2015 WSOP Europe: Makarios Avramidis Wins €2,200 Six-Max NL

The first event of this year’s World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) is now in the bag, and scooping the competition’s first gold bracelet is a German resident originally from Greece, Makarios Avramidis.
On Thursday 8th October, the restaurant owner entered Event #1: €2,200 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em, and three days later he would emerge atop of the 197 player field to scoop a prestigious bracelet, as well as the event’s €105,000 ($118,166) first place prize. Following his impressive victory, Avramidis, who now boasts $314,159 in live tournament winnings, said:
“I don’t even understand yet what has happened. I have played European Poker Tour tournaments for a few years and never even reached the money. This is just a really fantastic feeling. It is probably going to take a bit of time to realize what has actually happened here.”
The €2,200 buy-in event attracted enough players to create a prize pool worth €328,180, and amongst the 21 players reaching one of the paid money spots was a number of notable pros. This included Scott Clements in 17th (€4,470), David Yan in 16th (€4,470), Giacomo Fundaro in 11th (€6,460), Max Pescatori in 8th (€12,120), and Jeff Lisandro in 7th (€12,120). The final table was also jam-packed with top poker talent including 2015 WSOP bracelet winner Paul Michaelis, WPT World Championship winner Marvin Rettenmaier, and English poker sensation Stephen Chidwick. Three-handed play subsequently saw Avramidis (J-J) take out Paul Michaelis (10-10) in 3rd (€45,860) to usher in heads-up against Frederic Schwarzer for the title.
As the final battle commenced, Avramidis was trailing by 2:1 in chips, but soon managed to overcome the deficit. More than an hour of play would then ensue before the deciding hand was played with Schwarzer pushing all-in preflop holding K-9, only to be called by his opponent with A-6. The A-10-4-4-9 board then sealed the deal, and so Schwarzer picked-up €64,930 for his runner-up finish, while Avramidis entered the WSOPE history books.
“I thought [Schwarzer] seems a little scared and he was waiting for big hands, so I decided to be more aggressive heads-up. I was really putting a lot of pressure on him because I could see he really wanted to win and might be a little scared to lose,” explained Avramidis, before adding: “Poker is my passion. I know that this is a big achievement, but I don’t want to brag. It takes a lot of luck to win in poker. I have seen both sides of it.”
Final Table Results:
1. Makarios Avramidis  €105,00
2. Frederic Schwarzer  €64,930
3. Paul Michaelis  €45,860
4. Stephen Chidwick €32,600
5. Ricardo Alvarado  €23,310
6. Marvin Rettenmaier €16,740