Daniel Pidun Wins WSOP Europe Main Event title for €1.14m and Debut Bracelet

A huge Main Event, millions of euros on the line and quality at the table – the WSOP Europe Main Event had it all in 2025. On the day that it was announced the series will be brought forward by six months and moved to the Hilton hotel in Prague from its current home at the King’s Casino in Rozvadov on the Czech-German border.

Numbers Down at Rozvadov’s Last Stand

While the WSOP Europe Main Event will always welcome hundreds of players to the tables in pursuit of glory. This year’s field of 659 in the 2025 championship was down on previous years. The WSOP have acted on that knowledge and moved next year’s WSOP Europe festival not only to a more vibrant location in Prague’s Hilton hotel in the Czech capital but also forward in the calendar.

Next year’s Main Event will take place in May of 2026, several months earlier than this year’s festival and before the WSOP in Las Vegas, Nevada which will likely start at the end of May and run to mid-July as in 2025. This year’s Main Event in Europe had some dramatic moments but perhaps missed the lustre of previous years, even including the festival’s early arrival in Rozvadov. The Czech-German border town’s reliance on poker as a sole business venture in the area has meant many players stay away these days, and those may well return in Prague in 2026.

This year’s Main Event provided some excitement at the final table, however, as, long after players such as Ran Ilani (18^th for $50,000), Martin Kabrhel (14^th for $60,750) and Ivan Banic (11^th for $76,000) all fell short of the final table, where eight players did battle to win just one seven-figure top prize and the most coveted bracelet of the 15-event series.

Heading into the final table, the eventual winner Pidun was on 39 big blinds, but with three players ahead of him, the overnight chip leader Murilo Garcia from Brazil of 54 big blinds, the Austrian former professional basketball player and 2023 WSOPE Main Event champion Max Neugebauer (44BB) and Italian Claudio Di Giacomo on 41 big blinds.

Early Exits Help Pidun Rise to the Prize

With eight players kicking it off, the final table was fast from the first deal, as German player Matthias Gude hit the rail for $127,700 not long after play began. All-in pre-flop with ace-queen, the German might have been happy to see a call in some circumstances but the sheer speed of it was worrying as Garcia flipped over pocket kings. The cooler froze out the at-risk German from the flop, a king in the window leading to Gude’s departure as the chip leader increased his stranglehold on the table.

Romanian star Catalin Pop is well known on the European circuit, and he finished deep in the WSOP Europe Main Event for a score of $168,300, exiting in seventh place. All-in with ace-king, the Romanian bisted to Teemu Jaatinen’s pocket tens after no swift delivery of ace or king came.

Soon a former winner joined Pop on the rail, as the professional basketball player – and 2023 WSOP Europe champion – Max Neugebauer crashed out in sixth place for $226,300. Neugebauer’s nemesis in his final hand was Gerald Karlic, who’s pocket nines were too strong for his fellow Austrian’s ace-three as the chips went in before the flop. An eight-high flop only ever offered Neugebauer a gutshot but nothing came to help and the field was trimmed to five.

Pidun Becomes the Champion

Five remained but not for long, as the Italian Claudio Di Giacomo busted for $307,600. All-in with ace-jack, Di Giacomo was ahead of Karlic’s king-five of clubs before the flop but two clubs on the flop and another on the river gave Karlic a flush. Soon, Teemu Jaatinen’s tournament ended too, as the Finnish player departed for $429,500, dominated when his ace-eight was unable to double through Daniel Pidun’s ace-jack.

Into the podium places, Brazilian player Murilo Garcia was the odd man out, leaving with $609,450 in third. Crashing out with ace-three to Karlic’s pocket tens, Garcia’s demise came after a nine-high board sent play heads-up, Karlic holding a powerful 2:1 chip lead.

In the first hand of heads-up play, however, Pidun doubled to almost level the chipcounts, his turned flush way better than Karlic’s rivered set of fours. Soon, Pidun had the lead, and while it was marginal, he still had a lead when the chips went in during a huge final hand.

Karlic’s pocket jacks were all-in and at-risk, while Pidun’s pocket aces were in charge. A king-high board paired neither man’s hand but that was OK for Pidun, who celebrated wildly with his rail, as Karlic claimed $878,750. Winning $1,323,500 up top, Daniel Pidun was the WSOP Europe Main Event champion.

The Latest WSOP Europe Winner Speaks

Back in 2013, Daniel Pidun won the EPT Berlin Main Event winner for a top prize of €880,000. Outlasting 911 opponents on that occasion, Pidun went 12 years between ranking titles but is now a World Poker Tour title away from being a Triple Crown winner, one of only 10 on the planet.

“Of course, it makes me feel great, [it’s a] very good feeling,” said Pidun after the event. “I had a feeling I was going to win it. I just had a feeling; I don’t know why. I play once a year. I don’t have time. Seems to be I’m doing something right.”

Pidun joined his brother Thomer in winning a WSOP bracelet, after Daniel’s sibling won a €2,000 Eight Game Mix event three years ago.

“It was really tough. I was hitting really good. I had good feelings, and I had good hands.” Said Pidun as he celebrated a famous victory in Rozvadov.