The crowning of Marius Kudzmanas as WSOP Europe Most important Occasion champion on Friday did little to sluggish the momentum at King’s On line casino at Hilton Prague, the place 4 extra bracelet winners emerged earlier than the pageant reached its conclusion.
David Wintersberger took down the €2,750 The Nearer Turbo Bounty, Richard Geyer etched his identify into the historical past books by successful Europe’s first-ever PLO Double Board bracelet occasion, and Nikolai Ogoltsov claimed the €1,500 European Circuit Championship.
That left the €8,400 GGMillion$ Excessive Curler as the ultimate battleground of the sequence, with Christian Pedersen securing the final bracelet of the pageant and placing the completion on a brand new chapter of WSOP Europe.
He bested a 359-entry subject to say his first bracelet, a GGMillion$ trophy and the €600,000 prime prize from the €2,872,000 prize pool, sealing the victory after defeating GPI Participant of the Yr Punnat Punsri in heads-up play.
WSOPE €8,400 GGMillion$ Excessive Curler Ultimate Desk Outcomes
1Christian PedersenDenmark€600,000
2Punnat PunsriThailand€400,000
3Miroslav AlilovicFrance€270,000
4Aliaksei BoikaBelarus€185,000
5Zackary EstesUnited States€131,000
6Mario Diaz QuilezSpain€95,000
7Mike WatsonCanada€71,000
8Jake GreenbaumUnited States€54,000
9Mehdi ChaouiMorocco€42,000
Pedersen turned skilled in early 2020 after starting his poker journey in tournaments earlier than shifting his focus to on-line money video games.
“I began out taking part in MTTs, however then sort of bought uninterested in the unhealthy time schedule and having to play all evening,” Pedersen stated. “So for the previous couple of years I’ve primarily been grinding money video games on-line, however I nonetheless journey to stops like this to play dwell.”
This victory additionally marked simply his second WSOP money and his first main dwell event title.
“I’ve by no means actually dreamed about successful a bracelet,” Pedersen added. “However I’ve dreamed about successful an enormous dwell event. It is a very good feeling to lastly do it.”
Early Day Motion
Seventeen gamers returned for the ultimate day, and there was no scarcity of motion on the street to the ultimate desk. Jeremie Zouari was the primary to fall, adopted shortly by Eduard Anufriiev, whose ace-king bumped into kings.
An enormous confrontation quickly unfolded between two of the massive stacks, Mustapha Kanit and Zackary Estes. Kanit known as a five-bet preflop, with the remainder of the chips piling in on the flip. Kanit tabled queens, however Estes revealed aces to ship the Italian to the rail in fifteenth place, regardless of beginning the day fifth in chips.
Andre Marques, Alexandre Reard, Martin Hellmuth, and Boris Kolev quickly adopted, organising the ultimate desk bubble, which lasted almost two hours. There have been dozens of all-in and calls however no eliminations, till a four-hand sequence noticed Yuliyan Kolev lose his chips to Mike Watson, who entered the ultimate desk as chip chief.
Pedersen Cruises to Victory
Mehdi Chaoui started the ultimate desk with simply over one large blind and was the primary to fall, with Estes claiming one other stack. EPT Most important Occasion champion Aliaksei Boika then booked two early doubles, one in every of which left crypto social media influencer Jake Greenbaum with simply half an enormous blind. Greenbaum was eradicated in eighth place on the very subsequent hand.
Shockingly, Watson was the following to go. His chip-leading stack disappeared inside ten minutes of play resuming after the dinner break. First, he ran queens into Pedersen’s kings.
“I’ve by no means sweat an all-in so onerous in my life earlier than. I used to be sweating that all-in greater than sweating the all-in for the bracelet,” Pedersen stated. “I simply noticed all of the nightmares of busting eighth once more after having a great place.”
On the very subsequent hand, the Triple Crown winner bought his chips in towards Estes, who held the superior ace, and Watson was abruptly out in seventh place.
From there, it grew to become the Pedersen present. He calmly padded round within the complimentary lodge slippers as he took management of the motion. Contemporary off of decimating Watson, he steamrolled the desk and despatched Mario Diaz Quilez to the rail just some fingers later, persevering with to dictate the tempo with seemingly each transfer going his manner.
Estes was eradicated in fifth place, with Pedersen as soon as once more performing as executioner to maneuver to almost two-thirds of the chips in play. Boika was subsequent on his chopping block as Pedersen continued his relentless cost by way of the sphere.
Punsri then picked up his first elimination of the ultimate desk, sending Miroslav Alilovic to the rail in third place to arrange heads-up play, the place the Thai sensation trailed by greater than two-to-one in chips.
“I did not have nerves about taking part in Punnat, clearly he is a superb participant, however I used to be extra nervous that I might make a blunder as a result of it has been so lengthy since I performed heads-up,” he stated. “However after we bought into it and I bought within the circulation, I felt like my mind remembered the spots.”
Punsri was the established famous person, boasting greater than $30 million in dwell event earnings and 6 Triton Tremendous Excessive Curler Collection titles. Pedersen, in the meantime, was having fun with the deepest run of his profession, although he had beforehand recorded two eighth-place finishes in $10K excessive curler occasions.
Punsri doubled with king-jack towards pocket threes to make it even however failed to achieve any momentum. On the second all-in and name, Pedersen had threes once more. This time they held to deliver the curtain down on the 2026 WSOP Europe fesitval.
“I’ve all the time had these large spots the place I completed eighth or eleventh.” stated the Dane, rounding out his winner’s interview. “So it is a very good feeling to lastly be capable to run good in these spots.”
Calum Grant
Senior Editor & Reside Occasions Government
Calum has written for numerous poker shops however discovered his residence at PokerNews, the place he has contributed to numerous articles and dwell updates, offering insights and reporting on main poker occasions, together with the World Collection of Poker (WSOP).
