It seems that once every dozen years or so, Germany’s Daniel Pidun will show up at a major live poker tournament and come away with a seven-figure win. In 2013 he took down the European Poker Tour Berlin main event for more than $1.1 million with just the fourth recorded score of his career.
In the intervening 12 years, he had recorded just a handful of cashes, including two deep runs in high roller events in the late 2010s. After several years without a live cash, Pidun popped back up at the 2025 World Series of Poker Europe and beat out a field of 659 entries to win the €10,350 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event for his first bracelet and $1,333,800 in prize money.
“Actually, I play once a year. I don’t have time. Seems to be I’m doing something right,” Pidun told PokerNews live reporters on site after his win.
Pidun grew his career earnings to nearly $3 million. He is also now the second member of his family to strike gold in a WSOP event, joining his brother Thomer, the champion of the 2022 WSOPE €2,000 eight-game mix event.
“That’s great that we have two in the family,” he added.
In addition to the money and the hardware, Pidun also secured 2,100 Card Player Player of the Year points for this victory. This was his first POY-qualified score of 2025.
Max Neugebauer Headlines Early Eliminations
This event ran from Oct. 3-8 at the King’s Resort Rozvadov near the Czech-German border. The WSOPE is slated to move to a new venue and date in 2026, with the announcement of the planned festival in Prague next spring coming just hours before the final table of this event got underway.
The strong turnout this year built a prize pool worth nearly $7.2 million, with the top 99 finishers earning a share. Just eight advanced to the last day, with Murilo Garcia out in front to start.
Matthias Gude was the first to fall. The German player ran A♥Q♦ into the K♦K♣ of Garcia. The uphill climb got even steeper from there, as Garcia flopped top set on a dry board. Gude was drawing dead after a blank on the turn, and was soon collecting $128,700 for his eighth-place showing.
The next bustout was the result of a classic preflop race that pitted Romania’s Catalin Pop’s A♣K♣ against the 10♠10♦ of Teemu Jaatinen. The board came down Q♦4♦2♠J♦J♥ and the pocket pair held up to narrow the field to six. Pop secured $169,650 for his deep run.
2023 WSOP Europe main event champion Max Neugebauer made a valiant run at a second victory in this tournament. His latest run finished in fifth place when he three-bet shoved for 15 big blinds from the big blind with A♥3♣. The Austrian received a quick call from Gerald Karlic, who had opened with 9♥9♣ from under the gun. The runout of 7♥6♠4♥8♣4♠ kept Karlic ahead, sending Neugebauer home with $228,150. This score grew his career haul to nearly $2.6 million, with roughly $1.6 million of that coming from his win two years ago. He topped 817 entries that year to capture his first bracelet.
Five To Two
Karlic continued his surge, picking off another shorter stack in Claudio Di Giacomo. The Italian’s last stand saw his A♠J♦, called from the big blind, lose out to the K♣5♣ that Karlic shoved from the button. Karlic flopped a flush draw and got there on the river to further pad his already hefty stack. Di Giacomo was awarded $310,050 for his efforts, a new top score for the accomplished player. He now boasts earnings in excess of $2.1 million.
The final four took a dinner break with Karlic out in front and Jaatinen on the short stack. Shortly after play resumed, Jaatinen got the last of his stack in with A♣8♣ trailing A♥J♠ for Pidun. Both players hit top pair on the A♠K♠Q♣ flop, with Pidun’s kicker giving him the edge and a gutshot straight draw. The 2♣ turn saw Jaatinen pick up outs to a club flush, but the 6♠ on the river ended his tournament in fourth place ($432,900).
A preflop raising war led to the next key showdown. Pidun opened with a min-raise to 800,000 from the button with A♥9♥. Garcia three-bet to 3,000,000 with A♣3♣ from the small blind and Karlic fourth-bet to 6,600,000 with 10♥10♣ out of the big blind. Pidun folded and Garcia opted to five-bet shove for 22,450,000. Karlic made the call and held through a nine-high runout, surging to 49,850,000 in the process. Garcia took home $614,250 for his podium showing. This was far and away the largest live tournament payday for the Brazilian.
Big Hands For The Bracelet
The 3:1 chip lead for Karlic was nearly erased right off of the bat, with Pidun winning a massive pot with a turned flush against the a rivered set of fours of his opponent. Pidun’s river shove received a call after some time in the tank to more or less even the playing field.
The two went on to battle for over three hours, with plenty of back-and-forth along the way. Pidun was on top when the two took the final break of the tournament. Shortly after play resumed, Karlic doubled with A-5 against Pidun’s Q-10 suited. A pair of fives was enough to see Karlic nearly square the stacks again.
On the next deal, though, a preflop cooler saw Pidun close out the title. He opened for a 1,200,000 min-raise from the button with A♥A♣ and Karlic three-bet to 4,200,000 with J♠J♣. A 10,500,000 four-bet from Pidun prompted a five-bet shove for 31,000,000 by Karlic. Pidun, of course, snap-called to set up the massive showdown. The board ran out K♠10♦8♠9♠K♣ and the larger pocket pair held up to lock up the victory for Pidun.
Karlic earned $885,690 as the runner-up. This was the largest score yet for the Austrian, who now has nearly $3.3 million in lifetime cashes under his belt after this strong showing.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Daniel Pidun | $1,333,800 | 2100 |
| 2 | Gerald Karlic | $885,690 | 1750 |
| 3 | Murilo Garcia | $614,250 | 1400 |
| 4 | Teemu Jaatinen | $432,900 | 1050 |
| 5 | Claudio Di Giacomo | $310,050 | 875 |
| 6 | Max Neugebauer | $228,150 | 700 |
| 7 | Catalin Pop | $169,650 | 525 |
| 8 | Matthias Gude | $128,700 | 350 |
| 9 | Robert Ashelm | $99,432 | 175 |
Photo credit: WSOP, PokerNews / Tomas Stacha.
