WSOP Europe: Greece’s Georgios Sotiropoulos Wins €1,100 NLHE Turbo
Two weeks ago there was a big fat goose egg in the World Series of Poker record book for bracelets won by Greek players. Now, with eight WSOP Europe events in the books, there have been three bracelets won by Greek players, the latest coming Sunday when Georgios Sotiropoulos won the €1,100 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo.
Sotiropoulos joins Makarios Avramidis and Pavlos Xanthopoulos as Greek players who have won WSOP bracelets in the last eight days. Sotiropoulos beat out 196 other players to win €112,133 ($127,559 US) and the first bracelet of his career.
“It feels good,” Sotiropoulos said. “It feels amazing. Winning a bracelet, it’s one of my dreams.”
The day began with 46 players still in contention but once down to the final table it took just 3 ½ hours for Sotiropoulos to claim victory. The final table had more than its fair share of well known players.
WPT World Championship winner Asher Conniff was joined by former WSOP Main Event runner-up John Racener, 2015 WSOP POY contender Brian Hastings as well as Byron Kaverman.
It didn’t take long for things to get serious. Conniff was eliminated by Hastings in ninth place and just 30 minutes later Kaverman was out in eighth. Hastings was then sent packing in seventh place and Racener in sixth.
That left just four players between Sotiropoulos and the win. It took nearly two hours for the another elimination but it was indeed Sotiropoulos busting Rafal Tomczak in fifth. Less than an hour later he managed to get two players at once.
In an all-in preflop situation, Andre Lommel and Benjamin Zamani were both all-in. Lommel held 5d 5s, Zamani had Ac Th and Sotiropoulos had Qh Jh. Lommel was still ahead after the Kh 9h 9d flop. The 3c turn changed nothing but the Qs river gave Sotiropoulos a pair of queens and the pot. It also got him heads-up with Frenchman Paul Tedeschi with a 2-1 chip lead. Instead of a long, drawn-out battle for the bracelet like other events this week have seen, it took just five more minutes.
Tedeschi opened with a raise to 110,000 and Sotiropoulos moved all-in, having his opponent covered. Tedeschi called and showed Ah 8c and found himself ahead of Sotiropoulos’ Kc Qs. The Qd Jh 3d flop changed that though and the Ks turn and 6d river wrapped up the win for Sotiropoulos.
The only two events left on the WSOP Europe schedule are the €10,450 Main Event, which began on Sunday, and €25,600 High Roller, which starts Wednesday.
Final Table Payouts
- Georgios Sotiropoulos – €112,133
- Paul Tedeschi – €69,361
- Benjamin Zamani – €50,719
- Andre Lommel – €37,636
- Rafal Tomczak – €28,318
- John Racener – €21,600
- Brian Hastings – €16,703
- Byron Kaverman – €13,094
- Asher Conniff – €10,402
