2021 WSOPE Bracelet Winners
This year’s World Series of Poker took place November 19 – December 8 and was a truly special one with a new record entry with 688 entries for the €10,350 WSOPE Main Event. 15 WSOP Gold Bracelets were awarded, more than €17 Million in prize money were paid out. 2,722 players came from 68 countries to take part in Europe’s biggest annual poker festival.
15 WSOP bracelets are the trophies for 15 outstanding poker players. We want to honor all of them for their achievement and their spot in poker history.
Read on to learn more about the 15 glorious winners and how they got to their bracelets!
WSOPE Main Event – Event #14
Josef Gulas Jr., a 24 years old cars salesman from the Czech Republic, started as the chip leader on the final day of the 2021 WSOP Europe Main Event and eventually won the Main Event and with it a coveted WSOP Gold Bracelet and € 1,276,712.
He won a €10,350 WSOPE Main Event ticket by playing a €250 buy-in tournament at King’s, which lead him to the Main Event and the ultimate victory of his poker career.
The event had 688 Entries with a prize pool of € 6,536,000, setting a new all-time record for a WSOP Europe Main Event.
He won in head-up against French poker pro Johan Guilbert ‘YoH ViraL’ (total live earnings $3.5 Million) with against . Flop was . Turn was and the river decided the match with .
WSOPE Event #1 €350 Opener Event
27 years old Italian business man Antonello Ferraiuolo won the first Bracelet of the 2021 WSOPE and with it €77,570 plus a €10,350 2021 WSOPE Main Event Ticket. He’s also the first Italian after Max Pescatori winning a bracelet in a live tournament in 2015. It’s his biggest win in his poker career.
He defeated German Levent Efe with pocket aces in the final hand. He limped with followed with a check with . Flop was with Efe check-raising all-in. Antonello Ferraiuolo snap-called. Turn was , giving Efe a lot more outs, but the river was and Ferraiuolo took it down.
WSOPE Event #2 €550 Pot-Limit Omaha
Dutch e-business owner and poker player Bjorn Verbakel took down the €550 Pot-Limit Omaha event with 623 entries and won his first WSOP gold bracelet and €59,250.
In heads-up he fought against professional poker player Feng Zhao from Singapore. Verbakel opened with the hand with a raise to 3 bb (900.000). Feng called with . Flop came .and Feng went all-in. Verbakel snap called. It was a 50/50 coin flip. Turn was an , giving Feng only 4 outs and the river secured Verbankel’s win with an .
WSOPE Event #3: €1,350 NLH Mini Main Event
Swiss poker player Emil Bise won the Mini Main Event Bracelet and €260,000 with it. The King’s regular totals live tournament earnings of $696,300 and we have a feeling we will see a lot more from him in the near future.
The last two hands in heads-up against Marius-Alexandru Gicovanu decided the match. First Gicovanu went all-in with pocket fives and 88.7m chips against A4o (with 46.6m chips), where Bise hit an Ace at the river.
Then, Emil Bise, now chip leader, went all-in with and Gicovanu called with . Turn was , turn 7 , giving Gicovanu many outs, but river sealed Bise’s win with .
WSOPE Event #4: €2,000 Pot-Limit Omaha
Slovak Samuel Stranak dominated the final table and won his first WSOP Gold Bracelet and €101,764 prize money. It was by far his biggest win in his, so far, very short poker career.
He played heads-up with Slovak Sabo. In the last hand Stranak called with and Sabo raised with and got reraised pot by Stranak. They ended up raising to an all-in for Sabo. Flop came , turn and river .
WSOPE EVENT #5 €550 NLH Colossus
Edmond Jahjaga from Kosovo is a newcomer when it comes to poker, but he played with a lot of confidence and dominated the final table with eliminating one player after another.
The final hand he shoved with from the big blind after a raise from the opponent Riadh Farhat. Farhat called with . The runout sealed Jahjaga’s victory.
