Fabian Gumz Triumps at 2024 WPT Prime Slovakia

The WPT Prime returned to Slovakia for its second consecutive year, again making its mark at the Card Casino Bratislava. Building on the success of the 2023 festival, which drew 552 entries for the Championship event, this year’s edition saw an even more impressive turnout with 732 participants in the €1,100 Main Event. The event generated a massive prize pool of €702,720, easily surpassing the €500,000 guarantee.

Leading the charge to victory was Germany’s Fabian Gumz, who clinched the top prize of €117,980, which also included a seat to the 2024 WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas. Gumz beat Maor Zaharagi in a heads-up battle for one of his best career wins, bolstering his already impressive record of more than $2 million in live tournament winnings, as recorded by the HendonMob.

2024 WPT Prime Slovakia Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize (EUR)
1	Fabian Gumz	Germany	€117,280
2	Maor Zaharagi	Israel	€72,000
3	Jozef Cibicek	Slovakia	€53,000
4	Andras Matrai	Hungary	€40,000
5	Iulian Tataru	Romania	€30,000
6	Emil Bise	Switzerland	€23,000
7	Dennis Gerschengoren	Germany	€17,700
8	Lukasz Adamczewski	Poland	€13,700
9	Alexey Mishuk	Israel	€10,800

2024 WPT Prime Slovakia Final Table Recap

After a marathon session on Day 2, the WPT Prime Slovakia Championship’s final table was set with nine contenders left from an initial field of 95. Hungary’s Andras Matrai led the pack with 72 big blinds, followed closely by Israeli’s Maor Zaharagi with 61 and Fabian Gumz with 44 big blinds. Each player on the final table was guaranteed at least €10,800, but all eyes were on the top prize of €117,980.

The action on the final day progressed swiftly, especially with several players on short stacks. The first elimination occurred when Alexey Mishuk pushed with pocket jacks against fellow countryman Maor Zaharagi, who woke up with pocket kings.

Pocket jacks proved unlucky again as Lukasz Adamczewski went all-in from early position, only to be called by Iulian Tataru with ace-queen in a classic coinflip. A queen on the turn sealed Adamczewski’s fate, eliminating him in eighth place. Dennis Gerschengoren briefly doubled up with ace-six against chip leader Zaharagi, but his luck ran out when his pocket tens failed to hold up against Jozef Cibicek’s ace-queen, with an ace appearing on the turn.

Emil Bise was the next to fall, moving all-in with ace-seven from the big blind and was knocked out by Zaharagi’s pocket fours, which turned into a full house by the turn. At this point, Fabian Gumz began to pick up the pace, eliminating Iulian Tataru, who raised with A♠5♦ and essentially going all-in, while Gumz only called on the button. Flop opens 10♠8♥7♥, and Tataru moves all in. Gumz called with A♥K♥, being well ahead. The turn brings 9♥ for a flush, and Tataru was out in fifth place.

Gumz started playing aggressively, using his big stack. In one instance, he pushed all-in with ace-five, trying to steal the blinds, but Andras Matrai tables ace-jack. The flop K96 seems safe, but the turn brings 7 for an added gutshot straight draw for Gumz. Unlucky 8 hit the river for Matrai, sending him home in fourth place.

With the majority of the chips in front of him, Gumz kept the pressure high. Zaharagi then took out Cibicek, setting up a heads-up match where Gumz held a commanding 3:1 chip lead over Zaharagi.

The final hand saw Zaharagi move all-in with ten big blinds holding A♣3♥ against Gumz’s Q♦10♥. The flop came 10♣J♦3♦, pulling Gumz ahead. No help came for Zaharagi on the turn 6♠ or the river 7♣, securing Fabian Gumz’s victory as the new WPT Prime Slovakia champion. Gumz not only took home the trophy and the top prize of €117,980 but also secured a $10,400 seat at the WPT World Championship, capping off an impressive performance throughout the tournament.

Qualify for Future Events

WPT Global is giving out poker passports every weekend for you to travel around the globe and play in world famous WPT live tournaments. Score your own WPT Prime Passport in any of their $110 Passport Qualifiers and choose where in the world you want to play. Smaller buy-in satellites start as low as $5 where you can earn a $110 passport ticket and run throughout each day.

There are $110 Passport Qualifiers every Saturday at 2:00 p.m. ET and every Sunday at 6:00 p.m. ET. Win and earn a $1,500 total WPT Prime Passport to be used at the live event of your choice.

* Images courtesy of WPT