Tomasz Kozub In Pole Position to Snag First Bracelet in Final Eight of €550 PLO 8-Max
The second of three days in Event #2: €550 Pot Limit Omaha 8-max at the 2024 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) played out today with 97 hopefuls looking to make a run at the final table. After sixteen levels of play, it was Tomasz Kozub who emerged on top of the counts with a stack of 4,220,000, and is in pole position to clinch his first bracelet with just eight players remaining.
A total of 642 entries were recorded across three starting flights at King's Resort in Rozvadov, which generated a prize pool of €301,740, and boasts a first prize of €56,100.
Final Table Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tomasz Kozub | Poland | 4,220,000 | 70 |
| 2 | Claudio Di Giacomo | Italy | 2,905,000 | 48 |
| 3 | Stefan Kostner | Austria | 2,680,000 | 45 |
| 4 | Volodymyr Kokoulin | Ukraine | 1,910,000 | 32 |
| 5 | Andrei Shpak | Belarus | 1,885,000 | 31 |
| 6 | Ivan Nikolov | Bulgaria | 1,195,000 | 20 |
| 7 | Hristiyan Banov | Bulgaria | 755,000 | 13 |
| 8 | Damjan Radanov | United States | 600,000 | 10 |
Kosub started to accumulate chips with the elimination of Krzysztof Palasz in nineteenth then never looked back as he also eliminated Patrick Bueno and Florian Surkamp on his way to the final table.
Claudio Di Giacomo sits second in the counts with 2,905,000 and third place on the leaderboard belongs to Stefan Kostner with 2,680,000 chips. Kostner can thank his lucky stars as he was one card away from an early shower during Level 21, but he managed to backdoor a full house which kickstarted his run. Kostner also quadrupled up after running down the aces of two opponents and even eliminated Israel's Elad Shaar in thirteenth.
Ukraine's Volodymyr Kokoulin had a rollercoaster of a day and was chip leader for most of the early levels but never managed to cement his name at the top of the leaderboard. His stack rode the Omaha waves but left him in fourth with 1,910,000 for Day 3.
Several previous bracelet winners made it into the money but fell short of the final table who included Samuel Stranak (84th), Stephen Nahm (42nd), Anson Tsang (38th), Sebastian Langrock (16th), and Dario Alioto (11th).
The unfortunate title of final table bubble boy went to Nebojsa Musulin, who despite putting on a masterclass in surviving all-ins, finally succumbed to Di Giacomo in the last hand of the evening.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | €56,100 |
| 2 | €37,400 |
| 3 | €25,500 |
| 4 | €17,800 |
| 5 | €12,600 |
| 6 | €9,200 |
| 7 | €6,800 |
| 8 | €3,950 |
Play will begin tomorrow with 15:19 left on the clock in Level 28 (30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 big blind ante). The average stack sits at just over 2,000,000 — around 33 big blinds. There will also be a live stream where the action can be followed along live (with a short delay).
Be sure to keep tune into PokerNews tomorrow to see who can clinch their first bracelet from 1 p.m. local time.