In 2019, the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) descended on King’s Casino in Rozvadov for a third consecutive year. After victories for Marti Roca de Torres in 2017 and British high roller Jack Sinclair in 2018, it was time for a new champion from a nation that had never produced a WSOP Main Event winner.
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There were more WSOPE events than ever in 2019, with Rozvadov welcoming players to what has now become the standard of 15 WSOP bracelet tournaments. With millions of Euros on the line, the opening event cost €350 to play and was won by the Ukrainian player Renat Bohdanov for €64,004.
Event #2, which concluded the day immediately following event #1, was the first event of the series to be played in PLO. Dash Dudley took it down for €51,600 after winning his first bracelet (and over a million dollars) just four months earlier in Las Vegas, also in PLO. Dudley, a superb emerging talent, claimed a third bracelet in 2022 when he won the Super Turbo Bounty event for $301,396.
The third event of the series was the Mini Main Event. With the same structure as the Main Event itself, it was easily as popular, with the lower buy-in of €1,350 attracting 766 runners. Topping them all was the Greek player Vangelis Kaimakamis, who took home the top prize of €177,406 after outlasting a field that included Jeff Lisandro (14th for €7,335), Pierre Neuville (48th for €2,956) and Adrian Mateos (54th for €2,596). There were two Greek players in the final 10, with Kaimakamis beating Israel’s Shahar Levi heads-up for the gold bracelet.
Chen Grabs Glory, Tricky Misses Out
In the big buy-in event of the series, James Chen reigned supreme as 30 entries put up a $250,000 buy-in. The No Limit Hold’em Super High Roller Event #4 had a total prize pool of €7,125,000, and it was Chen who took home the €2,844,215 top prize. He beat runner-up Chin Wei Lim to the gold with well-known professional players, including Christoph Vogelsang (3rd for €1.1m), Tony G (4th for just under €800,000), and Cary Katz (5th for €538,722), all making the money in an extremely tough field.
Wins in the next three events for Norway’s Espen Sandvik, German player Siamak Tooran, and Czech professional Tomas Fara followed before Event #8, the €25,500 Platinum High Roller event, took place. The €1 million guarantee was almost doubled by the end of late registration as 83 players signed up to create a €1.97 million prize pool. Of the 83 total entries, only 13 poker legends would be paid. Cary Katz once again min-cashed, this time for €37,275, while Daniel Negreanu snuck into the top 10 for a score of €48,929. Alex Foxen came sixth for €95,962, while the 2019 WSOP Main Event winner in Las Vegas, Hossein Ensan, narrowly missed out on gold as he came third for €251,837.
Heads-up was a battle between Australian Kahle Burns and Sam Trickett, two men who had never won a WSOP bracelet or ring. They both played for glory and a top prize of €596,883 in Rozvadov. In the end, it was Kahle Burns who prevailed, ending his own wait and condemning Trickett, who has cashed 20 times in WSOP events, to his fourth runner-up finish in WSOP events.
Despite winning over $11.8 million in WSOP events – including his Big One for One Drop runner-up finish in 2012 – ‘Tricky’ has never won a WSOP bracelet and may be the biggest winner never to do so after some of his high-profile peers like Dan Smith and British compatriot Stephen Chidwick both ended their waits for gold in recent years.
Burns Makes it a Double
After his stunning victory in the Platinum High Roller, Kahle Burns was heading into the latter stages of the WSOP Europe as a man on fire. After wins for Asi Moshe, Besim Hot, and Tomas Ribeiro, a €100,000 Diamond High Roller event took place. The runner-up from the earlier Super High Roller Event, Chin Wei Lim, ended up winning for a score of €2.1m.
Players such as Ryan Riess, Paul Phua, Ole Schemion, and Anatoly Filatov all won money, with 11 players of the 72 entries making a profit. But heads-up it was Lim who prevailed against the French player Jean-Noel Thorel, who ended the event with a runner-up score of nearly €1.35m.
While Short Deck Poker is now a huge part of the poker universe and enjoyed by millions of players around the world, it was not so huge in 2019. The €2,500-entry Short Deck Event #13 was an opportunity for players around the world to showcase their talents in the novel format, and a massive field of 179 saw 28 survive to the money places.
