One year after its debut year in Rozvadov, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe festival returned to the border town between the Czech Republic and Germany with 10 more WSOPE tournaments. There were shocks, big names, and a British Main Event winner, as the second WSOPE festival to be hosted in Rozvadov became a huge success.
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Early Events See Israeli Winners
The opening event of the 2018 WSOP Europe was a €550-entry No Limit Hold’em event, as the Colossus transferred to Europe after another successful summer stint in Las Vegas. With a one million Euro guarantee, the eventual prize pool easily surpassed that mark, with Israeli player Tamir Segal grabbing the €203,820 top prize from a total prize fund of €1.43 million.
Asi Moshe made it two wins from the first two tournaments for Israel when he won Event #2, the €1,650 NLHE Six-Max Deepstack event, beating Robert Schulz heads-up for the gold bracelet and glory. Big names such as Shaun Deeb (11th), Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson (17th), and Roland Israelishvili (22nd) all finished deep, with the latter claiming the latest in an amazing haul of ranked live tournament cashes. Over the course of his career, Israelishvili has earned over 700 results in professional poker tournaments, an unmatched total among his peers.
The third event of the series saw 572 entries take on the first Pot Limit Omaha tournament. The €550-entry bracelet event was won by Austria’s Hanh Tran for a top prize of €59,625. The eight-Max event was almost equaled in popularity by the fourth event, which was back in NLHE as an €1,100 buy-in Turbo Bounty Hunter event. Won by the Ukraine player Mykhalio Gutyi for €61,000, it was another example of how well attended the series was, as a prize pool of €371,326 almost doubled the guarantee of €200,000.
Addamo Claims High Roller Gold
After event wins for players such as Timur Margolin, who earned a third bracelet for Israel, Norbert Szécsi, and Anson Tsang, it was time for the first of two high roller events at the 2018 WSOPE. First, in the €25,000 NLHE High Roller Event #8, 133 entries meant a prize pool of over €3 million, and just 20 players saw a return on their initial investments.
Czech player Martin Kabrhel went close but cashed in 16th for €43,223, while Frenchman Jean-Noel Thorel won €59,176 in 11th. One place higher was Canada’s Timothy Adams for €71,821, with Dominik Nitsche lasting all the way to fifth place for a score of €196,328. Benjamin Pollak came in third for €370,219 but he was ousted during a dominant final table performance by the Australian player Michael Addamo. In winning the €848,702 top prize, Addamo crowned what was to become known as ‘The Year of Addamo’, as the popular tournament crusher won an amazing $3 million across multiple events, winning two WSOP bracelets as part of his triumphs.
Kabrhel Claims Higher Gold
As if one high roller wasn’t enough, another even bigger one took place. The €100,000-entry Super High Roller featured some of the world’s best as it welcomed 95 entries and paid out a prize pool of over €9 million to 15 players. Of those, Steve O’Dwyer (13th for €161,587), Michael Addamo (8th for €264,110), and Dominik Nitsche (again coming fifth, this time for €574,466) missed out, as the home country anti-hero Martin Kabrhel beat American David Peters to take his second WSOP title.
Kabrhel, long famed for his, at times, close-to-the-edge table talk and intimidating presence at the felt, took home a massive €2.62 million top prize, the biggest prize of the 2018 WSOP Europe festival, and afterward was delighted.
“[It’s] the greatest victory, I’m very happy,” he said Kabrhel. “I’m only satisfied when I win it, so I don’t really care too much about the players that are in it. You can be the best player in the world and run like **** but you can’t do anything about that sometimes. Hopefully I can win two bracelets this year; If I’m unlucky in the Main Event, I’ll just have to win one! But that’s poker. I hope I’m one of the favorites for the Main like every other tournament!”
The Main Event Provides the Passion
With Kabrhel declaring his intentions to win a second bracelet in the final event of the series, the heat was on as 534 players took on the €10,350 buy-in WSOP Europe Main Event. With just 81 players cashing, many big names missed out, although Ben Heath (80th), Mustapha Kanit (78th), and Joao Vieira (57th) all cashed for under €20,000.
