Bucharest Celebrates as Viorel Gavrila Takes 888poker LIVE Trophy

The dazzling Romanian capital Bucharest witnessed the thrilling action of 888poker LIVE in the newly branded 888poker Room Bucharest, drawing poker enthusiasts from all over.

191 entries in the Main Event elevated its prize pool to a generous €138,898, and a local hero Viorel Gavrila took it down for €30,000 after a Hollywood type of heads-up battle against Admir Qinami. On the last hand, Gavrilia triumphed with pocket Aces against Qinami’s pocket Kings in what seemed like destiny, ensuring that the 888poker LIVE trophy remained in Romania.

https://twitter.com/888poker/status/1691138184590012420

Despite the disappointment of the final hand, Qinami had his own Cinderella story. From winning his entry in an 888poker LIVE Ultimate Passport freeroll online on 888poker, he transformed a free ticket into a whopping €19,500.

Three 888poker ambassadors were in the running for the top prize at the start of Day 2. Ricardo Mateus was the day’s first casualty, bowing out in 74th place. Lucia Navarro hung on to her smaller stack for a bit of while but fell short on 50^th place. But her day wasn’t over as she jumped into The Big Shot tournament and clinched the top spot.

On the other hand, Ian Simpsons managed to build his stack to the top 3 rank when 52 players were left in the Main Event, but his promising streak met a bitter end. Facing an opponent with pocket 7s, his pocket Jacks were dominant until a devastating seven landed on the flop, which sent Simpson packing in 26th place, two spots away from the money.

The 888poker LIVE tour is already looking ahead and setting its sights on Coventry as it prepares for another highlight stop in 2023. The esteemed Ricoh Arena in Coventry hosts the 888Poker Live Festival for the very first time from 20th – 29th Oct 2023 with a guaranteed £500,000 Main Event.

2023 888poker LIVE Bucharest Main Event Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Viorel Gavrila	Romania	€30,000
2nd	Admir Qinami	Albania	€19,500
3rd	Marius Gicovanu	Romania	€14,500
4th	Andrii Zaika	Ukraine	€11,500
5th	Razvan Belea	Romania	€9,200
6th	Gheorghe Velcea	Romania	€6,900
7th	Konstantinos Vatseris	Greece	€5,300
8th	Maksims Gorbacs	Latvia	€4,000
9th	Alexandru Marcu	Romania	€3,500