Among the next players to take their seats were Ricardo Chauriye and Ryan Hughes, while one table over Jeff Lisandro lost a small pot. Three-way to the river, he bet 225 out of the big blind and Hilary Hin Cheung called on the button. The river was checked and Lisandro showed for a pair of kings, which Cheung had beat with .
There is a small delay for the start and action will get underway in a few minutes, a manual redraw will take place to get everyone seated. Among the first to show up in the poker arena was Chris Ferguson but hasn't taken a seat yet, while and WSOP player of the year contender John Racener is already waiting for the tournament to start.
Also already seated are Jeff Lisandro, Marc MacDonnell, Felipe Ramos, Anatoly Korochenskiy and Kunal Patni.
The long wait has come to an end, as the 2017 World Series of Poker Europe gets underway at 2 p.m. local time at King's Casino in Rozvadov with Day 1a of the €1,100 Monster Stack. Europe's biggest poker arena near the border to Germany has already hosted the WSOP International Circuit three times, but the WSOPE takes place for the first time in Rozvadov after various alternating locations in Europe prior.
The first of 11 bracelet events is the €1,100 Monster Stack with a guarantee of €500,000 and three starting days, players can fire up to three bullets in total for the tournament if they get eliminated on Day 1a or Day 1b subsequently. Each Day 1 will play a total of 14 levels of 30 minutes each and the registration remains open for the first eight levels until approximately 9 p.m. local time. All participants receive 20,000 in chips and the tournament is scheduled to play down to a winner on Monday October 23rd 2017.
Event #1 Monster Stack Schedule
Day
Date
Information
October 19th
Day 1a at 2pm
14 Levels 40 min each, late reg 8 levels ~ 9pm
October 20th
Day 1b at 2pm
14 Levels 40 min each, late reg 8 levels ~ 9pm
October 21st
Day 1c at 2pm
14 Levels 40 min each, late reg 8 levels ~ 9pm
October 22nd
Day 2 at 2pm
Levels last 60 min each, play down to final table
October 23rd
Day 3 at tba
Levels last 60 min each, play down to a winner
Defending champion of the tournament is Ryan Hefter, who emerged victorious back in 2015 after defeating a 580-entry field after defeating Gilbert Diaz heads-up for his first career bracelet and payday of €176,205. Whether Hefter will make the trip to Rozvadov or not remains to be seen. Other notables that will most likely take part today include John Racener, Kristen Bicknell and Felipe Ramos.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be here throughout the 19-day festival to provide updates for all bracelet events and the €25,000 High Roller.