Vivian Saliba Wins First Bracelet In World Series of Poker Europe €2,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Event

Three of Vivian Saliba’s top poker tournament scores have come in pot-limit Omaha events, including her most recent victory on the live scene. The Brazilian poker pro overcame a field of 229 entries to win the 2024 World Series of Poker Europe €2,000 buy-in PLO tournament. As the champion she secured $101,454 and her first WSOP gold bracelet.

Saliba now has more than $792,000 in recorded earnings, with this being her second-largest score yet. Her top payday remains the $308,888 she earned as the fourth-place finisher in the 2019 WSOP $888 ‘crazy eights’ event, which sported a field of 10,185 entries.

This was the first cash of 2024 for Saliba that awarded any Card Player Player of the Year points. The 384 points she secured put her inside the top 2,500 in this year’s standings, which are presented by Global Poker.

This event ran over the course of two days inside Kings Resort Rozvadov in the Czech Republic. Day 2 took more than 17 hours to complete, which meant that Saliba didn’t hoist the bracelet until the wee hours of the morning on Sept. 26.

The final day began with 50 players remaining and defending champion Hokyiu Lee in the lead. Saliba was the seventh shortest stack heading into the day, but managed to survive to the final nine. Lee remained atop the leaderboard at that point, while Saliba was still toward the bottom of the chip counts.

Lee added to his lead by eliminating Milan Skacel (8th – $9,546) during the early going. Saliba scored her first knockout at the final table when her flopped wrap draw bested Eran Carmi’s (7th – $12,210) overpair of aces.

After Samuel Albeck (6th – $16,095) and Thomas Hueber (5th – $21,867) were sent to the rail, Alen Sabic had moved into the lead. He soon slid to the bottom of the chip counts, though, after his pocker queens with A-K suited ran into the pocket kings of Markus Anheier preflup. Anheier made a set of kings to scoop the pot, leaving Sabic with fewer than 9 big blinds. Not long after that, Sabic got all-in with a gutshot straight draw and a pair of sixes facing a flush draw and different gutshot for Anheier. The river gave Anheier a flush and the knockout, ending Sabic’s run in fourth place ($30,747).

Saliba won a couple of crucial all-ins early in three-handed play that moved her out in front. Lee’s title defense then ended in third place ($44,511) after he was left short following one such clash against Saliba. His last chips went in with K762 facing the AK105 of Anheier. The board came down J8533 and Lee headed home with an impressive follow-up performance to his victory in 2023. The Hong Kong resident now has nearly $482,000 in career cashes to his name.

Heads-up play began with Saliba holding 7,400,000 to Anheier’s 4,050,000. The tables were turned thanks to a big all-in with Anheier’s AKJ10 outrunning the KKJ6 of Saliba. Anheier ended up with aces full of tens by the river to move ahead in the chip counts.

Saliba found a double up to pull nearly even, and then edged back in front. She managed to continue to build her stack up ahead of the final hand of the tournament. Anheier limped in from the button for 300,000 total with K942 and Saliba raised to 900,000 with AQ75. Anheier called and the flop came down 974. The chip went in with Anheier’s nines and fours facing a pair of sevens and a flush draw for Saliba. The turn brought the A, improving Saliba to the second-nut flush with aces and sevens for a redraw. The 5 on the end locked up the pot and the title for Saliba and her flush.

Anheier earned $66,267 as the runner-up, the largest live score yet for the German player.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded in this event:

Photo provided by WSOP, Kings Resort Rozavadov / Tomas Stacha.