Germany's Leon Sturm is a 22-year-old German prodigy that won Event #23: $50,000 High Roller at the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) for $1,546,024 just days after taking down GGPoker's Super MILLION$ $10,000 buy-in Super High Roller for $1,518,400.
Primarily an online grinder, the young Sturm is now breaking onto the live high roller scene in a big way with a WSOP gold bracelet.
��It does feel amazing," Sturm told PokerNews in his winner's interview. "The bracelet is something special; it means more than just a trophy, I guess. Before, I was thinking that trophies and bracelets don��t mean much to me. But I think a bracelet is special, so that��s pretty cool. The competition was really tough, so that makes it better.��
Echos of Fedor
Sturm's early success on the live felt is reminiscent of that of Fedor Holz, Germany's all-time money leader who rose to poker fame when he won the 2014 WCOOP Main Event for $1.3 million at age 21.
Like Sturm, Holz followed his online score with a strong World Series, finishing third in 2015's $10,000 Six-Handed Championship for $268,463 and 25th in the Main Event the same year for $262,574. The next year, Holz won his first bracelet when he took down the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop for $5 million.
