Marius Schneider delivered a thrilling finale to the 2024 World Series of Poker Europe, capturing his first-ever bracelet in Event #15: €550 Closer at King’s Resort in Rozvadov. Schneider’s remarkable run earned him a career-best score of €44,000, as he overcame a tough heads-up battle against Romania’s Tiberiu Tirca, who took home €28,800 for his career-high cash.
Schneider’s win was even more remarkable because he almost didn’t play. The night before, he considered skipping the final day after starting with one of the shortest stacks. After discussing it with his friends, he decided to play Day 2, and he will be extremely pleased that he did, as he is now the proud owner of a WSOP bracelet.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marius Schneider | Germany | €44,000 |
| 2 | Tiberiu Tirca | Romania | €28,800 |
| 3 | Ib Poulsen | Denmark | €19,300 |
| 4 | De Han Kim | South Korea | €13,300 |
| 5 | Ran Shahar | Israel | €9,400 |
| 6 | Musa Jusaj | Kosovo | €6,750 |
| 7 | Ron Jeda | Israel | €5,030 |
| 8 | Martin Kabrhel | Czech Republic | €3,825 |
| 9 | Catalin Diac | Romania | €2,990 |
"Surreal," was the first word from Schneider after capturing his first WSOP bracelet. "I think I was 39th in chips at the start of the day, and I didn’t think I’d make it this far. Winning it... it’s quite surreal, to be honest," he admitted.
For Schneider, poker has always been a hobby, and the thought of winning a bracelet felt distant. "It was kind of a dream but so unreachable that I never thought much about it," he reflected. "I'm actually a student right now in Germany, so my focus is on that, but I’m sure I’ll play more poker in the future."
Adding to the disbelief, Schneider almost didn’t play. "My friends and I were really tired, and last night we even thought about leaving because I had such a short stack. Luckily, we decided to stay, so I have to thank my friends for that." were Schneider's closing words.
A total of 473 entries were logged across the two opening flights, generating a prize pool of €222,310. Out of those, just 58 players secured their spot in Day 2. However, notable names like Sergiu Covrig (17th), Gab Yong Kim (37th), Wing Po Liu (53rd), and Ilija Savevski (55th) all fell short of the final table.
Day 2 began with Jacob Amsellem leading the pack, bringing a towering stack of exactly one million chips into play, well clear of De Han Kim in second, who had 669,500. Amsellem's momentum continued as he dispatched Pawel Zawadowicz, whose ace-king was no match for the Cowboys of the French player. Amsellem continued to knock out opponents, including Arshavir Hakobya and Michele Tocci, but, as the tournament neared the final two tables, he hit a rough patch. His downfall came in Level 27 when his ace-five couldn’t overcome Kim’s ace-queen, leaving him to exit in thirteenth place.
Martin Kabrhel, one of the chip leaders when play got underway, made an early surge up the leaderboard. He turned trips in a hand against Amsellem, extracting a sizable river bet that propelled him even higher. Kabrhel then caught another break when his ace-nine cracked the pocket kings of Torsten Kowalke, eliminating the German player in sixteenth place.
At one point, Kabrhel sat comfortably atop the chip counts. However, a series of tough hands soon brought him back to reality. He first doubled up Catalin Diac in a blind-on-blind confrontation, then made what he declared as the "greatest laydown in poker history" against Musa Jusaj.
His misfortune continued when an ill-timed shove left him on fumes, with Schneider seizing the chip lead. Schneider’s time at the top was short-lived, though, as in a dramatic three-way pot, Ran Shahar’s queen-nine cracked the aces of Karl Strasser, simultaneously sending Joerg Schneegass to the rail. Shahar then capitalized on his momentum, picking up pocket kings to eliminate Strasser in tenth place, which set the stage for the final table.
Diac came into the final table in last with just ten big blinds, and he soon had zero after his ace-six ran into the pocket queens of Ib Poulsen, who made quads. Kabrhel quickly followed as he called a turn shove from Tirca with a pair and a flush draw holding jack-ten, but bricked the river as Tirca's ace-king held up on the ace-high board.
Ron Jeda saw his pocket nines go down in flames as he couldn’t hold up in a flip against Schneider’s queen-jack, which left the German player with over a third of the total chips in play. Shortly after, Shahar gained a commanding stack, eliminating Jusaj when his pocket tens bested his opponent's ace-ten. With both Schneider and Shahar holding massive portions of the chips, the final table dynamics were set to be intense.
Five-handed play stretched over two levels, and despite Shahar starting Level 30 with a healthy stack, his tournament journey ended abruptly before the close of Level 31. Hand after hand, the chips slipped away, and his luck ran dry. In his final hand, Shahar limped from the small blind with king-five and found himself all-in on a five-four-three flop. Schneider, holding three-deuce, was looking to extend his chip and completed a straight when an ace hit the turn, sending Shahar to the payout desk in fifth.
At this stage, Schneider controlled roughly two-thirds of the chips in play and seemed poised to claim the bracelet. However, his momentum stalled in a big pot against Tirca. Schneider, holding eight-seven, flopped an open-ended straight draw, and three-bet shoved the flop. Tirca, with queen-ten and a flopped pair of queens, made the call and watched the board brick out, which allowed him to close the gap and pull within striking distance.
Meanwhile, Kim had been nursing a short stack for much of the day. Although he managed to double up during four-handed play, his luck soon ran out when his ace-ten couldn’t hold up against Schneider’s jack-seven after both got their chips in preflop, with Schneider turning a seven to seal Kim’s elimination.
Poulsen quietly navigated his way to a podium finish despite starting the final table in the middle of the pack. The Day 1a chip leader eventually shoved with queen-ten for his last eight big blinds but ran into Tirca's ace-ten. The board provided no help, forcing Poulsen to settle for third place.
Tirca entered heads-up play with a narrow seven-to-five chip lead over Schneider, a margin he steadily increased by winning several small pots. With his advantage growing to nearly three-to-one, Tirca could clinch the title when he flopped top pair with king-nine and got the chips in the middle. Unfortunately for Tirca, Schneider held pocket aces and doubled up, reclaiming the chip lead he had held earlier.
Schneider’s time as chip leader was short-lived, as Tirca quickly chipped away and regained control shortly after losing it. Applying relentless pressure, Tirca left Schneider struggling for answers. Before long, the chip lead swung back to a three-to-one advantage in favor of the Romanian player.
However, Schneider never gave up and found a huge double-up after he called a three-bet shove with ace-king and held against the king-six of Tirca. Moments later, it was all over as Tirca got in his last few big blinds with eight-three and was put at risk by the king-four of Schneider. A king on the flop all but sealed the deal, and Schneider erupted into celebration with his rail. It was a great effort by Tirca, but he had to settle for second.