Amir Mozaffarian Cracks the Code, Secures First WSOP Bracelet and €69,050 Payday in €1,100 NLH Mystery Bounty
A total of 515 hopefuls descended on the baize at King's Resort for the €1,100 NLH Mystery Bounty at the 2024 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE), but only one player cracked the code. Amir Mozaffarian emerged victorious, securing his first-ever WSOP bracelet along with a hard-fought €69,050 top prize.
Having come agonizingly close earlier in the series with a runner-up finish in €5,000 PLO event, Mozaffarian finally struck gold. Over two intense days, he skillfully navigated the stacked field and the pressure of high-stakes bounty hunting to clinch poker’s ultimate prize— the elusive gold strap.
Mozaffarian ran rampant at the final table, tearing through the competition with his relentlessly aggressive style. He sent four of the seven other players to the rail, including a devastating clean-up of the last three competitors standing in his way.
The final hurdle for Mozaffarian was none other than his compatriot Paco Kaplan, but the heads-up match proved to be more of a formality than a fierce showdown. In lightning-fast fashion, Mozaffarian dispatched Kaplan, wrapping up the battle in almost no time at all to claim the largest share of the €484,100 prize pool.
Final Table Results
| Place | Name | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amir Mozaffarian | Germany | €69,050* |
| 2 | Paco Kaplan | Germany | €49,550* |
| 3 | Viorel Gavrila | Romania | €36,750* |
| 4 | Shaun Deeb | United States | €18,200 |
| 5 | Lorenzo Arduini | Italy | €12,850 |
| 6 | Zdenek Zizka | Czech Republic | €9,275 |
| 7 | John Armbrust | United States | €6,850 |
| 8 | Yehor Shumeiko | Ukraine | €5,175 |
*the top three prizes include a €10,350 WSOPE Main Event ticket
Winner's Reaction
"It feels wonderful, amazing. Having a bracelet is one of the most desired things you can get as a poker player," were the first words Mozaffarian said after speaking exclusively with PokerNews.
"I was really riding the rollercoaster today, really really. My stack was up and down so much and then I was winning a lot of flips, so I thought oh, maybe there is something possible today," he stated in reference to whether he felt that today was going to be his day.
"I had a huge chip lead but the job is never done, never because Shaun [Deeb] is a really, really good player and is very dangerous. Nothing is safe when you have a chip lead," were Mozaffarian's words when he was asked about having a huge chip lead during the final table and if he felt confident during that moment.
Final Day's Action
When the day got underway, there were 103 bounty-hunting hopefuls who were all eligible to fight for their share of the €154,500 bounty pool, despite not yet being in the money.
A total of 78 spots were on offer in the money and the last player to leave empty-handed was Genc Zekaj when his ace-king couldn't overcome the pocket jacks of Dan Maricuta.
Shaun Deeb then started to rise up the counts after picking up two bounties in the same hand when his ace-jack held against two weaker ace-holdings.
One of the players that Deeb busted in that hand was Philipp Krieger, but it wasn't all doom and gloom for the German player as he had collected three bounties before his demise. The first bounty he pulled was worth €900, but the second was the biggest of the bunch — €45,000. A third bounty of €3,000 brought the haul to €48,900, plus his cash of €1,435 — not a bad way to exit a tournament!
Some of the notables that made the money but fell short of the final table include Martin Kabrhel (70th), Ankit Ahuja (51st), Gabi Livshitz (23rd), Fabio Peluso (22nd), Tobias Peters (15th), and the final table bubble boys Genc Shabani (10th) & Ondrej Goetz (9th).
With ten players remaining, Shabani and Goetz were eliminated almost simultaneously, with the former hitting the rail just moments before Goetz fell to Deeb, which brought around an eight-handed final table instead of the expected nine.
Going into the final table it was Viorel Gavrila who held the chip lead with around 42 big blinds, and he was closely followed by Kaplan & Deeb who both had 30 big blinds each.
Yehor Shumeiko was the first to fall when he stuck in his last five big blinds with queen-six, and couldn't overcome the ace-king of Mozaffarian. Just moments later, John Armbrust joined him on the rail when his flopped two pair with seven-eight was no good against the straight of Gavrila, who held five-six.
The elimination continued at a rapid pace as Zdenek Zizka got his last eight big blinds into the middle with pocket eights, but came up short against the pocket tens of Lorenzo Arduini.
A crucial pot then played out between Mozaffarian and Gavrila that severely impacted the dynamic of the table. Mozaffarian opened the button then called off his stack of twenty-five big blinds after Gavrila shoved from the big blind. Gavrila's ace-ten was miles ahead of Mozaffarian's ace-nine, but a flush on the river gave Mozaffarian the win, which prevented Gavrila from being the runaway chip leader.
It was then Deeb's turn to take his place at the top of the counts after he woke up with aces in the big blind when Gavrila had three-bet shoved over Kaplan's open.
Arduini then lost a flip with ace-king against the pocket jacks of Kaplan, which brought play down to four-handed. The confidence levels of Mozaffarian were evident when he bluffed Deeb with ten-high right before a break in play, which catapulted him into the chip lead and left Deeb with a short stack.
With there being three €10,350 WSOPE Main Event tickets on offer to the podium finishers, four-handed play was a tight affair with chips being exchanged back-and-forth between the players. Deeb started to build momentum but that was forced to bet-fold the river against Mozaffarian, which again sent him tumbling down to the bottom of the counts.
Moments later, Deeb's run had come to an end after he shoved with king-four and couldn't overcome the king-nine of Mozaffarian. That meant the final three players had navigated their way to a WSOPE Main Event ticket, and it was game on for the remaining payouts.
They very next hand after eliminating Deeb, Mozaffarian claimed another bounty after he sent Gavrila to the rail, which gave him a commanding four-to-one chip lead over Kaplan heading into heads-up play.
Mozaffarian's lead swelled to roughly eight-to-one, and in the final hand of the night, Mozaffarian shoved with king-six and Kaplan called with queen-five. The board left both players unimproved, which meant Mozaffarian's king-high was good for the pot and the title.
That wraps up the PokerNews coverage from the €1,100 NLH Mystery Bounty. Stay tuned for more action as the final bracelets of the series are awarded over the coming days.