The Ukrainian poker player Volodymyr Kokoulin won his first-ever World Series of Poker title after defeating Tomasz Kozub heads-up in Rozvadov for $62,635. Kokoulin’s win was a huge one as he came from being one card away from the exit only to recover and perform a miraculous comeback at a final table also featuring players such as Ivan Nikolov and Damjan Radanov.
Bumper Field Fills First PLO Event of the Series
There were an awesome 642 entries in the second event of the World Series of Poker Europe series. That created a prizepool of over $300,000 with the buy-in of €550 ($613) bringing players of all levels to the felt to enjoy a battle for the bracelet. Only 97 players made the money places, with players such as Thomas Eychenne (85th) Stefan Aerts (73rd) and George Sandford (65th) all earning a min-cash worth $1,239.
By the time the final table of eight players was reached, the Polish player Tomasz Kozub was the chip leader, and it was some advantage that he held. Sitting on 70 big blinds, he had a lot more than short stack Damjan Radanov. The most experienced player at the final table felt had just 10 big blinds when play began and he left for $5,695 in eighth place. All-in with jacks in the hole, they didn’t hold against Claudio Di Giacomo’s pair of aces after the Italian made trips on the 
board.
Out in seventh for $7,590 was the Belarussian Andrei Shpak. He moved all-in on the 
flop with 
but was up against Di Giacomo’s open-ender and that came in on the 
turn as the Italian held to take out Shpak and improve his own chances of leaving Rozvadov with the gold.
Di Giacomo Rides the Rollercoaster
Mere minutes later, Stefan Kostner departed for a score of $10,270 in sixth place. The Austrian somehow departed on a flop of 
where he had top pair with a top kicker in his hand. Hristiyan Banov made a miraculous river to score a bigger two pair and take a huge pot where Tomasz Kozub also felt like he should have won, having had straight and flush draws from the flop.
Bulgarian player Ivan Niklov was unable to last much longer in fifth place, leaving with $14,070 after he was the victim of Di Giacomo. The Italian once again got the better of it, his pocket kings holding against Niklov’s 
when a board of 
missed the Bulgarian’s draws and sent him to the rail as a consequence.
While Di Giacomo won that hand, soon he too was on the outside looking in. Losing with a busted straight draw to Tomasz Kozub’s flopped two pair, the Polish player was able to make up for his earlier lack of luck at the final table to survive in style. The Italian piled up more chips than anyone except Volodymyr Kokoulin at the top of the counts as Di Giacomo busted for $19,875 in fourth place.
Banov Banished as Kokoulin is King
A period of play without any bust-outs raised the blinds and that put everyone in danger. It was the Bulgarian Banov who busted in third place for $28,470, as he fell victim to Kozub when the Polish professional made trips on the flop and was never caught up when Banov missed his draws. That pot gave Kozub 4,285,000 chips but he was still some way behind the dominant if under-the-radar Kokouli’s stack of 11.66 million.
Heads-up, the near 3:1 chip advantage for Kokoulin counted, as he kept his Polish opponent at arm’s length before the chips went in. Kozub had 
but was behind Kokoulin’s 
. The board of 
only helped Kokoulin along the way and whiffed Kozub’s straight draw to leave the Ukrainian, who had earlier been one card from the door before hitting a miracle of a flush on the river, to celebrate his piece of poker history.
Kokoulin had already finished second in two WSOP circuit events before this week’s major title. With over $80,000 in live tournament earnings, he’s primarily a PLO player and even favors cash over tournaments. That said, he was delighted to take gold on his visit to King’s on this occasion.
“[I feel] super good. I dreamed about this since I started playing, so it’s super cool,” he told PokerNews. “I used to play hold’em tournaments for seven years. And then I switched to cash Omaha because it’s more fun – more variance!”
After claiming his first-ever WSOP bracelet, maybe he might stick to tournaments when the WSOP Europe rolls around each Autumn.
| WSOP Europe €550 Event #2 Pot Limit Omaha Final Table Results: | |||
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Volodymyr Kokoulin | Ukraine | $62,635 |
| 2nd | Tomasz Kozub | Poland | $41,760 |
| 3rd | Hristiyan Banov | Bulgaria | $28,470 |
| 4th | Claudio Di Giacomo | Italy | $19,875 |
| 5th | Ivan Nikolov | Bulgaria | $14,070 |
| 6th | Stefan Kostner | Austria | $10,270 |
| 7th | Andrei Shpak | Belarus | $7,590 |
| 8th | Damjan Radanov | United States | $5,695 |
Headline photograph by Tomáš Stacha for PokerNews and the WSOP Europe.
