Welcome to Event #2 of the 2019 World Series of Poker Europe, which is a Pot-Limit Omaha event with a €550 buy-in. It is the second event of the festival at King's Resort in Rozvadov and it comes with a guaranteed prize pool of €100,000 and two starting days. Many familiar faces are expected in the event from all over the world in Europe's biggest poker room.
Defending champion of this event is Austria's Hanh Tran, who won this event last year to put the second bracelet on his wrist for 2018. Tran prevailed in a field of 572 entries to win his second gold bracelet and a first-place prize of €59,625. He defeated Latvia's Oleg Pavlyuchuk heads-up, with the final table including well-known players such as Romain Lewis and Michael Magalashvili.
Each Day 1 is scheduled to play a total of 18 levels of 30 minutes, while Day 2 and 3 increase the level duration to 40 minutes. Every four levels there will be a 15-minute break and the late registration will end after 12 levels of play. All participants will have to work their way through the field with a 25,000 starting stack and will have the option for unlimited re-entries during both starting flights.
Day 1 Level Structure
Level
Duration (min.)
Small Blind
Big Blind
1
30
100
100
2
30
100
200
3
30
100
200
4
30
200
300
Break
15
5
30
200
300
6
30
200
400
7
30
300
500
8
30
300
600
Break
15
9
30
400
800
10
30
500
1,000
11
30
600
1,200
12
30
800
1,600
Break
15
13
30
1,000
2,000
14
30
1,000
2,500
15
30
1,500
3,000
16
30
2,000
4,000
Break
15
17
30
3,000
5,000
18
30
3,000
6,000
The PokerNews live reporting team will be there from start-to-finish to cover all the action on the way to crown another WSOP bracelet winner at the 2019 WSOPE.
Shawn Stroke was found in a flop from early position against Alfredo Vega in the button and Robert Wirth in the small blind. Wirth and Stroke checked, with Vega shoving and getting snap calls from both players.
Stroke was in a good shape with and had to fade the spades, since Wirth was holding , while Vega had just one pair with a king in his hand.
The on the turn gave the pot instantly to Stroke who improved his hand to a full house and busted two players, with the in the river being a formality.
Stroke got up to 100,000, while Vega busted and Wirth re-entered.
Daniel Negreanu took his seat late in the event, but he didn't last for long. In a battle of the blinds against Laurids Nielsen they went to a flop with Negreanu betting 1,000 and Nielsen check-calling.
The came on the turn and Nielsen checked again, Negreanu announced pot for 5,600 chips, Nielsen shoved quickly and Negreanu called even quicker.
Daniel Negreanu:
Laurids Nielsen:
The on the river gave Nielsen the nut straight and he sent Negreanu to the cashier for his first re-entry.
Irena Macesovic was on the button and three-bet Jeffrey Lisandro's open from the cutoff position. Lisandro called and they both went to the flop.
Lisandro check-shoved after Macesovic's continuation bet to 21,000 and she called rather quickly.
Jeffrey Lisandro:
Irena Macesovic:
Both the pocket pair and the flush draw in Macesovic's hand was better than Lisandro's and she locked the pot after the on the turn. The on the river was a formality and Lisandro is out, while Macesovic is up to 250,000 chips.
In a battle of the blinds, Alexander Viard was against Sebastian Obermeier in a flop. Viard check-shoved after Obermeier's bet to 12,000, who called the shove.
Alexandre Viard:
Sebastian Obermeier:
The came on the turn and the on the river securing the pot for Obermeier and Viard is the last player leaving Day 1a empty-handed.
The 26 remaining players are all in the money and they will continue playing until they reach Level 18.
An amazing hand brought the elimination of Dmitrii Shevchenko where he busted with second nuts. The hand was in the river with the board reading and Shevchenko bet 80,000.
Dash Dudley was his opponent and he shoved, covering Shevchenko. The Russian player thought about it for a couple of seconds and then called only to meet the unexpected.
