Max Neugebauer Is Crowned New WSOPE Champion at Kings Casino Rozvadov

The €10,350 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Main Event in Kings Casino Rozvadov has come to a conclusion and we have a new champion. He is Max Neugebauer from Vienna, Austria, and he will hold the title of WSOPE champion until the same time next year.

Neugebauer, who made one final table at the 2023 WSOP in Las Vegas, and whose combined tournament earnings amounted to just under $85k, quickly went from being one of the thousands of aspiring poker players to the face on the covers.

On his path to glory and the €1,500,000 first-place prize, the Austrian overcame a final table made up of players from three continents after making his way past a playing field of 712 players in total.

It was a gruelling five-day affair that included big names like Adrian Mateos, Stephen Chidwick, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, and Dario Sammartino, with the latter almost making a final table appearance to add to his impressive resume.

Cards are in the air on Day 3 of the WSOP Europe €10,350 European Championship!

The event attracted a record-breaking field of 817 entries, generating a total prize pool of €7,761,500!

191 remain at the start of Day 3, with four-time bracelet winner Adrian Mateos among the… pic.twitter.com/VZWT10VIuV

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) November 13, 2023

Nevertheless, they were all left in the dust by a group made up mainly of less-known players looking to make a name for themselves, all of whom demonstrated an incredible level skill when the final day of action kicked off.

Before we proceed to find out how we got there, here is a quick look at all the final table payouts from this year’s WSOPE Main Event:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1^st	Max Neugebauer	Austria	€1,500,000
2^nd	Eric Tsai	Taiwan	€891,000
3^rd	Michele Tocci	Italy	€639,000
4^th	Kasparas Klezys	Lithuania	€464,000
5^th	Michael Rocco	United States	€341,000
6^th	Nils Pudel	Germany	€255,000
7^th	Ruslan Volkov	Ukraine	€193,000
8^th	Alf Martinsson	Sweden	€148,000

Exciting Final Day for Eight Survivors

The final day of action saw eight players come back to the Kings Casino poker room to play out the final table and crown the champion.

Taiwanese poker vlogger and Natural8 Ambassador Eric Tsai started the day as an overwhelming chip leader, holding 23,650,000 in chips, good for almost 100 big blinds to start the day.

Other players like Kasparas Klezys from Lithuania and Max Neugebauer from Austria were trailing well behind, with 56 and 41 blinds respectively, while Swedish player Alf Martinsson was in last place with just 13 big blinds.

It was not long before Martinsson saw his stack go into the middle with Ac3s, only to run into the pocket tens of Michele Tocci. The board gave no help to the Swede, who finished the day in eighth place.

Tsai’s chip lead melted, combined with increasing blinds, before Kasparas Klezys managed to send Ruslan Volkov home in seventh when his A♣10♣ outdrew Volkov’s pocket Tens, as the magic A♠ appeared on the turn.

Michele Tocci, who had been running like a god and hitting set after set, took over the chip lead, while Eric Tsai who had started the day as chip leader fell to the very bottom of the rankings.

Chips changed hands quickly and often over the next couple of levels, with stacks evening out quite a bit and Kasparas Klezys taking the chip lead for a period.

It was Nils Pudel, who had been fairly inactive until then, who busted next. His A♥5♣ was no match for the two black Aces of Michael Rocco, and we were down to just five players.

Navigating the Final Stretch

However, Rocco soon ran into pocket Aces himself and lost the majority of his stack before running A♥7♣ into pocket Tens, a hand that dealt quite a bit of damage on this particular final table.

With four players left, Neugebauer was up to 42,000,000 in chips and it looked like the tournament was his to lose at that point already.

The Austrian player used his stack to push other players around for a bit, before eliminating Kasparas Klezys in fourth place with K♦J♣ against Q♦8♣, all the chips going into the middle before the flop once again.

Michele Tocci, the last remaining player before the heads up match could commence, lost most of his chips when his pocket Sixes could not hold on in an all-in confrontation against pocket Deuces of Tsai, which would have seen the Taiwanese player eliminated.

However, Tsai caught a deuce on the turn to make a full house and managed to fade the river to double up and leave Tocci with breadcrumbs.

These breadcrumbs were lost moments later when Tocci’s pocket Jacks could not hold against the K♦4♣ of Neugebauer, as a river K♥ sealed the deal for the Italian.

Nevertheless, Tocci probably saw the biggest return on investment for the event, as his €230 initial investment turned into €639,000, as the satellite winner finished third and left the arena somewhat shaken.

Neugebauer Holds Over Tsai Heads Up

The heads up match started with Neugebauer holding over 64,000,000 in chips against 17,400,000 for Tsai, which meant there was a mountain to climb for the Taiwanese Vlogger.

With a difference of over €600,000 on the line, neither player was going to take a relaxed approach to the match, and we were in for a good one.

The two exchanged bluffs and big value bets for a few dozen hands, and Tsai managed to build up to about 26,000,000 chips, but could not find his way back to even stacks.

The final hand of the tournament was an especially interesting one, as Tsai opened J♦9♦ from the button and fired all three streets on a Q♦8♦7♥A♠4♠ board.

Convinced that Tsai was bluffing, the Austrian took a long time to decide on the river bet of 16,000,000 chips, but eventually decided he was going to make the call with J♠8♣ for just a pair of eights.

Your 2023 WSOP Europe Main Event Champion, Max Neugebauer!

26-year-old Austrian outlasted a record-breaking field of 817 entries to earn €1,500,000 and the first gold bracelet of his career.

Interview & Event Recap: https://t.co/pMP1NdR9Dt pic.twitter.com/nLr2IcbhD4

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) November 16, 2023

Whether Neugebauer’s call was too loose or not is left for the experts to analyse, but it was enough to seal the deal on the match and see the Austrian become the new WSOPE champion.

The win marks his first WSOP bracelet and first major tournament win of his career, as he adds €1.5 million to his previous record of just $84,000.