WSOP Europe Gets Underway and Awards Several Bracelets

World Series of Poker headed to Europe just last week in order to hold their next tournament series by the name of WSOP Europe. The World Series of Poker live series in Las Vegas, which was recently concluded, was a great success and brought lots of exciting poker action to the fans. The WSOP Europe runs from November 19th to December 8th. It is taking place at the King’s Casino Resort in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, and features a massive €11.5 million guaranteed prize pool. The tournament series features 15 WSOP gold bracelets and a €10,350 Main Event, which will be running from December 3rd to December 8th with a €5 million guarantee. 

There was some speculation regarding the COVID-19 situation in the Czech Republic. Luckily, the casino announced that the series will continue and finish as planned. Currently, there are no dramatic schedule changes and everything seems to be on track. However, the new COVID-19 variant remains a concern to future plans. At this point, the Czech government has introduced some capacity limitations, but King’s Casino is managing it quite well. The series is quite successful so far and many 2021 WSOP Europe events have already exceeded their guarantees. In this article, we will present you with all of the most important 2021 WSOP Europe highlights so far. 

Event 1: €350 NLHE Opener

The 2021 WSOP Europe has kicked off with an NLHE Opener event for €350. This event was able to gather 1,789 player entries. The WSOP Europe Opener event was won by Italy’s Antonello Ferraiuolo. For this victory, he was awarded €77,750 and his first-ever bracelet of the series. On top of that, he has also won a seat at the 2021 WSOP Europe Main Event. What’s even more significant is that with this victory Ferraiuolo became the latest Italian WSOP bracelet winner since 2015. The entire event was live-streamed on YouTube, so fans could enjoy the action as well. 

Here is a look at the final table results and payouts:

Event 2: €550 PLO Eigh-Handed

The second 2021 WSOP Europe bracelet event was the €550 buy-in pot-limit Omaha tournament. It has gathered a total of 623 entries, which has generated a total prize pool of €295,925. The action lasted three full days, but at the end of the tournament, Dutch poker player Bjorn Berbaken was able to emerge as a winner. The battle culminated in a heads-up play against Zhao Feng. For this victory, Verbake was awarded the top prize of €59,259 and his first gold bracelet. 

Here is a look at the final table results and payouts:

Event 3: €1,350 Mini Main Event

The final table of the WSOP Europe Mini Main Event for €1,350 has begun with nine final players remaining. Pablo Finini was able to triple up quite early in the tournament. Omid Kamali Novin was the first player to go home as he was eliminated by Vivan Saliba. Soon after that, several other players have doubled or even tripled up. However, Finini has lost his pot to Alessandro Pichierri. Then, Jack Sinclair doubled up through Saliva, who left in seventh. Former chip leader, Ciro Perno was losing ground quickly and ultimately busted in sixth place to Van Brug. The former WSOPE Main Event winner Jack Sinclair was also eliminated soon enough in fifth and Pichierri followed. Emil Bise has managed to double twice through Marius Gicovanu, who had a confident chip lead. However, Gicovanu was eliminated in third by Van Brug who took his lead into the heads-up play against Bise. The Swiss regular player aggressively and doubled into the chip lead very early on. It only took a few minutes for Gicovanu to go all-in and finish as a runner-up. 

Bise claimed the third WSOP bracelet in the history of Switzerland and the first one for him. He was also awarded €250,175

Here is a look at the final table results and payouts:

Event 4: €2,000 PLO

The €2,000 PLO event was a dual between two Slovakians: Samuel Stranak and his countryman Alan Sabo. The two battled for the top prize and the title together with a bracelet. Eventually, Stranak came out on top and was awarded €101,764. The tournament gathered a field of 241 entries and a total prize pool of €423,557, which has more than double the previously announced €200,000 guarantee. Other notable final table opponents included Krasimir Yankov, Amir Mozaffarian, and Ian Bradley. 

