The 2015 World Series of Poker Europe has made its share of history this year. Last week, it hosted the largest event ever at the WSOP Europe, The Oktoberfest, which fielded 2,144 players. And now, the latest bracelet winner is just the third player from Greece to pull off the feat. The kicker here, though, is that before this year’s WSOP Europe, nobody from Greece had ever won a gold bracelet. In the span of about a week, there have now been three Greek champs. The latest Greek that can be found walking around Berlin with a smile from ear to ear is Georgios Sotiropoulos, who won €112,133 Event #8: €1,100 Turbo No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry.
As one might have expected from a turbo tournament, the proceedings went by very quickly. Of the 546 entries on Days 1A and 1B combined, just 46 made it to Day 2. And unlike in most major tournaments, play didn’t stop when the final table was determined. It took only about three hours to get from the beginning of Day 2 to the final nine players, so there was no need to proceed to a Day 3.
As impressive as a World Series of Poker bracelet is in the first place, Sotiropoulos’s was even more so because of how challenging the field at the final table was. He had to beat the likes of Benjamin Zamani, John Racener, Brian Hastings, and Byron Kaverman to capture his first title.
As fast as the tournament went, it actually slowed down a bit at the final table, which isn’t all that unusual, as players begin taking their time more with the title in sight. It was Sotiropoulos that was responsible for speeding up the pace, as he ran roughshod through his opponents on his way to hoarding all the chips. Before a break, he knocked out Rafal Tomczak in fifth place to raise his chip count to 600,000. About 15 minutes after play resumed, he hurried to heads-up, eliminating both Andre Lommel and Benjamin Zamani in fourth and third place, respectively, on the very same hand. And just minutes later, he ended it, calling Paul Tedeschi’s A-8 all-in with K-Q. Sotiropoulos flopped a Queen and turned a King, but Tedeschi still had a shot if he could hit a Ten on the river. Of course, he did not and Georgios Sotiropoulous captured his first World Series of Poker bracelet.
2015 World Series of Poker Europe Event #8: €1,100 Turbo No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry – Final Table Results
1. Georgios Sotiropoulos – €112,133
2. Paul Tedeschi – €69,361
3. Benjamin Zamani – €50,719
4. Andre Lommel – €37,636
5. Rafal Tomczak – €28,318
6. John Racener – €21,600
7. Brian Hastings – €16,703
8. Byron Kaverman – €13,094
9. Asher Conniff– €10,402
