lead. There were also in-the-money finishes for the likes of Martin Kabrhel, Zhong Chen and Alberto Stegeman.

Event #14: No-Limit Hold'em Bounty Hunter Final Table Results

PlacePlayerCountryPayout (EUR)
1Karim MaekelbergBelgium€ 62,111
2Theo SchmittGermany€ 38,375
3Brian CornellUnited States€ 26,542
4Rolando CamardeseNetherlands€ 18,715
5Dinesh AltAustria€ 13,458
6Aaron DuczakCanada€ 9,873
7Antonino CalabroItaly€ 7,393
8Hossein EnsanGermany€ 5,653
9Balakrishna PaturUnited States€ 4,415

Final Table Recap

America's Brian Cornell came into the final table as the chip leader ahead of Balakrishna Patur, only for Patur to double up both Antonino Calabro and Theo Schmitt in the same hand during the opening exchanges.

Patur would exit in ninth place before Schmitt sent Calabro and the aforementioned Ensan to the rail in the same hand, spiking an ace to crack the pocket pairs of both opponents.

Cornell clawed some back with the elimination of Aaron Duczak in sixth as Dinesh Alt exited in fifth. Maekelberg finally got in on the action with back-to-back eliminations of Camardese and Cornell, but was left with an uphill battle to beat the marauding Schmitt.

Maekelberg would win three all-ins against Maekelberg heads-up, cracking pocket sevens with king-jack in the final hand, to win €62,111 and his first WSOP bracelet.


WSOPE Round Up: Emil Bise Captures Second Bracelet in Two Years; Verenko and Laska Find Gold


Andriy Lyubovetskiy Wins Event #15: Turbo Freezeout (€45,606)

Andriy Lyubovetskiy

There was a Ukrainian one-two in the final WSOP Europe side event of the year as Andriy Lyubovetskiy beat Oleksii Kovalchuk heads-up to win Event #15: Turbo Freezeout for €45,606.

This was Lyubovetskiy's second WSOP bracelet, having won his first just under 12 months ago at King's Resort, while he also denied Kovalchuk a third WSOP bracelet in the process.

Event #15: Turbo Freezeout Final Table Results

PlacePlayerCountryPayout (EUR)
1Andriy LyubovetskiyUkraine€ 45,606
2Oleksii KovalchukUkraine€ 28,178
3Mehdi ChaouiMorocco€ 19,304
4Edolo GhirelliItaly€ 13,565
5Benjamin StiefelGermany€ 9,783
6Johan GuilbertFrance€ 7,246
7Martin KabrhelCzech Republic€ 5,517
8Thore KunzeGermany€ 4,320
9Fabio PelusoItaly€ 3,482

Final Table Recap

Mehdi Chaoui was the chip leader with nine players remaining and he sent Italy's Fabio Peluso to the rail to extend his lead. Popular French poker player Johan Guilbert would then eliminate Thore Kunze before Martin Kabrhel shoved queen-four into the pocket aces of Lyubovetskiy to exit in seventh place.

Chaoui would then send Guilbert packing as the short stacks continued to battle behind him. Lyubovetskiy added further scalps of Benjamin Stiefel and Edolo Ghirelli, closing the gap to Chaoui who now led the final three.

However, Kovalchuk would score a huge double up through Chaoui, picking off a king-high bluff with a rivered flush to move ahead. Less than 20 minutes later, Kovalchuk would finish off Chaoui to reach heads-up play against his compatriot.

Lyubovetskiy would score the decisive heads-up double, cracking ace-eight with king-ten to move into the lead, and closed it out to win his second WSOP title along with €45,606 in prize money.

2022 WSOPE Gold Bracelet Winners

EVENTENTRIESWINNERPRIZEPRIZE POOL
€350 NLH Opener2,454Fabio Peluso€95,670€734,359
€550 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Max566Helmut Phung€55,132€268,850
€1,350 Mini Main Event1,431Ilija Savevski€245,319€1,631,340
€2,000 Pot-Limit Omaha221Anson Tsang€95,461€388,407
€550 NLH Colossus2,982Lubos Laska€170,568€1,416,450
€5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha223Roman Verenko€247,288€1,006,287
€1,650 NLH 6-Max413Max Kruse€134,152€588,525
€25,000 NLH Platinum High Roller67Paul Phua€482,433€1,565,790
€2,200 Short Deck91Emil Bise€49,521€172,900
€2,000 8-Game Mix102Thomas Pidun€49,245€179,265
€50,000 NLH Diamond High Roller45Orpen Kisacikoglu€748,106€2,116,125
€10,350 Main Event----
€1,650 PLO/NLH Mixed251Yair van Ruiten€85,405€357,675
€1,100 NLH Bounty Hunter436Karim Maekelberg€62,111€283,400
€1,000 NLH Turbo Freezeout211Andriy Lyubovetskiy€45,606€182,409
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Will Shillibier
Managing Editor

Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. He now works as Managing Editor. He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.

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