From 13 Big Blinds to the Top: Andrian Leads WSOPE Main Event Final Six

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Oct 09, 2024 6 min read

Simone Andrian achieved his first breakthrough score in 2021. With less than €10,000 in career live tournament earnings at the time, he overcame a field of 535 entrants in a €1,650 No-Limit Hold’em six-max event to win his first WSOP gold bracelet and €158,610 here at King’s Resort. Three years later Andrian, now with over $1,300,000 in live tournament earnings, finds himself back in Rozvadov in the biggest spot of his career so far, leading the final six players in the 2024 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event with the WSOPE Main Event bracelet and top prize of €1,300,000 nearly within reach.

Andrian started the day with the third-shortest stack at just 13 big blinds, but he quickly turned that around, delivering cooler after cooler and sending a flurry of players to the rail throughout the day. Andrian ended the day with 33,500,000 in chips, more than double that of his nearest rivals Urmo Velvelt (15,600,000) and Mariusz Golinski (13,525,000).

“For sure, I’ve been lucky in many spots—you have to,” Andrian mentioned to PokerNews when asked about what he attributes to his meteoric rise over the last three years. “Other than that, I think love for the game, passion, studying… my goal month to month is always to improve in some area of the game. I just love to play, I don’t really think about the money. I just enjoy the game."

On the opposite end of the chip counts is Andrian’s fellow Italian pro Enrico Camosci, who bagged the shortest stack with 3,675,000. Andrian commented on his admiration and respect for his fellow countryman.

“With Enrico, I want to mention him. I’ve been studying with him, he’s also a part of the success I’ve had. I think he’s the best poker player we have in Italy”.

Rounding out the final six are Ran Ilani (6,425,000) and David Hochheim (4,525,000). All six finalists have locked up at least €217,000, representing a career-best cash for everyone except Camosci.

Final Day Seat Draw

Day 4 Action

Day 4 began with just 47 players remaining from a field of 768. Oliver Schönhals was the first player to be sent to the rail, followed by Birger Ohl, Gerald Eisele and David Dongwoo Ko in the first few hands of the day. On the flip side, Andrian doubled up his short stack right away after holding with ace-queen against Yaroslav Ohulchanskyi’s ace-ten. He doubled up again one level later, this time holding pocket aces against Frederik Thiemer’s ace-king.

Monika Zukowicz was the last woman remaining in the field, starting the day as one of the shorter stacks. Her hopes of becoming the first woman to win the WSOPE Main Event since Annette Obrestad took the inaugural title in 2007 were dashed when Ilani rivered a flush to crack her pocket aces.

Shortly after, Shaun Deeb lost nearly half his stack after running ace-four into Gerald Karlic’s ace-king. Despite making a miraculous comeback from two big blinds yesterday, Deeb couldn’t replicate that success today. He hit the rail one level later after his straight draw failed to complete against Golinski’s top pair.

Andrian’s sun run continued midway through the day when Alberti Sanaia pushed his last chips in with ace-king against Andrian’s pocket fives. Sanaia flopped the king, but Andrian rivered his set, bringing his chip count past the eight-figure mark. Andrian then eliminated Matei Lupascu, holding pocket kings against Lupascu’s ace-king. That hand left Andrian with roughly one-fifth of the total chips in play with 22 players remaining. Daniel Rezaei was next to go after his pocket queens were cracked by Hochheim’s ace-eight offsuit.

Start-of-day chip leader Rachid El Yaacoubi experienced a rollercoaster of highs and lows throughout the day. After struggling to find momentum in the first few levels, he five-bet shoved with pocket sixes and held after Andrea Ricci called with ace-king to put himself near the top of the chip counts. However, his run ended in 19th place after hero-calling against Andrian with pocket queens on a king-high board only for Andrian to turn over two pair.

Vladas Tamasauskas, who finished fourth in this event just two years ago, seemed poised for another deep run after doubling up through Rezaei in the early levels. However, a second final table appearance wasn’t in the cards for him this time. After an unsuccessful bluff attempt against Lupascu, he found himself short-stacked again. One level later, he was eliminated in 17th place after running into Ilani’s pocket jacks with king-eight and failing to improve.

Following George Tomescu’s elimination in 13th place the pace of play slowed significantly. It took over an hour before Pawel Wojciechowski made a critical mistake. He faced an open from Golinski but didn’t see it, mistakenly thinking he was the one opening the action. When Wojciechowski tried to open with pocket aces it was ruled a call. That mistake allowed Golinski to make trips on the turn with queen-five suited and knock out Wojciechowski just three spots shy of making the final table. Michael Dick was the next one out after losing a flip with pocket sevens against Hochheim’s ace-king.

Anson Tsang already has three WSOP gold bracelets under his belt, two of which he won here in Rozvadov. He will not be adding the Main Event bracelet to his collection as his pocket queens were cracked by Urmo Velvelt’s ace-queen after an ace on the flop left him drawing to just one out. When the case queen did not arrive, he was eliminated on the final table bubble at which point the remaining nine players were all guaranteed at least €93,900.

Andrian entered the final table with a commanding chip lead over his opponents, holding nearly twice the chips of his nearest rival, Velvelt. A few hands in, Fabian Gumz four-bet shoved king-queen suited, only to get snap-called by Ilani with pocket aces. Ilani held with the best hand and Gumz became the first final table casualty. Gumz was soon followed by Luka Bojovic, who shoved with ace-nine and exited in eighth place after failing to improve against Andrian’s ace-jack.

The final elimination of the night saw Robin Berggren four-bet shove with king-queen suited only to be looked up by Andrian who had him dominated with ace-queen. Berggren turned a gutshot but couldn't improve further and was sent to the rail one spot shy of making the final day.

The remaining six players return on October 9 at 2:00 p.m. local time to play down to a winner. The action picks up at Level 29 with blinds at 100,000/200,000 and a 200,000 big blind ante. The final table will be streamed with a delay on the King's Resort YouTube channel. As always, stay tuned to PokerNews for all the live coverage of the final day from the moment cards are in the air until the 15th WSOPE Main Event winner is crowned.

2024 WSOP Europe Bracelet Winners

One of the six players detailed in this article will add their name to the 2024 WSOP Europe bracelet winners in a few hours. Click the links in the table below to read a recap of each bracelet-awarding event.

• Tags Andrea Ricci Annette Obrestad Daniel Rezaei David Hochheim Fabian Gumz Enrico Camosci Mariusz Golinski Shaun Deeb Simone Andrian WSOPE WSOP World Series of Poker Vladas Tamasauskas Monika Zukowicz
• Related Tournaments World Series of PokerWorld Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE)
• Related Players Shaun DeebAnnette ObrestadEnrico CamosciFabian GumzVladas TamasauskasDaniel Rezaei