The latest bracelet from the 2024 World Series of Poker Europe has found a new home—on the wrist of Darius Neagoe. Neagoe emerged victorious over a field of 458 entrants in Event #11: €1,100 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo Bounty Hunter to take home his first WSOP bracelet.
Romania's Neagoe snagged the €63,650 top prize from the €430,520 prize pool after somewhat cruising through a short-stacked final table. He wrapped things up fast heads-up, defeating Nikolay Traskevich on the very first hand. This win ties his career-best score and sees him jump into the top 100 on Romania's all-time money list.
Traskevich walked away with €45,750 for his runner-up finish, while Switzerland’s Michael Wingeyer rounded out the podium spots with €34,450 for his efforts. With three spots to the €10,350 WSOP Europe Main Event up for grabs, Neagoe, Traskevich, and Wingeyer will all be taking their seats tomorrow, chasing the poker dream of becoming a world champion on Europe’s biggest stage.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darius Neagoe | Romania | €63,650 |
| 2 | Nikolay Traskevich | Belarus | €45,750 |
| 3 | Michael Wingeyer | Switzerland | €34,450 |
| 4 | Paulo Costa | Portugal | €16,700 |
| 5 | Aaron Duczak | Canada | €11,900 |
| 6 | Holger Klock | Germany | €8,600 |
| 7 | Mikkel Plum | Denmark | €6,400 |
| 8 | Traian Stanciu | Romania | €4,850 |
| 9 | De Han Kim | South Korea | €3,775 |
| 10 | Giuseppe Rosa | Italy | €3,020 |
*the top three prizes include a €10,350 WSOPE Main Event ticket
Neagoe couldn’t stop smiling after winning his first WSOP bracelet in Event #11: €1,100 No-Limit Hold'em Turbo Bounty Hunter. The Romanian player was buzzing with excitement as he reflected on his big moment.
“Right now, I am pretty stoked. I am really happy. Overall, I feel amazing. This is the first bracelet for me and hopefully not the last!” he said, flashing a grin.
Neagoe quickly credited his friends, who cheered him on from the rail, saying their support made all the difference in the final stretch.
“I’m feeling really lucky because I see a lot of guys here who are alone, so having an amazing group of friends I love supporting me all the way really helps,” he said, grateful for their presence.
When it came to the hands he played, Neagoe kept it simple. There wasn’t a particular hand that defined his run — instead, it was all about staying focused and taking it step by step.
“There were no real hands that stuck out to me. You take it one hand at a time, and you do your best with the cards you have,” he explained, with the calm mindset that saw him through to victory.
Now, with his first bracelet in hand, Neagoe is already looking ahead, hopeful that this is just the beginning of a successful WSOP career.
Once late registration closed, and the payouts were posted, it was confirmed that 69 players would walk away with at least a min-cash of €1,375. Just two hours later, the bubble burst without even needing hand-for-hand play. Arturo Paduano and Paul Runcan busted on the same hand, sending the rest of the field straight into the money.
Now that everyone had locked up a trip to the payout desk, eliminations started coming fast, as players with short stacks were eager to gamble in hopes of making a push for the final table. Four more levels passed before the three-table redraw took place, with several notables such as Or Nezer (26th - €1,790), Shaun Deeb (36th - €1,445), Dongwoo Ko (44th - €1,445), and Martin Zamani (61st - €1,375) busting in the money.
For the last 27, the final table was now in sight, with the gold bracelet shimmering on the horizon. Only ten players could make it to the tournament's last table, and unfortunately, bracelet winners Vivian Saliba (19th - €1,790) and Simone Andrian (16th - €2,075) didn’t make the cut. After Ilija Savevski brutal exit in eleventh place, where Wingeyer rivered a two-outer, the final table was finally set.
Neagoe entered the final table with the chip lead and pulled away from the rest of the table in the early orbits by putting relentless pressure on the middle stacks. With the average stack of around ten big blinds, it was only a matter of time before a clash was bound to happen. Giuseppe Rosa was the first to bust, as Neagoe hit trips to send him home.
De Han Kim would be the player next to vacate his seat when he came in last place during a three-way all-in that saw Mikkel Plum triple up with sailboats against ace-jack and ace-king of Kim and Traskevich. Kim had fewer chips after the stacks were counted than Traskevich, forcing him to settle for a ninth-place finish.
Romania’s Traian Stanciu claimed the eighth-place prize money after failing to improve against Aaron Duczak’s pocket jacks. Not long after, Plum followed him out, calling off his four-big-blind stack with king-queen but not connecting with any Broadway cards to beat Paulo Costa’s ace-high.
Next to feel the wrath of Neagoe’s final table dominance was Holger Klock, who got it in good, but an unfortunate runout gave Neagoe the winner with a turned straight. After Klock exited in sixth, Canada’s Duczak’s chip stack would be sent over to Neagoe. Duczak jammed with ace-nine and was called off by Neagoe holding king-queen. A couple of queens on the flop spelt the end of Duczak in fifth.
With three €10,350 WSOPE Main Event tickets up for grabs, you’d expect four-handed play to drag on—but in true turbo style, that wasn’t the case. Costa got his chips in with Big Slick, but Traskevich caught a lucky four-flush to send Costa out in fourth. The remaining three players had secured their seats in the Main Event.
Neagoe didn’t let up with three remaining; he went full throttle by jamming the very next hand with nine-seven of hearts from the button. Wingeyer decided to make a stand with pocket threes, but Neagoe’s sun-run continued as a nine hit the flop, meaning Wingeyer picked up the cheque for third place.
Heads-up play lasted all of one hand as Neagoe called Traskevich's five big blind shove with pocket fives and was up against Traskevich's ten-eight of clubs. A five in the window sealed Traskevich's fate, who was overjoyed with his performance in the event. Meanwhile, Neagoe erupted in celebration with his rail, jumping and singing with joy at becoming a WSOP champion.
