There’s been a champion crowned in the 2019 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event, but the festivities haven’t ended quite yet. After battling through two of the toughest pros in the game today in Anthony Zinno and Dario Sammartino, Alexandros Kolonias defeated Claas Segebrecht to earn one of the most prestigious prizes in poker. That doesn’t mean the WSOP is over yet, however, as the Colossus closes the doors on this year’s festivities.
Kolonias Started on Top, Stayed on Top
Kolonias came to the resumption of the six-handed final table with a good head of steam. In second place with a 12.15 million chip stack, Kolonias was only looking up at Zinno’s 16.845 million stack at the start of play. The rest of the field only had seven figure stacks, led by Anh Do with 8.725 million chips, 2019 WSOP Championship Event runner up Dario Sammartino in fourth with 7.1 million chips and Segebrecht (6.4 million) and Rifat Palevic (2.915 million) rounding out the field.
Palevic was the first victim of the day, trying to make a move at the wrong time in a blind versus blind battle against Do. After Palevic moved all in against him, Do looked down to find pocket Queens in the hole and immediately made the call from the big blind. Palevic could only muster up a K-2 for what was not much of a fight; the 10-10-3-6-6 board failed to give Palevic what he needed as he departed the King’s Casino in sixth place.
Even after knocking off Palevic, Do was still in need of ammunition and he tried to gather it. The problem was he ran into Sammartino, who got his final chips to the center with pocket Jacks against Do’s pocket Queens. In a strangely similar circumstance, the flop came 10-10-2 to keep Do in the lead, but the turn changed everything. A Jack fell to give Sammartino a boat and Do was suddenly in trouble. An eight on the river doubled up Sammartino and, soon afterwards, Do would fall to Segebrecht.
It was another tough beat that would cause the next elimination. Zinno and Sammartino went to battle, with Sammartino shoving his stack to the center and Zinno calling for less. Sammartino was in great shape for the knockout with his A-J over Zinno’s K-10, but a King on the flop completely changed the fortunes and left Sammartino on fumes. He would go out in fourth place (an outstanding achievement in the annals of WSOP history) to Segebrecht when his Big Slick failed to stand to Segebrecht’s J-10 on a J-9-3-7-2 board.
Segebrecht (28.65 million chips) at this point dominated Zinno (13.2 million) and Kolonias (11.85 million), but that would be the apex of his day. After an extended period of play, Zinno and Kolonias would finally clash in a hand that saw a new chip leader crowned. Kolonias’ A♣ J♣ would need to run down Zinno’s pocket treys and that’s just what he did; an Ace on the flop was all it took to change fortunes as Kolonias got a huge double up to the lead and Zinno, after fighting valiantly from the scraps he had left, would go out in third place.
Kolonias held a 3:2 lead over Segebrecht going to heads up play and it went remarkably quickly. Although Segebrecht would pull within five million chips at one point, he never found the lead. On the last hand of the tournament, it was Segebrecht taking the pocket treys to battle against Kolonias’ Big Slick, but this time it was Kolonias finding a King on the flop to take over the lead. After a Jack on the turn and a five on the river, the tournament was over and Alexandros Kolonias was the champion of the WSOP Europe Main Event.
1. Alexandros Kolonias, €1,133,678
2. Claas Segebrecht, €700,639
3. Anthony Zinno, €485,291
4. Dario Sammartino, €341,702
5. Anh Do, €244,653
6. Rifat Palevic, €178,171
7. Julien Martini, €132,017
8. Jakob Madsen, €99,555
Colossus to Wrap Up 2019 WSOP
The poker action isn’t done yet at the King’s Casino in Rozvadov. The Colossus is still in play, looking to award the final bracelet for the 2019 WSOP. The Colossus offered players the chance at some final points in the WSOP Player of the Year race and those in contention for the title are taking advantage of the opportunity.
Daniel Negreanu is still leading the way with two more Day Ones scheduled for Saturday, the last chance for players to get a stack to head to Day 2 of the Colossus. Currently Negreanu holds roughly a 114-point lead over Campbell and a 260-point lead over Deeb, but anyone within roughly 1000 points has a chance IF they can win the Colossus (and the leaders falter). That brings players like Zinno (fourth) and Sammartino (seventh) into the mix, but they’ll have to immediately jump back into the Colossus after their time in the Main Event.
The Colossus will end its Day One spree on Saturday and will crown a champion on Monday, wrapping up the 2019 WSOP with the awarding of the final bracelet of the year.
