888poker Ambassador Dominik Nitsche Wins 4th Bracelet in WSOPE High Roller for One Drop (€3,487,463)
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888poker Ambassador Dominik Nitsche has come out on top of an illustrious field to capture €3,487,463 and another WSOP gold bracelet in Event #10: €111,111 High Roller for One Drop No-Limit Hold'em. Nitsche defeated his fellow German counterpart, Andreas Eiler in a heads-up match that saw Nitsche show complete domination. Eiler has nothing to be ashamed of as he will walk away with €2,155,418.
Nitsche struck gold for the fourth time in his career, this one for the largest payday. Nitsche started his poker career as an online grinder and became known to many worldwide as one of the best. His previous three bracelets came in $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em events with his biggest score being $654,797. This one means a little more to Nitsche, competing against some of the best players in the world, and the €3.4 million added bonus doesn't hurt either.
When asked what it feels like to win his fourth bracelet, Nitsche gave a pretty humble answer. "It's really nice, it's not about the bracelets for me it's about how well I played. Im more proud of how I played rather than I won."
Nitsche looked as strong as ever when it came down to heads-up play and he credited the work he has been putting into the game. "I've put a lot of time recently, into heads-up cash games so I felt comfortable all the way through. I felt like I was the strongest player and made now mistakes. I played perfect, there was nothing I would change."
There are many of Nitsche's friends from Germany that also compete in these prestige events throughout the world and Nitsche feels like he belongs now. "I compete in the high-rollers because I love battling with the best so to finally win one of those feels fantastic. I'll be looking forward to winning number five now because winning tournaments is fun."
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dominik Nitsche | Germany | €3,487,463 |
| 2 | Andreas Eiler | Germany | €2,155,418 |
| 3 | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | €1,521,312 |
| 4 | Thomas Muehloecker | Austria | €1,096,206 |
| 5 | Steffen Sontheimer | Germany | €806,758 |
| 6 | Christoph Vogelsang | Germany | €606,694 |
| 7 | Ahadpur Khangah | Iran | €466,421 |
| 8 | Martin Kabrhel | Czech Republic | €366,762 |
A total of 88 unique entries found their way to the felt for the largest buy-in of the 2017 World Series of Poker Europe. For some, one bullet wouldn't suffice as there were 44 re-entries for €100,000 a piece. That made up a prizepool of €12,980,000 which paid 20 places. A min-cash was worth €157,652 which made for an interesting bubble. With just 23 players remaining, play slowed drastically towards the end of Day 2, forcing tournament directors to keep track of the number of hands played on each table. Eventually, Charlie Carrel bursted the money bubble when he made a straight on the river against Vladimir Troyanovskiy.
Many familiar names found their way into the money including the #1 ranked player on the GPI, Bryn Kenney (17th Place - €157,652). Some other names include Jack Sinclair (16th Place - €177,616), Eugene Katchalov (13th Place - €205,263), Nick Petrangelo (12th Place - €243,169), Kenny Hallaert (10th Place - €295,131), and Charlie Carrel (9th Place - €295,131).
With such a jam-packed field of poker legends everywhere you looked, many of them fell by the way-side. Phil Hellmuth, Ryan Riess, Benjamin Pollak, and Boris Becker were all eliminated on Day 1 and they chose not to take another shot. There were 48 players returning on Day 2 with registration still open for two levels. It was a battle to reach the money and for some they fell just short. Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, Philipp Gruissem, Fedor Holz, Rainer Kempe, Igor Kurganov, Liv Boeree, Bertrand Grospellier, Sam Trickett, and Ole Schemion were just a few to hit the rail throughout the day.
Final Table Summary
The day started with just 10 players remaining and it took longer than expected to get to the unofficial table. Eventually, Kenny Hallaert lost a flip with his short stack and the final nine gathered at one table. On the very first hand, Charlie Carrel pushed all in for seven big blinds but was dominated when Sontheimer called from the big blind. And the final eight players were left to make up the official final table.
Martin Kabrhel had an unfortunate start to the day, losing every pot he played and found himself left on the short stack. He got all of his chips in good against Dominik Nitsche but the river gave Nitsche a flush and Kabrhel was ousted. Not long after, Ahadpur Khangah, the only recreational poker player remaining, was all in with 
against Nitsche's 
. Khangah made a straight on the river but Nitsche held a full house. In his elimination interview, Khangah mentioned that playing in this special event was a nice break from his everyday life of a businessman and industrialist.
The chip leader to start the day, Christoph Vogelsang, lost a big flip early on in the day. He was dwindled down to around six big blinds when his ace-queen was out-flopped by Badziakouski's ace-seven. In quick succession, Steffen Sontheimer and Thomas Muehloecker followed him to the payout desk. Both players were also left extremely short-stacked and were just trying to out-last the other to make a pay jump. Sontheimer, who has become a high-roller tournament specialist, noted that he will be looking forward to the Big One for One Drop in the summer of 2018 but for now, his next focus will be on the high-roller tournaments coming up in Punta Cana.
That left just three players left to battle for the title, with Nitsche and Eiler holding the majority of the chips. Mikita Badziakouski looked like he was starting to make a comeback but wound up finding himself in a race for all of his chips. Badziakouski held 
against Eiler's 
and the ten-high flop looked promising for a double up. However, the on the turn gave Eiler the lead and the 
on the river changed nothing. Badziakouski was still happy to take home over $1.5 million for his efforts and that left two Germans heads-up.
One Drop Tournament History
| Event | Entries | Winner | 1st Place Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 WSOP Big One for One Drop | 48 | Antonio Esfandiari | $18,346,673 |
| 2013 WSOP High Roller for One Drop | 166 | Anthony Gregg | $4,830,619 |
| 2014 WSOP Big One for One Drop | 42 | Daniel Colman | $15,306,668 |
| 2015 WSOP High Roller for One Drop | 135 | Jonathan Duhamel | $3,989,985 |
| 2016 WSOP High Roller for One Drop | 183 | Fedor Holz | $4,981,775 |
| 2016 Monte-Carlo Extravaganza Big One for One Drop | 28 | Elton Tsang | €11,111,111 |
| 2017 WSOP High Roller for One Drop | 130 | Doug Polk | $3,686,865 |
| 2017 WSOP Europe High Roller for One Drop | 132 | Dominik Nitsche | €3,487,463 |
| 2018 WSOP Big One for One Drop | - | - | - |
This was the first open tournament of its kind to be played on European soil and what better way to introduce it than at the WSOP Europe held at King's Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic. There have been five previous One Drop tournaments held in Las Vegas with Doug Polk winning the most recent one earlier this summer. With over $1.2 million raised for the One Drop charity, that brings the total to over $22,000,000.
With the conclusion of the High-Roller for One Drop, the focus will now turn to the €10,300 Main Event, the 12th and final bracelet event. The Day 1 flights have concluded and Day 2 will begin tomorrow at 12:00 P.M. local time. Continue to follow along with PokerNews as we continue to bring you all of the coverage from the tournament floor.