At the final table, Pierre Neuville busted in seventh place for €10,939 before Vladimir Peck (5th for €20,444) and Manig Loeser came close, with the German winning €62,929 as runner-up. Kahle Burns grabbed his second bracelet inside a week as he scooped the €101,834 top prize and his second bracelet of the series in sensational fashion.
The Main Event Brings Drama
While Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier’s victory in the final event of the WSOP Europe, The Colossus, secured the Frenchman’s second bracelet and the most recent of his career, the series was all about the Main Event. The final event brought with it a huge top prize of €1.1m after 541 players entered the event and 82 players cashed.
Among those who reached the money was the record WSOP casher of all time, Roland Israelashvili, who took home €15,089 in 73rd place. The 2018 winner, Jack Sinclair, made it all the way to 61st place for a return of €16,805. Other players such as Dash Dudley (48th for €20,424), soon-to-be Triple Crown winner Roberto Romanello (42nd for €20,424), Maria Lampropulos (31st for €26,986), Alex Foxen (26th for €26,986) and Daniel Rezaei (10th for €76,432) all missed out on the nine-handed final table.
The final table began, and Marek Blasko lost out in ninth place for €76,432, his dominating king-queen shot down by the king-ten of Anthony Zinno as a seemingly invincible flop of A-Q-8 saw Zinno shove, Blasko make the correct call as a ten land on both the turn and river to oust the Slovakian.
Soon after Blasko’s dramatic exit, Jakob Madsen (8th for €99,555) and Julien Martini (7th for €132,017) were busted, as the Frenchman Martini lost with pocket queens to Zinno’s pocket aces. Zinno led the final six into the last day of the event, hoping to win his third bracelet.
Zinno Sunk as Kolonias Conquers
Play on the final day was quick, so fast in fact, that Rifat Palevic had barely settled in his seat before he was getting up to head to the rail. All-in with king-deuce, he lost to Anh Do’s pocket queens, cashing for €178,171 in sixth place. Soon, the Swede Palevic was joined on the rail by Do himself, with his king-nine shot down by Claas Segebrecht’s pocket kings. The Czech player Do left with €244,653.
Four-handed play began with the Greek player Alexandros Kolonias in charge with a stack of 20.7 million chips, with Segebrecht his nearest challenger on 19.1m. Dario Sammartino (9.45m) and the chip leader at the start of the day, Zinno (4.7m) were short by comparison. The Italian former WSOP Main Event runner-up was the next man to bust when his ace-king was downed by Segebrecht’s jack-ten, and Dario cashed for €341,702 in fourth place.
Anthony Zinno fell to the same hand in third place for €485,291 as Kolonias’ jack-ten was all-in, representing more chips than Zinno’s ace-nine had. A board of Q-J-6-8-K landed to send the American to the rail two places short of glory, but while he would have to wait for bracelet #3, he’d eventually rack up three more WSOP titles over the next five years.
Heads-up, Kolonias, with a chip lead of 31m to Segebrecht’s 23m, made it count in the end. Segebrecht dropped short, then doubled up, but was still behind when he three-bet shoved for 23.2 million with pocket threes. Kolonias called with ace-king and immediately hit pay dirt on the flop of K-Q-2. When a jack landed on the turn, Kolonias had not only the best hand but a flush draw blocking one of Segebrecht’s two outs.
Only the three of hearts would save the German. A five of spades on the river gave Kolonias the nut flush and Greece its first-ever WSOP Europe Main Event winner. Claiming the top prize of €1,133,678, Kolonias condemned Segebrecht to a runner-up finish worth just over €700,000.
After a year without the WSOP Europe Main Event in 2020, the COVID pandemic would ease enough for the festival to return in 2021. Records would be broken as live poker came back to Rozvadov bigger than ever.
| Player | Country | Prize | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Alexandros Kolonias | Greece | €1,133,678 |
| 2nd | Claas Segebrecht | Austria | €700,639 |
| 3rd | Anthony Zinno | United States | €485,291 |
| 4th | Dario Sammartino | Italy | €341,702 |
| 5th | Anh Do | Czech Republic | €244,653 |
| 6th | Rifat Palevic | Sweden | €178,171 |
| 7th | Julien Martini | France | €132,017 |
| 8th | Jakob Madsen | Denmark | €99,555 |
| 9th | Marek Blaško | Slovakia | €76,432 |
2018 WSOP Europe 2021 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.
