Manoe Betrix shoved in his stack of 780,000 in the cutoff and was looked up by Dirk Schumacher on the button, who covered him.
Manoe Betrix: A♠10♥
Dirk Schumacher: K♠K♥
The 4♠2♠7♣9♠9♥ board remained ace-free and also faded Betrix's turned flush draw, setting Betrix's elimination in stone and sending the pot Schumacher's way.
Daniel Trunk raised his button to 200,000 and saw Jan Vunderer defend his big blind. Vunderer checked to Trunk on the 3♥K♥6♥ flop, after which the latter bet 125,000.
Vunderer put in a raise to 375,000 and was called by Trunk. Vunderer fired an additional 500,000 on the Q♠ turn, seeing Trunk put in another call.
Vunderer moved all in on the J♦ river for 1,165,000 and was snap called by his opponent. Vunderer could only show ace-high with his A♥8♦, while Trunk won with 10♥7♥ for a flopped flush.
After a careful count, it was determined that Trunk slightly covered Vunderer. Vunderer cordially said his goodbyes while Trunk chipped up to double the average stack.
The action heated up when Przemyslaw Szymanski raised to 225,000 from middle position. Catalin Diac, seated in the cutoff, responded with a three-bet to 550,000. Without hesitation, Andreas Brunner went all in, prompting Szymanski to follow suit with his all-in move. This put Diac in a position to ask for a chip count before ultimately making the call, leading them to a dramatic showdown.
Andreas Brunner: A♥K♠
Przemyslaw Szymanski: K♣K♦
Catalin Diac: J♠J♥
The flop of K♥5♥6♥ was favorable for Szymanski, who flopped a set of kings, while Brunner found himself with a nut flush draw.
The turn brought the A♦, giving Brunner an additional draw for a full house with aces over kings.
However, the river revealed the J♣, crushing Brunner's hopes and sending him to the rail.
Szymanski, meanwhile, added a significant portion of Diac's stack to his own, making him one of the chip leaders in the tournament.
Catalin Diac got his stack of 1,200,000 in from the cutoff against Viorel Gavrila in the hijack.
Catalin Diac: A♦Q♣
Viorel Gavrila: 3♦3♣
Gavrilla flopped a set on 2♠Q♦3♥ and upgraded to a full house on the 2♣ turn. The 6♣ river helped neither player, resulting in Diac's exit from the tournament.
The board read 6♦J♦7♠2♠ when Carlos Fernandes was seen piling in his final 1,000,000 or so chips into a pot worth well over 2,000,000 against Daniel Trunk. Trunk had Fernandes covered as the players showed down.
Carlos Fernandes: 5x5x
Daniel Trunk: A♠A♣
Fernandes was drawing to just a five, which did not arrive on the 6♥ river, resulting in his exit.
Heads-up on a board of 4♦2♥J♠Q♠, Viorel Gavrila bet 275,000 from the hijack and Maximilian Huber raised to 850,000 on the button. Gavrila then moved all in for 2,300,000 and Huber called.
Gavrila turned over Q♣J♣ for two pair, while Huber was on a flush draw holding A♠8♠. The river was the 9♦ and Gavrila held on to double up on one of the last hands of the night.
A grand total of 3,509 entries were made across all starting flights of Event #1: €350 NLH Opener of the 2024 World Series of Poker Europe at King's Resort Rozvadov. The €1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool was met, eventually reaching €1,039,014. The majority of payouts were handed out today, as Day 2 of the tournament saw the 359 survivors being whittled down to just 20.
Germany's Dmitrij Fadeev was the most successful of them, bagging up 7,985,000 chips at the end of the day, worth 50 big blinds at the start of Day 3. This is only the second-ever WSOP event Fadeev has cashed in, the other one being the €550 Collosus at WSOP Europe in 2019. However, he placed himself in a prime position to capture the bracelet and the top prize of €115,350.
Not far behind Fadeev are King's regular Przemyslaw Szymanski (7,865,000) and Fadeev's fellow countryman Daniel Trunk (7,335,000), the two other players who managed to eclipse seven million chips.
End of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Day 2 Big Blinds
1
Dmitrij Fadeev
Germany
7,985,000
50
2
Przemyslaw Szymanski
Poland
7,865,000
49
3
Daniel Trunk
Germany
7,335,000
46
4
Georg Strebel
Switzerland
5,950,000
40
5
Viorel Gavrila
Romania
4,990,000
31
6
Rostyslav Sabishchenko
Ukraine
4,620,000
29
7
Marco Di Persio
Italy
4,105,000
26
8
Daniel Kschammer
Germany
3,985,000
25
9
Enrico Linke
Germany
3,340,000
21
10
Jozsef Dobos
Hungary
3,280,000
21
However, the most recognizable face still left in the field is that of Vladimir Troyanovskiy. The Russian poker veteran with over eight million in life-time earnings is hunting for a career-first bracelet. He will have his work cut out for him, though, as his stack of 1,330,000 will see him start with less than ten big blinds on Day 3.
Vladimir Troyanovskiy
Day 2 Action
Among the many contenders who showed up at the start of the day were bracelet winners Tobias Peters, Martin Kabrhel, Or Nezer, and Lukas Pazma, the latter of which being the defending champion of the €350 Opener. However, their day was short-lived as Peters, Pazma, and Kabrhel all booked an early exit, picking up €805.
Nezer made it a bit further and collected a four-figure payout of €1,040 for his 120th place, but also could not add a second bracelet to his trophy cabinet. Czechian regulars Michal Mrakes (289th - €805) and Josef Snejberg (53rd - €2,055), both in the top ten of Czechia’s all-time money list, were also present but failed to capture their first bracelet.
After Snejberg’s exit, the international field steadily moved towards the final three tables. On the way there, they lost Serbia’s best performer Milos Culjkovic (50th - €2,055), last woman standing Anna Tsyhryk (45th - €2,450), the final Belgian player Dominique Potenza (39th - €2,960), and Antonio Jelenkovic (30th - €3,615), who was the highest-placing Croatian player.
Antonio Jelenkovic
Eventually, Lishai Heshbon and Yunus Ekinci were eliminated in 25th and 24th place almost simultaneously, each receiving €3,615 for their efforts, leaving the remaining players to battle it out across three tables. Once there Catalin Diac, Carlos Fernandes Lourenco, and Daniel Biclea departed, picking up €4,470, before the day ended and the 21 remaining players bagged up for Day 3.
Day 3 will kick off tomorrow, September 23, at 1 p.m. local time, resuming in Level 32: 80,000/160,000 with a big blind ante of 160,000. All levels will remain 40 minutes in length, with a break after every three of them, and the players will play as many of them as needed to crown a winner. All players have locked up a cash prize of €4,470, but the hunt will be on for the glory, the bracelet, and the truckload of cash that comes with winning the tournament.
Remaining Payouts*
Place
Prize
1
€115,350
2
€80,150
3
€60,850
4
€47,250
5
€37,550
6
€30,650
7
€25,700
8
€22,050
9
€19,407
10-11
€17,425
12
€15,940
13-15
€5,590
16-20
€4,470
* Top 12 includes €10,350 WSOP Europe Main Event ticket
Make sure to check back in with PokerNews tomorrow to find out who will win the first golden bracelet of the 2024 WSOP Europe and will walk away with the six-figure first-place prize in the €350 Opener.
