The 2024 World Series of Poker Europe is in the final stretch. The 15-event series kicked off on Sept. 24, and will conclude later this week on Oct. 9. The marquee €5 million guaranteed €10,350 no-limit hold’em main event is currently ongoing, with just over 100 contenders remaining from the 768 that entered.
While that tournament continues its march towards deciding a champion, another much brisker affair played out elsewhere inside the tournament area at Kings Resort Rozvadov. The €1,000 no-limit hold’em turbo freezeout drew 152 entries, and took just a single day to narrow that field down to a winner.
When the dust settled, Zewei Ding was the only participant left standing. The Chinese player earned his first WSOP gold bracelet, the top prize of $39,240, and 288 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was Ding’s first-ever WSOP cash.
The top 24 finishers earned a share of the $156,510 prize pool in this event, with notables like bracelet winner Bernd Gleissner (23rd) and Or Nezer (19th) among those that ran deep.
Ding was almost left on fumes early at the final table. He got all-in with pocket kings against the pocket aces of Dirk Schumacher, who then hit top set on a A
Q
J flop. The turn brought the 10
to give Ding the broadway straight and the lead. The 6 on the end changed nothing and Schumacher was eliminated in 10th place ($2,922).
Ding scored a double-knockout of Maximilian Huber (9th – $3,296) and Erik van Hulst (8th – $3,894) to narrow the field to seven. His next elimination came when his A
5 beat the A4 of De Han Kim, with four diamonds on the board giving him the ace-high flush. Kim earned $11,597 for his strong showing. This was his second final table of the series, having also placed ninth in the turbo bounty event just a few days earlier.
The final two knockouts were made with premium hands for Ding. His A-k held against the A-2 of Gal Naim (3rd – $16,799) to set a heads-up clash against Stepan Khachaturyan. Just a handful of deals after that, Ding limped from the button with KK and called the shove of Khachaturyan, who held 53. The board came down K75103 and Ding’s top set of kings secured him the pot and the title. Khachaturyan walked away with $25,230 as the runner-up.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded in this event:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Zewei Ding | $39,240 | 288 |
| 2 | Stepan Khachaturyan | $25,230 | 240 |
| 3 | Gal Naim | $16,799 | 192 |
| 4 | De Han Kim | $11,597 | 144 |
| 5 | Pel Nieuwenhuis | $8,313 | 120 |
| 6 | Marco Jansen | $6,195 | 96 |
| 7 | John Trast | $4,809 | 72 |
| 8 | Erik van Hulst | $3,894 | 48 |
| 9 | Maximilian Huber | $3,296 | 24 |
Photo credit: WSOP, Kings Resort / Tomas Stacha.