WSOPE Event #6: €1,650 PLO/NLH Mixed
The Dutch poker player Antoine Vranken ($587,018 in total live earnings) took it down and won his first WSOP Gold Bracelet and €113,000, overcoming 339 entries.
Antoine Vranken raised on the button with and Moncef Karoui re-raised him with . Vranken went all in and Karoui called.
Flop came which gave Vranken a full house. The on the turn and on the river fortified Vranken’s victory.
WSOPE Event #7: €5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha
German poker pro Maximilian Klostermeier (living in Denmark) won his second WSOP Gold bracelet and €204,010 price money. He dominated the final table, eliminating one after another player. It was his biggest win so far. He started with his first cash at a live tournament in January 2019 at King’s Rozvadov at the partypoker Grand Prix Germany and then won his first bracelet later this year at the 2019 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. His total live earnings exceed $400,000.
He beat Finnish poker pro legend Joni Joukhimainen (over $4.5 Million in total live earnings) in head-up. The final hand Joukhimainen went all-In with against . The board was and Klostermeister secured his second Bracelet and €204,010.
WSOPE Event #8: €2,500 Short Deck Hold’em
French poker pro Julien Martini (total live earning over $5 Million) won his second bracelet and €60,009. Betrand “ElkY” Grospellier bubbled and Martini defeated Philip Schwab in a short heads-up with vs. all-in, where the better kicker decided the match.
WSOPE Event #9: €1,100 NLH Bounty Hunter
Romanian Sergiu Covrig won his first Gold Bracelet and €79,282 prize money. He’s the second Romanian to win a WSOP Gold Bracelet in a live tournament.
He defeated German Michael Strauch in the heads-up where he beat with 97s an Ace of Strauch.
WSOPE Event #10: €25,000 Platinum High Roller
Ukranian Andriy Lyubovetskiy denied in Joni Joukhimainen’s second heads-up of the WSOP Europe a WSOP bracelet. Lyubovetskiy took home his first WSOP Gold bracelet and €518,430, by far his biggest cash of his career. His total live earnings are $810,369.
After a tough 1-hour heads-up with lots of swings, Lyubovetskiy beat Jouhkimainen. Jouhkimainen went all-in as the short stack with 4,650,000 chips left (Lyubovetskiy 26.1 Mio) with and Lyubovetskiy called with , making him a 73% favorite. The flop was , turn and the river .
WSOPE Event #11: €1,650 NLH 6-Max
28 years old Italian poker player Simone Andrian won his first WSOP Gold bracelet and €158,616 after a heads-up with Czech Josef Snejberg.
In the last hand, Andrian raised from the button with and short stack (24 bb) Snejberg went all-in with and got snap called. Flop came , turn and river .
WSOPE Event #12: €2,000 8-Game Mix
Julian Martini from France did it again and got his second bracelet during the 2021 World Series of Poker Europe and €33,910 in prize money.
He defeated Ole Schemion in heads-uo. Schemion went all-in as short stack with vs. . The board decided with Martini’s second victory.
WSOPE Event #13: €10,000 NLH 6-Max
French poker player Romain Le Dantec earned his first bracelet and €207,267 in prize money at the €10K NLH 6-max event and defeated on his way many poker pros.
He denied runner-up Sonny Franco his bracelet and took him down in heads-up with against . Le Dantec called from the button and Franco checked. The flop was , giving Franco a flush draw. Both checked. Turn was . Franco checked, Le Dantec bet 225,000 and Franco check raised to 650,000. Le Dantec went all-in and Franco called quickly. Franco had 11 outs, but the river was the , securing Le Dantec’s win.
WSOPE Event #15: €3,000 NLH Closer
Italian poker player Alessandro Pichierri won the last WSOPE event and with it his very first WSOP Gold Bracelet and €148,008 prize money, the biggest cash in his poker career with total live earnings totalling $296,172
The final hand Pichierri jammed in heads-up against German Timo Kamphues with and got called with . The board was manifesting the victory of Alessandro Pichierri.