The World Series of Poker Europe continued awarding huge top prizes as it handed Indian player Santosh Suvarna $695,000 and his first-ever WSOP bracelet. Coming third in a Triton Super High Roller Series just last month, Suvarna’s win in the Czech-German border town of Rozvadov as part of the WSOP Europe festival sees his earnings over the past fortnight alone top $2.7 million.
Late Entries Still Leave Field Short of 2022 Total
Despite a flurry of late entries into the €50,000-entry Diamond High Roller event, the field was complete at 37 entries, ten short of last year’s total in the corresponding event. In a year where poker prizepools only seem to have grown, that’s a bit of an anomaly, largely due to the North American Poker Tour going on across the Atlantic in Las Vegas.
With 18 players making Day 2, several poker legends decided to late enter on the second and final day of proceedings, including Stephen Chidwick, who entered twice for no return. Others to buy-in on the final day for a five-figure sum but miss the money places included Canadian poker superpower Timothy Adams, Swiss cash game king Emil Bise, Czech favorite Roman Hrabec and German rising star and GG MILLION$ crusher Leon Sturm.
After others such as Adrian Mateos, Nacho Barbero and Teun Mulder all crashed out, the Brazilian GGPoker ambassador Felipe Ramos became the bubble boy when his daring run after a late entry ended in pain. All-in with 
, he couldn’t beat Canadian Daniel Dvoress’ 
as a board of 
sent the South American home with nothing. Everyone else was in the money, as six now raced to find a bracelet winner.
Home Crowd Anti-Hero Hits the Rail
Ask poker fans who they love to hate, and Martin Kabrhel will be right up there. Famed for his antics at the poker felt as much as his success, Kabrhel once again made the money thanks to a performance that was as spiky as it was skilled. After two all-in hands where he chopped rather than either doubling or being eliminated, Kabrhel’s 
made a pair of jacks on a board showing 
. That wasn’t good enough, however, as Suvarna’s 
won the hand, sending the Czech player to the rail for $111,000.
Ioannis Angelou-Konstas was the next to leave the party, cashing for $144,200 in fifth place. All-in with 
when down to just four big blinds, he was called by Suvarna with 
and the board of 
sent the Greek player home outside the final four. Suvarna’s stack had swelled to 18 million chips as he closed in on the podium place.
The player to miss out on the top three turned out to be Chris Brewer, who on a rollercoaster final day turned his €50,000 entry into $197,500 after a profitable few hours at the felt. All-in with , Brewer lost a North-American showdown against Daniel Dvoress when the Canadian’s 
held. The flop of 
may have paired Dvoress’ three, but actually added some straight outs to Brewer’s hand. They didn’t come in on either the 
turn or 
river and Brewer slid out in fourth.
Suvarna Wins First-Ever WSOP Bracelet
“That’s how I improve my game.” ~ WSOP Bracelet winner Santosh Suvarna.
Down to three, Dvoress was going for his third WSOP and second live bracelet inside a week having never won one at the live felt when the 2023 WSOP Europe festival began. This time, though, he fell a bit short with 
as Ren Lin’s 
rivered trips on a board of 
. Dvoress cashed for $284,000 in third place, leaving Lin (18m) and Suvarna (20m) to battle it out for the gold.
An evenly stacked duel began with Suvarna improving his lead with a couple of small wins, before Lin triple-barrel bluffed off a considerable portion of his chips to go almost 4:1 down in chips. That lead grew to 10:1 by the time Suvarna shoved with . Lin called it off with and paid for it with his tournament life when the board fell 
. Lin’s runner-up result of $427,000 was some way short of Suvarna’s top prize worth $695,000… along with the bracelet he craved perhaps more than the money.
After seven years in high stakes cash games, Suvarna credited ‘battling against the best players in the world’ as being formative in creating his consistency. “That’s how I improve my game,” he told reporters. “That was so fun, actually. I’m also going to be on the Hustler Casino Live 24-hour live stream.
From here, Suvarna will head to the Bahamas for the debut WSOP Paradise festival in December. He goes there wearing a brand-new gold WSOP bracelet.
You can watch the final table of the event play out in all its glory right here:
| WSOP Europe 2023 Diamond High Roller Final Table Results: | |||
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Santhosh Suvarna | India | $695,000 |
| 2nd | Ren Lin | China | $427,000 |
| 3rd | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | $284,000 |
| 4th | Chris Brewer | United States | $197,500 |
| 5th | Ioannis Angelou-Konstas | Greece | $144,200 |
| 6th | Martin Kabrhel | Czech Republic | $111,000 |
