Simone Andrian Comes Full Circle After Winning WSOP Europe Main Event (€1,300,000)

Simone Andrian had played poker online for three years before taking his shot at the live felts in 2021. With almost no live tournament cashes on his resume, he achieved what most poker players only dream of by winning his first WSOP gold bracelet and €158,616 in a €1,650 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max event during the 2021 WSOP Europe. Tonight, Andrian came full circle, winning the coveted 2024 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event bracelet and a career-best score of €1,300,000 at King’s Resort—the very place where his live poker journey began.

Andrian became the 15th player in history to win the WSOPE Main Event, triumphing over a field of 768 entrants. He ultimately defeated Urmo Velvelt in a gripping heads-up duel that lasted over three hours and saw the chip lead change hands multiple times.

Winner’s Reaction

“It’s amazing. By far the biggest score of my career. I couldn’t be more happy” he said following his victory. “I’ve been playing here a lot and to have that kind of score here feels special.”

Andrian’s victory was far from easy; he had to navigate a series of ups and downs, going from a big stack to a short stack multiple times during the heads-up battle against Velvelt.

“It was very, very tough. We were super deep. Playing heads-up super deep, with 100 big blinds each, it’s tough. Usually, you don’t get to play super big pots.” He added that having the support of his friends and fellow Italian pros was “super important, especially when I was short-stacked with 25 big blinds.”

Andrian’s poker career has come a long way since his first bracelet win, culminating in today’s Main Event victory. During that time, he secured six additional six-figure scores, bringing his total live tournament earnings to just over $1,300,000—a figure that has more than doubled with today’s win.

Final Table Results

Final Table Action

Andrian started the day with a massive chip lead, holding more than double the chips of Velvelt, who started in second. Andrian’s fellow Italian pro, Enrico Camosci, began the day as the shortest stack, having under 20 big blinds. It only took a few hands before he got his chips in with ace-jack suited against Velvelt’s pocket eights. Camosci was a slight favorite after flopping the nut-flush draw to go along with his two overcards, but the turn and river were both bricks and Camosci became the first player eliminated on the final day.

David Hochheim was the second shortest stack at the start of the day, but he quickly doubled up after calling Andrian’s small blind shove from the big blind with queen-ten suited. Hoccheim had Andrian’s ten-seven offsuit dominated and he stayed ahead, successfully doubling through the chip leader. One orbit later, Hoccheim found himself in another blind-on-blind confrontation against Andrian, this time in bad shape with ace-four offsuit against Andrian’s pocket queens. Hoccheim couldn’t connect with the board and was sent to the rail in fifth place.

Mariusz Golinski started the day in third place, but the Polish pro had nothing go his way once cards were in the air. He paid off a value bet from Velvelt in the first level with pocket sevens only to see Velvelt turn over trip jacks. Shortly after, he four-bet shoved ace-queen and was called by Ran Ilani, who had pocket queens. That hand left Golinski with less than ten big blinds, and he was soon forced to commit the rest of his stack with ace-jack. Andrian woke up with ace-queen and held, eliminating Golinski and paving the way for three-handed play.

Ilani was the underdog once three-handed play began, with only 6,000,000 chips while Andrian and Velvelt each had over 30,000,000. He lost half of that stack right away after being forced to fold multiple times, but he wasn’t going down without a fight and started mounting a comeback. He doubled up after calling Velvelt’s small blind shove with queen-jack and holding against Velvelt’s eight-seven. He then immediately doubled up through Velvelt again, this time with ace-queen against Velvelt’s ace-jack.

Ilani needed just one more double up to get back into contention and soon found his opportunity in a classic preflop race, holding ace-king against Velvelt’s pocket queens. Unfortunately for Ilani, he couldn’t double up a third time against Velvelt after failing to connect with the board, and he exited in third place while Velvelt entered heads-up play with a slight lead over Andrian.

For the first time since midway through Day 4, Andrian did not hold the chip lead. When heads-up play began he had 36,425,000 to Velvelt’s 40,375,000. Andrian regained the lead and started pulling away after winning a few pots without showdown, but soon after Velvelt turned a straight and got paid off by Andrian’s top pair to bring the stacks back to even.

Velvelt then called down two streets from Andrian with a pair of fours and led out on the river. Andrian, having been bluffing with jack-high, was forced to concede the pot, allowing Velvelt to take the lead for the second time. With momentum now on his side, Velvelt then five-bet shoved with pocket eights, forcing Andrian to fold his ace-eight and extending his lead further.

Velvelt had Andrian on the ropes, but after bluffing two streets with king-high—only to have Andrian show down aces up—the stacks were close to even once more. When Velvelt started pulling away again with some well-timed aggression, Andrian attempted to fight back by check-raising bottom pair on a king-high flop. He continued with another bet on the turn, but Velvelt, holding top pair, moved all in. Andrian was forced to muck after which Velvelt held three quarters of the total chips in play.

Andrian regained some momentum after calling off for his tournament life against Velvelt, who had barreled three streets on an ace-high board. Andrian held only a pair of fives, but Velvelt had been caught bluffing with seven-deuce, allowing Andrian to stay in contention. Soon after, Andrian bet the turn on a jack-high connected board only for Velvelt to check-shove, putting Andrian to another decision for his tournament life. Andrian called with top pair and was up against Velvelt’s bottom pair and gutshot. When the river bricked Andrian held a commanding lead once again, with 63,000,000 chips to Velvelt’s 14,000,000.

The ever-aggressive Velvelt started to mount another comeback after check-raising Andrian on the flop with just ten-high and moving all in by the river. Andrian held top pair but couldn’t find the call. A few hands later, Velvelt five-bet shoved into Andrian holding ace-ten. Andrian held pocket tens and snap-called. Andrian stood by his rail which erupted after the clean runout gave Andrian the winning hand. Velvelt was forced to settle for second place while Andrian claimed the 2024 WSOPE Main Event title.

2024 WSOPE Bracelet Winners

That concludes PokerNews‘ coverage of the 2024 World Series of Poker Europe. Stay tuned for more coverage of events around the world.