Dash Dudley:
Dmitrii Shevchenko:
Shevchenko rivered a full house but Dudley rivered quads, eliminating his opponent and leaving the field with 23 players. Shevchenko is the third player eliminated in the money and he received €787.
David Baker was yet another player in the last three tables of this event who was chasing the 2019 WSOP POY points. He managed to win some after busting in 17th place, along with €787 in prize money.
In his last hand he was left with 40,000 chips and he put them in the middle after Vangelis Kaimakamis' early position raise to 12,000. Kaimakamis called the shove and they went to showdown.
David Baker:
Vangelis Kaimakamis:
The board came and Baker lost the confrontation to depart from the field.
Earlier Kan Ying was the player who busted in 18th place for €787.
The first Non-Holdem event of the 2019 World Series of Poker Europe is Event #2: Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed and the first of the two starting days is in the books, here in King's Resort. A total of 169 players registered the event and after 18 levels of play there were just 12 of them left in the field.
Marcel Brunner is the player who bagged the most chips in Day 1a, advancing to Day 2 with 668,000, but the competition following him is very tough. Dash Dudley has already proved that Pot-Limit Omaha is his game for 2019, since he won his first bracelet during the summer in Event #52: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed for $1,086,967. Dudley bagged 657,000 chips and he will be in a great shape for another deep run in a PLO event during a WSOP festival. Other notables still in contention include Sebastian Pauli (544,000), Anson Tsang (360,000) and Dragos Trofimov (140,000).
Three players that are into the top ten of the 2019 WSOP POY race managed to reach the money, with Robert Campbell, David "ODB" Baker and Daniel Negreanu all getting paid and busting before the end of the day. The unlucky bubble-boy was Alexandre Viard who lost in 27th place and was the last player to leave Day 1a empty-handed.
Day 1A Payouts of Event #2: €550 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed
Place
Winner
Country
Prize (in EUR)
13
Rok Lihtenvalner
Slovenia
1,074
14
Arunas Garunkstis
Lithuania
1,074
15
Robert Campbell
Australia
908
16
Micha Felner
Israel
908
17
David Baker
United States
787
18
Kan Ying
China
787
19
Netanel Amedi
Israel
787
20
Roland Israelashvili
United States
787
21
Robert Wirth
Germany
787
22
Daniel Negreanu
Canada
787
23
Dmitrii Shevchenko
Russia
787
24
Martin Staszko
Czech Republic
787
25
Ali Deniz Akok
Germany
787
26
Aaron Duczak
Canada
787
Action of the day
Day 1a started with more than 40 players in the 8-handed tables, and the option of unlimited re-entries gave them the opportunity to play with a more loose strategy in order to build a big stack. One player who took full advantage of it was Shaun Deeb, who made eight re-entries in total and still didn't manage to advance to Day 2.
Other notables who give it a shot but busted through the course of the day were bracelet winners Ismael Bojang, Jeff Lisandro and Jan-Peter Jachtmann. One re-entry for Bojang and Lisandro, while Jachtmann played with just one bullet and they didn't manage to reach the money.
When the registrations closed there were just 40 players remaining in the field and 26 of them were to get paid, according to the event's payout structure. Alexandre Viard found a king-high flush draw with king-queen-five-three and two clubs in a seven-three-two flop. He was up against Sebastian Obermeier who was holding an ace-high flush draw plus a pair of jacks with ace-jack-jack-six. A red four and a red eight on the turn and the river, respectively, sent Viard to the rail in the bubble.
After the burst of the bubble, eliminations happened very quickly and 14 players departed from the field over the course of two and a half levels. Except the POY contenders, Arunas Garunkstis, Roland Israelashvili and Martin Staszko were among the casualties n the money.
Day 1b will kick off at 4 p.m. local time on Tuesday, October 15th, 2019, and another big field size is expected for the second and final starting day. Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the updates from the second bracelet event of the festival at Europe's biggest poker arena.