The 2017 World Series of Poker Europe is in full swing as we speak, with Event #4, the €1500 Six Handed No Limit Hold’em tournament, taking the stage at the King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic. Prior to the start of Event #4 today, there’s been a flurry of activity that has seen three bracelets handed out.
Event #3 – €1000 No Limit Hold’em Turbo “Bounty Hunter”
A double oddity at a WSOP tournament schedule, Event #3 started and finished in the same day, with the players coming out for a rare bounty tournament on a schedule. Players were putting up a minimum of €1000 (there were unlimited reentries) and a bounty of €300 on each player’s head. With the potential to make enough money in bounties to cover the entry fee, players flocked to the tournament on Wednesday and did decide a champion early Thursday morning.
85 players were in their seats when the “shuffle up and deal” call went out and the numbers kept climbing through the early registration period. By the time the first break was called, 259 entries had been logged (remember, this was an unlimited reentry event). A few hours later registration closed in the tournament with the count officially landing on 325 entries, building a prize pool of €214,337. 49 players would be recipients of a piece of that pool, but the biggest prize would go to the champion in the form of €53,557 and a shiny new WSOP bracelet (along with any bounties claimed along the way).
Once Viacheslav Goryachev bubbled the money, the players were guaranteed a payday but kept the drive on to the championship. Players like Mike Leah, Kristen Bicknell and current POY contender Chris Ferguson were able to work their way through the field for a cash. Indicative of the locale, when the final table was reached at 1AM, there was only one player from the Western hemisphere that was still alive.
John Racener, also in the fight for the WSOP POY, was one of only two representatives at the final table (Israel’s Liran Twito was the other) that didn’t call Europe home. Racener would go down in a double elimination that saw him leave with Yves Kupfermunz at the hands of Martin Kabrhel. In fact, Kabrhel would be responsible for the final five eliminations of the tournament as he pocketed €1500 for those alone on the way to the championship.
1. Martin Kabrhel, €53,557
2. Philipp Caranica, €33,094
3. Salvatore Camarda, €22,159
4. Liran Twito, €15,168
5. Yves Kupfermunz, €10,620
6. John Racener, €7609
7. Bernd Gleissner, €5582
8. Georgios Koliofotis, €4195
9. Viktor Kovachev, €3232
Event #2 – Originally slated to be a three-day tournament, the €500 Pot Limit Omaha event was cut by a day on Tuesday when they reached Day 2 with only 31 players remaining. The volatile nature of Omaha Hold’em promised that the eliminations would come quickly and they did, with Brazil’s Vivian Saliba, Brandon Cantu, and James Akenhead all departing the tournament arena before the first break of the day. As the final table approached Kristen Bicknell (having an excellent WSOP-E) and Sander van Wesemael were eliminated, with van Wesemael’s departure coming on the final table bubble.
Familiar faces at the final table were those of Sergio Fernandez and Andreas Klatt, with Fernandez holding the lead at the start of play. Klatt, starting in the middle of the pack, suffered a bit of a setback when his nut flush walked into Georgios Zisimopoulos’s boat, but Klatt would fight back immediately. After doubling up through Krzysztof Magott on the very next hand, he would work his stack up to a point where he was able to get some revenge on Zisimopoulos with a well-timed bluff for a big stack of chips (835K).
After Klatt eliminated Zisimopoulos in third place, he held a slim 800K chip lead over Nico Ehlers. While some settled in for an extended fight, the players had other ideas. It took only thirty minutes of play for Klatt to vanquish Ehlers, his A-J-10-2 standing tall against Ehlers’ K-Q-7-5 on a Q-9-6-8-Q board, and take down the WSOP bracelet.
1. Andreas Klatt, €56,400
2. Nico Ehlers, €34,860
3. Georgios Zisimopoulos, €23,979
4. Theodoros Aidonopoulos, €16,809
5. Sergio Fernandez, €11,985
6. Krysztof Magott, €8700
7. Michal Maryska, €6433
8. Vasile Stancu, €4847
Event #1 – €1000 No Limit Hold’em Monster Stack
Wrapping up the first event of the WSOP-E, Oleksandr Shcherbak captured the first bracelet of the 2017 schedule, outdueling Viliyan Petleshkov in a dominant display of heads up poker. While both were far removed from chip leader Carlo Savinelli at the start of the day (Petleshkov in fourth, Shcherbak in seventh), they quickly emerged as the dominant players at the table. After Shcherbak eliminated Sergio Fernandez in third place, he took an almost 800K chip lead to the heads-up battle.
Shcherbak got Petleshkov down early, but the Bulgarian would refuse to give up. Petleshkov took the lead over after 15 hands of paly, but Shcherbak would battle back to reclaim his top slot position. He also would never again let Petleshkov back into the game, grinding him down over the span of 20 hands until he got his chips in with a dominant position.
After a Petleshkov raise with Big Chick, Shcherbak three bet the proceedings to 800K while holding pocket sevens. Petleshkov decided the time was right to make a move and he did so, pushing his remaining chips to the center. Shcherbak called and, after the flop came down J-8-2, he stayed in the lead. Shcherbak’s claim to the title was sealed when another seven came on the turn, leaving Petleshkov drawing dead and ending the first event of the 2017 WSOP-E.
1. Oleksandr Shcherbak, €117,708
2. Viliyan Petleshkov, €72,747
3. Sergio Fernandez, €49,929
4. Carlo Savinelli, €34,869
5. Walter Treccarichi, €24,787
6. Peter Bstieler, €17,940
7. Serge Danis, €13,225
8. Ismael Bojang, €9934
9. Ali Sameeian, €7605
