After initially beginning with some smallish opening day fields, the 2020 World Poker Tour Germany stop at the King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, has reached its final table with some impressive numbers along the way. There’s a few notable names on that leaderboard for Sunday’s final table, with Gianluca Speranza leading the way and World Champion Hossein Ensan looking to complete poker’s mythical “Triple Crown.
Field Cracks 500 Entry Mark
The entirety of the three Day One field came together on Friday for the first time, with plenty of time left in late registration and re-entry available. 147 players survived the Day One carnage, but they still had to face all the players who would come to the felt. Hoang Pham led the way as the only player over 300K in chips (368,800, to be exact) as the action began.
Plenty of players took advantage of the late registration rules for the WPT Germany. One of those players was Ensan, who was rested and ready for action after watching the players battle it out for the previous three days. Once the late registration window closed after the dinner break, the prize pool was set and the payouts announced.
73 players would receive a piece of the €1.453 million prize pool built from the €3000 buy-ins of the 510 entries (87 through online play). The minimum cash would be a €6000 payday, but the players were looking for the top prize for the event. Not only would the eventual champion crowned on Sunday get their name on the WPT Champions’ Cup and a seat at the WPT Tournament of Champions, they would also get a €270,000 boost to the bankroll.
Online Qualifiers Join the Field
Play was taken down to 61 players on Friday and those players came back on Saturday with newcomers awaiting them. Twelve online qualifiers joined the field, all the beneficiaries of a payday. Leading the way were the only two players over the one million mark in chips, Julian Menhardt (1.214 million) and Peter Jaksland (1.127 million).
It wouldn’t be until the end of the night on Saturday that the final table would take shape. In the biggest hand of the tournament to this point, Speranza and Jaksland eventually got all the chips to the center with Jaksland at risk. The hands were the classic cooler – initial raiser Jaksland’s pocket Kings running into Speranza’s pocket Aces. After the board ran out uneventfully, Speranza rocketed into the lead.
1. Gianluca Speranza, 4.415 million
2. Hossein Ensan, 3.9 million
3. Joep van den Bijgaart, 3.095 million
4. Renato Nowak, 2.335 million
5. Christopher Puetz, 2.23 million
6. Laszlo Papai, 1.765 million
7. Josef Gulas, 1.27 million
8. Rifat Gegic, 895,000
9. Farukh Tach, 460,000
The most interesting storyline is that of Ensan. The winner of the 2015 EPT Prague and the defending World Champion of the World Series of Poker Championship Event, Ensan can complete poker’s Triple Crown with a victory on Sunday in the WPT Germany. If Ensan is to ride his rush to the championship of this WPT event, he would become the first player since Niall Farrell in 2017 to turn the feat and only the tenth player in the history of poker to pull off the task of winning poker’s Triple Crown.
The final table of the WPT Germany will begin at noon (6AM Eastern Time U. S.) at the King’s Casino in Rozvadov. The official WPT final table will be determined with the final six players. Can Ensan become the tenth Triple Crown champion? Can Speranza ride his rush to the title? Or will it be someone from the pack taking the title?
