The 2018 World Series of Poker Europe is rolling into its second week as its second “big” event – the €1000 MONSTER STACK event – is two thirds of the way through its Day One starting flights. But some drama has been removed from the proceedings, however, as Shaun Deeb has put a virtual lock on the WSOP Player of the Year race with only a handful of events to go.
MONSTER STACK Builds Respectable Field After Days 1A and 1B
The second “big draw” event on the 2018 WSOP Europe schedule – the €1000 MONSTER STACK – is shaping up to rival the numbers from the other “big draw” event that occurred at the start of the schedule. The European COLOSSUS drew in 2992 entries to smash past its €1 million guarantee and, right now, the European MONSTER STACK seems to be on the same path.
Day 1A of the MONSTER STACK saw 148 entries totaled up through the opening action, with only 30 of those players surviving to be able to move on to Day 2 (players, if they were on the short stack, could sacrifice that stack and look to play on Days 1B and/or Day 1C, if they so choose). Quan Zhou came out of the carnage on Wednesday to bag up 519,500 in chips, which he was able to obtain in one of the final hands of the night. In a battle against Eemil Tuominen on a K♠ Q♠ J♠ 4♦ 4♣ board, Zhou called an all in from Tuominen and he had the goods. Holding only the 10♠ 9♠ for the straight flush, Zhou captured the 500K-plus pot to dominate the Top Five from Wednesday.
1. Quan Zhou, 519,500
2. Jaroslav Peter, 397,000
3. Michal Mrakes, 389,000
4. Volodymyr Kernytskyi, 378,000
5. Matous Houzvicek, 319,000
Day 1B was typical of a multi-Day One event in that it was noticeably larger than its Day 1A brethren. 204 entries were received during Thursday’s action, with 56 players bagging up chips and bypassing playing the final Day One on Friday. As an example of how dominant Zhou’s stack is, the leader from Day 1B, Asher Assis, would only rank in fifth place at this point in the tournament.
1. Asher Assis, 349,000
2. Michael Magalashvili, 325,000
3. Daniel Smiljkovic, 289,000
4. Markus Steger, 261,500
5. Timur Margolin, 260,000
Day 1C is going to be the last shot for the likes of 2018 WSOP Europe bracelet winner Asi Moshe, Manig Loeser, Cord Garcia, Allen Kessler and Dutch Boyd. They and more than likely a few hundred fellow poker players will convene in the King’s Casino in Rozvadov on Friday to take one last shot on moving on in this event. Along with the final Day One will also come the final info for players on the field size and the prize pool.
Shaun Deeb Virtual Lock for WSOP POY
When he landed in the Czech Republic, Deeb had to feel good about his lead in the POY. At the start of the WSOP Europe, Deeb had a 400-point lead over Benjamin Yu. Now, after he’s looked around and noticed that none of the other contenders have shown up in Rozvadov, Deeb is a virtual lock – but he’s playing like he’s fighting from behind.
Getting deep runs in Events #2 and #3, Deeb has added onto his lead in the WSOP Player of the Year race. With his 4592.46 points, even if Yu (3746.04 points) showed up, he would have to make the final table of the Main Event (using last year’s scoring system) to even have a shot at catching Deeb. Other contenders such as Joe Cada, John Hennigan and Scott Bohlman aren’t in attendance in Rozvadov, further lessening the chances of someone coming from the pack to catch Deeb.
The action continues on Friday at 3PM as the final Day One for the MONSTER STACK takes place. It is all leading up to the high-dollar events on the schedule in the €25,000 High Roller, the €100,000 Super High Roller and the Main Event, which will all begin next week.