Ermanno Di Nicola Wins His Second World Series of Poker Europe Bracelet

Another year, another World Series of Poker Europe victory for Ermanno Di Nicola.

Less than 11 months after he took down the 2023 WSOP Europe €550 buy-in Colossus event for $222,971, the Italian player came out on top in this year’s €1,650 no-limit hold’em six-max event.

Di Nicola’s latest win saw him outlast a field of 351 entries to secure his second career gold bracelet and the top prize of $123,488. This score pushed his Career earnings past $813,000.

This win also made Di Nicola just the third Italian player in poker history to have secured multiple bracelets, joining four-time WSOP champion Max Pescatori and Alessandro Pichierri, who won his second bracelet on the same day as Di Nicola.

This was Di Nicola’s first final-table finish of 2024. The 600 Card Player Player of the Year points he secured as the champion moved him inside the top 1,400 in the overall standings, which are presented by Global Poker.

This tournament took just two days to complete inside Kings Resort Rozvadov in the Czech Republic. Day 2 began with 89 players still remaining and Di Nicola atop the leaderboard. The top 53 finishers made the money, including bracelet winner Or Nezer (53rd), two-time bracelet winner Wing Liu (51st), bracelet winner Ran Koller (49th), bracelet winner Tobias Peters (48th), two-time bracelet winner Ilija Savevski (44th), bracelet winner Lukas Pazma (35th), bracelet winner Fabio Peluso (23rd), three-time bracelet winner Timur Margolin (18th), and 2018 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event winner Maria Lampropulos (10th).

By the time the field combined onto a single table, Rachid Yaacoubi had moved into the top spot. Axel Bayout finished sixth ($16,206) when his A-8 ran into the pocket queens of Traian Stanciu. Amiel Gamliel (5th – $22,644) soon followed thanks to his A-8 clashing against the A-Q of Di Nicola.

Di Nicola then found pocket queens against the pocket jacks of Stanciu to narrow the field to three. Stanciu earned $32,523 as the fourth-place finihser.

The next big clash saw all of the chips go in after a flop of 1053, with El Yaacoubi holding K10 against Di Nicola’s J8. The 6 turn completed Di Nicola’s flush draw, leaving El Yaacoubi drawing dead. The 2 on the end was a mere formality, and El Yaacoubi was eliminated in third place ($59,441).

Di Nicola held 11,000,0000 to Dohang Na’s 3,040,000 when cards got back in the air. That lead grew before the final hand of the tournament was dealt. Na shoved from the button for around 22 big blinds with A6 and Di Nicola quickly called with KK. The flop came out 965 to give Na a pair of sixes and the nut flush draw for a sweat. The Q on the turn and 9 offered no further help, though, and Di Nicola’s overpair earned him the pot and the title. Na walked away with $83,861 as the runner-up.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photo credit: WSOP, Kings Resort / Tomas Stacha.