Italian player Alessandro Pichierri denied Alex Foxen gold last night in Rozvadov as he won the eighth event of the 2024 World Series of Poker Europe and the GG MILLION€ Live event for $371,400. With others such as Leon Tsoukernik and Sirzat Hissou reaching the final table, Pichierri’s victory marked the second time Pichierri won a bracelet after his triumph back in 2021, also at the WSOP Europe in the Czech-German border town.
Legends of the Fall
With 38 total entries, a prizepool of a million euros ($1,105,750) awaited only the final six players profit on a pulsating final day of action that was streamed live around Europe and the world. The chunky €25,000 ($27,640) buy-in produced poker of the very highest level from the first card to the last and early eliminations for superstars underlined that.
Shaun Deeb, Stephen Chidwick, Martin Kabrhel, Jan-Peter Jachtmann, Kristen Foxen and Anson Tsang all busted before the final dozen players, with Orpen Kisacikoglu going out in ninth place three sports short of the money. The Britain-based Turkish player was all-in pre-flop with 
but lost a flip to the Swiss player Salih Atac when his 
got there across the 
board.
The eventual winner Pichierri took out one of his most dangerous opponents when he eliminated Viktor Blom in eighth place. The Swedish poker legend was all-in pre-flop with 
but didn’t even have a flush sweat against the of Pichierri. The Italian easily survived the king-high board to take out Blom and that left play on the money bubble with seven players still in the hunt for gold.
Ju Jumps Ship as Foxen Flies
German player Samuel Ju was the ‘Bubble Boy’ when he was eliminated in seventh place. All-in with 
, Ju lost out to Salih Atac’s 
. A jack-high board took out the German player and heading into the final six, it was Alex Foxen who led the field on 6,425,000 chips, with Atac his nearest challenger on 4.3 million.
Out first for money was Sirzat Hissou, who won $71,875 in sixth place. Shoving for just under ten big blinds with 
on a flop of 
, Hissou lost out to King’s Casino crusher Leon Tsoukernik’s 
as the Czech Republic player called with top and bottom pair and held through the turn. The river needed to be a heart for Hissou but the may have completed his flush but also fulfilled a full house for his opponent.
Norwegian player Tom-Aksel Bedell was soon on the rail too, cashing for $83,490 in fifth. All-in pre-flop with 
, Bedell ran into the pocket aces of Leon Tsoukernik and couldn’t get there, just missing out on the spade nut flush as the board came 
.
Pichierri Sees It Out
“Heads-up was easy, but Foxen was a very hard opponent.”
Despite winning that hand, Tsoukernik was soon on the rail himself, cashing for $108,585 in fourth place. The Czech high roller was all-in with 
but he started and ended way behind Alex Foxen’s 
as a board of 
played out to send play three-handed.
Foxen had 11.1 million chips, more than his two opponents Salih Atac (4m) and Pichierri (3.9m) combined. It was the Swiss star Atac who lost out next, cashing for $156,460 in third place when his 
lost to Alex Foxen’s 
after the American flopped a pair of aces and held through 5th street to go into the heads-up battle for the bracelet with a lead of almost 4:1 in chips.
The final duel turned a little when Pichierri won a coinflip with pocket eights against Foxen’s 
. The Italian took a marginal lead over the next few hands without going to showdown and was soon over. Foxen moved all-in with on a flop of 
but had been trapped by Pichierri with and through the turn and 
river he became a two-time WSOP champion.
“I feel very grateful to see a good result from my hard work,” he said after victory. “When you play every day and things go bad, you can think that you’re doing something wrong but when you win a tournament like this, you can feel a bit of peace. I’ve had many up moments and some down moments in my career, and this is for sure an up moment”.
After taking down the 2021 WSOP Europe $3,000 NLHE Closer, the final event of that series, for €148,008 ($163,560), today’s win marks the second bracelet of Pichierri’s fledgling career at the felt.
“The whole final table was hard… and painful at times.” He confessed. “He (Foxen) is a very difficult opponent – very aggressive – and he was on my left as a massive chip leader. The whole final table I just waited and let him do everything. Once heads-up play began I got lucky two times. I won a flip and then a semi-cooler. So heads-up was easy, but Foxen was a very hard opponent.”
Watch all the action as it happened right here:
| WSOP Europe €25,000 Event #8 GG MILLION€ High Roller Results: | |||
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Alessandro Pichierri | Italy | $371,400 |
| 2nd | Alex Foxen | United States | $247,580 |
| 3rd | Salih Atac | Switzerland | $156,460 |
| 4th | Leon Tsoukernik | Czechia | $108,585 |
| 5th | Tom-Aksel Bedell | Norway | $83,490 |
| 6th | Sirzat Hissou | Germany | $71,875 |
Headline photograph courtesy of award-nominated photographer Danny Maxwell for PokerNews, the home of live reporting at WSOP Europe.