Closer to the final table, there were deep runs to the top 5% of the field for Niall Farrell (27th for €26,712), Igor Kurganov (22nd for €31,623), and the former WSOP Main Event final table player and Irishman Andy ‘The Mad Monk’ Black, who walked away with €47,019 in 13th place.
At the final table, Koray Aldemir missed out on the six-handed action, the last to bust the previous day for a score of €130,050. He didn’t know it, but the German would only have to wait three years to become the world champion in Las Vegas and win $8 million!
A quick bust-out for Ihor Yerofieiev in sixth started the final day, as the Ukrainian lost a coinflip to Milos Skrbic. The Serbian lost out himself in fifth, cashing for €175,965 when his king-jack couldn’t overtake the Hungarian Laszlo Bujtas’ ace-queen. Soon, four became three, as Ryan Riess, who won the Vegas WSOP Main Event in 2013, lost with pocket sevens to Krasimir Yankov’s pocket aces. Riess was just three places away from emulating Phil Hellmuth, who remained the only player ever to win the WSOP Main Event in the United States and abroad.
Bujtas Beaten as Sinclair Stuns Fans
Three players remained, and the stacks were very even. Jack Sinclair initially sunk to the bottom of the counts but recovered sufficiently to cover Yankov’s stack, and when a flop of Q-7-5 landed, followed by a king on the turn, the money went in. Both men had sets, but while Yankov’s hole cards were fives, Sinclair was sitting with sevens. It was more than enough to end the Bulgarian’s time in the tournament, sending him to the rails for €480,028 in third place.
Heads up, the chips were almost level, but Bujtas soon took a 2:1 lead. That situation flipped when a big bluff went wrong, and the British player called it off, giving himself over 60% of the chips in play instead. That lead improved to a 5:1 domination before all the chips went in, with Sinclair holding queen-nine and Bujtas hoping to hit with jack-seven. A flop of K-Q-3 put Sinclair into a big lead, and a six on the turn ended the matter, Bujtas was drawing dead to the river as Sinclair, stunned, celebrated a famous win.
Start of a Something Wonderful
“It’s like being in a dream at the moment – the whole week has been absolutely insane,” he said. “It’s unlike any other tournament I’ve ever played. I never really lost a big pot as far as I can remember and just got all the hands when I needed them. Every time I felt like things were getting precarious, I instantly won a big pot. I’m very happy with how I played and even more happy with how I ran. I haven’t come to terms with it yet. It’s just ridiculous but I’m kind of getting used to these ridiculous things happening.”
Over the next few years, Jack Sinclair traveled the world and earned more major prizes. To date, he has earned over $5.7 million in winnings, but his best prize remains the €1,122,239 and the gold WSOP bracelet he won in Rozvadov in late 2018. He will also be remembered as the WSOP Europe’s first British Main Event winner to win outside of London.
| Player | Country | Prize | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Jack Sinclair | United Kingdom | €1,122,239 |
| 2nd | Laszlo Bujtas | Hungary | €693,573 |
| 3rd | Krasimir Yankov | Bulgaria | €480,028 |
| 4th | Ryan Riess | United States | €337,778 |
| 5th | Milos Skrbic | Serbie | €241,718 |
| 6th | Ihor Yerofieiev | Ukraine | €175,965 |
| 7th | Koray Aldemir | Austria | €130,350 |
| 8th | Bulscu Lukacs | Romania | €98,287 |
| 9th | Stoyan Obreshkov | Bulgaria | €75,461 |
2017 WSOP Europe 2019 WSOP Europe
About the Author: Paul Seaton has written about poker for over 10 years, interviewing some of the best players ever to play the game such as Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Over the years, Paul has reported live from tournaments such as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the European Poker Tour. He has also written for other poker brands where he was Head of Media, as well as BLUFF magazine, where he was Editor.
