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US Shut Out of WSOP Europe Wins in First 7 Events

Written by Jennifer Newell
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The World Series of Poker Europe kicked off on October 9 with a 10-event tournament schedule, all with gold bracelets for the winners and millions of dollars in tournament guarantees along the way.

King’s Casino in Rozvadov, a border town in the Czech Republic, was the home of the action, complete with high-stakes cash games and the WSOP Europe events themselves. And as the poker continues for a while longer, the first seven events are in the books.

A little more than one week ago, we reported on the results of the first two tournaments with both winners hailing from Israel. Now, as we provide the results of the next five events, one more Israeli player is in the WSOPE winner’s circle, while the other victors hail from around the globe. In sharp contrast to the WSOP series in Las Vegas each summer, where countries like the United States dominate the wins, WSOPE provides a forum for players to shine and represent the game from other parts of the world, and they are doing just that.

Event 3:  €550 PLO 8-Handed

On October 15, the third event of the series began with unlimited reentries for Omaha players. There was a €100K guarantee on the prize pool, but that proved very unnecessary when 572 entries added up to an actual prize pool of €274,417.

After the top 82 players were in the money, the final eight – none of whom were Americans – battled it out at the final table. Hanh Tran was a serious underdog to Oleg Pavlyuchuk, but Tran found several double-up opportunities and took that momentum on to victory. Tran collected his second bracelet, after having won his first earlier this year in a Triple Draw event.

Winner:  Hanh Tran of Austria (€59,625)

Event 4:  €1,100 NLHE Turbo Bounty Hunter

For some hold’em action, this event offered some excitement with bounties and an accelerated structure, along with a reentry opportunity and €200K guarantee. It topped off with 387 entries in total, making the prize pool a cool €371,326.

After the final 59 players hit the money, the field thinned down to just nine at the final table, again with no Americans. It all played out rather quickly, as the entire tournament was completed in approximately 13 hours. The heads-up match went just as fast as the rest of the event, with Florian Sarnow at his second final table in a matter of days but a serious chip deficit. Chip leader Mykhailo Gutyi didn’t waste much time in defeating Sarnow and capturing the bracelet.

Winner:  Mykhailo Gutyi of Ukraine (€61,000)

Event 5:  €1,100 NLHE Monster Stack

It may have been another hold’em event, but the deepstack structure made it a must-play for players in Rozvadov. It also offered three starting days with one entry per flight, along with a serious €500K guarantee. But when the total number of entries ended with 666, the prize pool was set at €639,027.

An even 100 players made the money with their stacks, but only nine made the final table, once again with no American players. Event 4 winner Gutyi made the final, eyeing a second bracelet in the same week, but he busted in sixth place. Ultimately, it was Timur Margolin who took a massive chip lead into heads-up play against Raul Villarroel and never looked back. As Tran did in Event 3, Margolin captured his second bracelet of the year after having won a NLHE event in Las Vegas. Margolin also represented his country of Israel by becoming the third Israeli to win at the 2018 WSOPE, taking three of the five bracelets awarded to that point.

Winner:  Timur Margolin of Israel (€134,407)

Event 6:  €1,650 Mixed PLO/NLHE

On October 21, players with a love of both hold’em and Omaha found their ideal event, complete with a reentry opportunity and a €200K guarantee. The final tally of 241 entries, however, pushed that money pool up to €343,425 to be awarded to the last 37 players standing (or sitting).

The final table of eight featured one American, Shaun Deeb, who also happens to be the frontrunner for the WSOP Player of the Year and won two bracelets at the summer WSOP. Norbert Szecsi had a roller coaster ride of a final table but made it to heads-up play with a slight lead over Deeb. The latter took the lead quickly, but Szecsi came back and eliminated Deeb in a PLO hand to capture his second career bracelet, the first he won back in 2013.

Winner:  Norbert Szecsi of Hungary (€86,596)

Event 7:  €2,200 PLO 8-Handed

Back to PLO, this event offered unlimited reentries and a €200K guarantee for a bit of a higher buy-in than the last few events. But with 187 entries when registration closed, the prize pool was actually set at €358,853.

The final 29 made the money, and quite a few Americans were in that group, including Deeb, Chris Ferguson, Anthony Zinno, and Ryan Riess. But none of them made the final table. Anson Tsang and Ilya Bulychev were two of the top stacks going into the action, and they remained atop the leaderboard for most of the final table play, making it to heads-up with Tsang in the lead. Tsang never let up and finally won his first bracelet.

Winner:  Anson Tsang of Hong Kong (€91,730)

 

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