Welcome to Day 1a of the 2019 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event
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The long wait is over as the flagship event of the 2019 World Series of Poker Europe finally kicks off at the King's Resort in Rozvadov. Once again coming with a guaranteed prize pool of €5,000,000, the €10,350 Main Event is certain to attract the biggest names in poker from near and far to try and win one of the most sought-after titles and the coveted gold bracelet that comes along with it.
Previous champions of the WSOPE Main Event include such big names as Annette Obrestad, John Juanda, Barry Shulman, Phil Hellmuth, and Adrian Mateos. It is the third time that the WSOPE Main Event is hosted at King's Resort and the first player to lift the gold bracelet for the winner shots near the border to Germany was 888poker qualifier Marti Roca de Torres in 2017.
Jack Sinclair followed into his footsteps one year later and recorded his second seven-figure score after his final table appearance in the 2017 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas. Sinclair defeated a field of 534 entries to claim the top prize of €1,122,239 after coming out on top of a heads-up battle with Pot-Limit Omaha specialist Laszlo Bujtas.
Both Bujtas and Sinclair have already been taking part in the ongoing 2019 WSOPE and will certainly give the Main Event another shot.
The WSOPE Main Event History at a Glance
| Year | Buy-In | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Country | First Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | £10,350 | 362 | £3,676,990 | Annette Obrestad | Norway | £1,000,000 |
| 2008 | £10,350 | 362 | £3,620,000 | John Juanda | United States | £868,800 |
| 2009 | £10,350 | 334 | £3,340,000 | Barry Shulman | United States | £801,603 |
| 2010 | £10,350 | 346 | £3,460,000 | James Bord | United Kingdom | £830,401 |
| 2011 | €10,400 | 593 | €5,692,800 | Elio Fox | United States | €1,400,000 |
| 2012 | €10,450 | 420 | €4,032,000 | Phil Hellmuth | United States | €1,058,403 |
| 2013 | €10,450 | 375 | €3,600,000 | Adrian Mateos | Spain | €1,000,000 |
| 2015 | €10,450 | 313 | €3,067,400 | Kevin MacPhee | United States | €883,000 |
| 2017 | €10,300 | 529 | €5,025,500 | Marti Roca de Torres | Spain | €1,115,207 |
| 2018 | €10,350 | 534 | €5,073,000 | Jack Sinclair | United Kingdom | €1,122,239 |
The Main Event in Rozvadov consists of two starting days and each of them will play a total of seven levels of 90 minutes each. The late registration remains open for another five levels and following break on Day 2 and during the entire registration period, all participants can take advantage of a single re-entry option in case they run out of chips.
Day 1 Level Structure
| Level | Small Blind | Big Blind | Big Bling Ante |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 | 300 | 300 |
| 2 | 200 | 400 | 400 |
| 3 | 300 | 500 | 500 |
| 4 | 300 | 600 | 600 |
| 5 | 400 | 800 | 800 |
| 6 | 500 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| 7 | 600 | 1,200 | 1,200 |
The starting stack is 100,000 and the event will be played in the new popular big blind ante format. As of Day 2, the action will be also streamed live via PokerGO and the PokerNews team will be on the floor from start-to-finish until a champion is crowned.
flop, then bet the 
turn and fired a bet of 11,500 on the 
river. Daniel Hoejlund Nielsen called and was shown the 
for a flush to award the first big pot of the day to Ben David.
river. Durnegger tabled 
for a pair of tens and that won the pot.
turn showed, only Andrei Konopelko in the big blind check-called a bet of 7,500 and checked again the 
on the river. Velasevic now made it 21,000 to go and Konopelko gave it some thought before tossing in a single chip for the call.
for top two pair, and that won the pot for the Serbian.
for trips treys.
to see almost his entire stack vanish.
with a pot containing around 20,000 when Aleksandr Merzhvinskiy bet 13,500 and faced a raised worth 41,000 from Norbert Mosonyi situated in the cutoff. Merzhvinskiy tanked a minute and announced all in for 97,500. Mosonyi asked for the exact count and chose to call.
river and Mosonyi took down the big pot with a pair of aces while Merzhvinskii made his way to the exit.
was dealt on the river and Morgenstern sent everything in the middle for 67,500 chips. Nakonechnyi ended up calling with 
. James Chen went deep into the tank and pushed all-in, call by Stojanovic.
and the kicker played to eliminate Ben Avi, while Schoepf was shaking his head.