Here is a look at the final table results and payouts:

Event 5: €550 NLHE Colossus

Unfortunately for the organizers, the €550 NLHE Colossus was the tournament with the most changes so far. Not only were the times and dates changes but even flights had to be canceled. However, the event has managed to combine the survivors of the first flight and even that prize pool was able to surpass the guarantee. The playing field was greatly reduced on Day 2 and just a few tables remained. The final table kicked off with 10 participants. Edmond Jahjaga, who is a poker regular from Kosovo, was able to emerge as a winner for €147,775. For that, he had to overcome a field of 2,478 players and beat Riadh Farhat in a heads-up duel. 

Here is a look at the final table results and payouts:

Event 6: €1,650 NLHE/PLO Mix

The 6th event of the 2021 WSOP Europe was able to gather up several hundred players who tried out their skills and luck in a mix of Hold’em and Omaha. However, only 10 players were able to progress to the Day 2 of the tournament and a chance to win the bracelet. Moncef Karoui has entered the final table with a chip lead, but several double-ups and good plays changed the leaderboard. Danny Covyn was the first one to be eliminated. He was knocked out by Mikkel Plum, who had managed to gain some ground. Julien Sitbon took over the chip lead after he busted Claudio Di Giacomo in ninth place. However, Karoui was able to climb back to the top after he successfully eliminated Manuel Fritz and took most of Di Giacomo’s chips. It didn’t take much time for Karoui to eliminate Plum in fifth, Di Giacomo in fourth, and eventually Carter Newhof in third. 

The tournament continued as a heads-up play between Antoine Vranken and Moncef Karoui. Karoui pushed all-in quite early on but Vranken had a full house in an Omaha, which was good enough for him to get the win. Antoine Vranken was awarded €113,000 for his first-place finish. 

Here is a look at the final table results and payouts:

Event 7: €5,000 PLO

The €5,000 PLO began with a slow start. It was able to gather a limited field of fewer than 200 entries and just 62 out of those remained after the first day. The Day 2 began with Dorel Eldabach in a chip lead followed by Didier Rabl and Maximilian Klostermeier. However, Eldabach was eliminated before the money bubble. A bit later in Day 2, Dario Alioto was knocked out in 16th place for €11,293 and a few moments later Rabl was eliminated in 15th place for the same amount. Verbakel was just a few places short of his second WSOP bracelet and went home in ninth place. 

The final table kicked off with Klostermeier in a chip lead and Joni Jouhkimainen right behind him. The battle for the chip lead between these two was on. However, Klostermeier has managed to extend his lead by busting Jaroslav Peter in sixth place. The chip leader then proceeded to eliminate Mikola Minkow in fifth, Armando D’Avanzo in fourth, and eventual Ermanno Di Nicola in third. The tournament continued as a heads-up play between Jouhkimainen and Klostermeier with 2.82M and 15.58M chips accordingly. Even though the short stack wasted no time and jammed with solid hands, Klostermeier rivered a flush and won the tournament for €204,010.

Here is a look at the final table results and payouts:

Event 8: €2,500 Short Deck

The €2,500 Short Deck did not impress with a huge playing field as well. There were fewer than 100 players and only 20 of them have managed to make it through Day 1. Eventually, Julien Martini battled back from being the short stack at the final table and won his second WSOP bracelet. The tournament culminated in a heads-up play between Julien Martini and Philipp Scwab. Martini was awarded €60,009 for his first-place finish. A field of 98 players generated a total prize pool of €214,130. Julien’s first bracelet came in 2018 when he won the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better for $239,771. 

Here is a look at the final table results and payouts:

We can expect more exciting news from the 2021 WSOP Europe and even more poker action. For example, the Main Event is going to kick off on December 3rd and will feature a huge €5 million guarantee. Nobody knows for sure how the COVID-19 situation is going to affect WSOP Europe, but we will continue to hope for the best and provide you with all of the recent WSOP news.