WSOP Europe Gets Underway With Four Bracelets Already Awarded

After successful online and live series in Las Vegas, the World Series of Poker headed to Europe last week for the next live bracelet series. 

The WSOP Europe runs Nov. 19 – Dec. 8 at King’s Casino Resort in Rozvadov, Czech Republic with €11.5 million guaranteed. This includes 15 WSOP gold bracelets with the €10,350 Main Event running Dec 3-8 with a €5 million guarantee.

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After some speculation regarding COVID-19, the casino announced last week that the series will continue. King’s announced on Twitter the WSOP will complete the series as planned. With four bracelets already won, here’s a look at the action so far.

Event 1: €350 NLHE Opener (Nov. 19)

A massive 1,789-player field showed up for The Opener. At the end of the day, Italy’s Antonello Ferraiuolo (pictured above) won the first bracelet of the series. 

On top of the €77,750 payday for first. Ferraioulo also won a Main Event seat

Ferraiuolo was the latest Italian WSOP bracelet winner since 2015, when Max Pescatori scored two bracelets. The event was streamed live on Youtube for poker fans to check out the action. 

Event 2: €550 PLO Eight-Handed (Nov. 20)

Bjorn Verbakel, of the Netherlands, captured his first bracelet in this Pot Limit Omaha event. The tournament crushed the $200,000 guarantee with the prize pool swelling to €295,925

Verbakel won €59,250 after defeating Zhao Feng of Singapore heads up. Feng scored €36,7617 for second place.

Event 3: €1,350 NLH Mini Main (Nov. 22)

The Mini Main Event attracted 1,397 players with Switzerland’s Emil Bise coming out victorious. Bise overcame Romania’s Marius Gicovanu heads up to win €250,175.

The Swiss player has a gold bracelet to go with two WSOP Circuit rings under his belt.

The event saw 1,397 entries for a €1.6 million prize pool, more than double the €600,000 guarantee.

Event 4: €2,000 PLO (Nov 23)

Slovakians went head to head for this PLO bracelet last week. Samuel Stranak battled his countryman Alan Sabo for the title. Stranek came out on top for €101,764

The tournament produced 241 entries for a prize pool of €423,557. That again more than doubled the $200,000 guarantee.

Some other standout final table opponents included Ian Bradley, Amir Mozaffarian, and Krasimir Yankov.

Players from around the world have jumped in the WSOP Europe action. Many are eager for the return of live poker in Europe.

Upcoming WSOP bracelet events

WSOP Europe will offer a full range of games over the next few days. That includes the final table of Event 5: €550 Colossus. Also players will see a high roller, Pot Limit Omaha, turbo, and a Short Deck event. 

Here’s a look at this week’s action:

  • 1,100 NLHE Turbo Bounty (Event 9, Nov. 29)
  • €25,000 NLHE High Roller (Event 10, Nov. 29)
  • 1,650 NLHE Six-Handed (Event 11, Nov. 30)
  • 2,000 8-Game Mix (Event 12, Dec. 1)

Here’s a look at the complete schedule.

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2021 WSOP Europe

EventDatesTournamentBuy-inGuaranteeChip Stack
1Nov. 19 -22“Opener” NLHE€350€300,00020,000
2Nov. 20 - 238-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha€550€200,00025,000
3Nov. 21 - 25Mini Main Event NLHE€1,350€600,000100,000
4Nov. 24 & 252K Pot Limit Omaha€2,000€200,00050,000
5Nov. 24 - 30NLH Colossus€550€1,000,00025,000
6Nov. 25NLH Classic Freezeout€1,000€150,00030,000
7Nov. 25 & 26PLO/NLH Mixed€1,650€200,00040,000
8Nov. 26 & 27Short Deck€2,500€200,00050,000
9Nov. 27 & 285K Pot Limit Omaha€5,000€150,000100,000
10Nov. 29NLH Bounty Hunter€1,100€200,00030,000
11Nov. 29 & 3025K NLH Platinum High Roller€25,000€1,000,000500,000
12Nov. 30 & Dec. 1NLH 6-max€1,650€200,00040,000
13Dec. 1 & 28-Game Mix€2,000€150,00050,000
14Dec. 2 & 350K NLH Diamond High Roller€50,000€2,000,0001,000,000
15Dec. 3 - 8WSOP Europe Main Event€10,350€5,000,000100,000
 

* Lead image courtesy WSOP/PokerNews/Danny Maxwell

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