The second out of 15 gold bracelets as part of the 2021 World Series of Poker Europe festival at the King's Resort in Rozvadov will be awarded in the hours to come. Out of a field of 623 entries in Event #2: €550 Pot-Limit Omaha, only eight players remain in contention for the biggest slice of the €295,925 prize pool and seven different nationalities will be represented on the final table.
Two-time champion Martin Kabrhel chases a third gold bracelet at his home casino and enters the final table as the chip leader with a stack of 3,900,000. Behind the extroverted Czech player who has earned numerous accolades the venue, Dutchman Bjorn Verbakel f(3,725,000) and Singapore's Zhao Feng (2,100,000) occupy the final two spots on the overnight podium.
Mikkel Plum, Alfredo Vega Meister and Ken Beckers are in the middle of the pack while Tobias Peters (835,000) and Richard Toth (745,000) have also retained their chances at winning a maiden gold bracelet.
Final Table Seat Assignments Event #2: €550 Pot-Limit Omaha
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Mikkel Plum
Denmark
1,530,000
19
2
Bjorn Verbakel
Netherlands
3,725,000
47
3
Alfredo Vega Meister
Spain
1,400,000
18
4
Ken Beckers
Belgium
1,335,000
17
5
Richard Toth
Hungary
745,000
9
6
Zhao Feng
Singapore
2,100,000
26
7
Tobias Peters
Netherlands
835,000
10
8
Martin Kabrhel
Czech Republic
3,900,000
49
The final table is scheduled to recommence at 6pm local time on the main feature table at King's Resort. There are 26:40 left in level 29 at blinds of 40,000/80,000 and a big blind ante of 80,000. Except for Kabrhel, all finalists are chasing their first gold bracelet and the top prize of €59,250 awaits for the eventual champion.
Remaining Payouts
Place
Winner
Country
Prize (in EUR)
1
€59,250
2
€36,617
3
€25,530
4
€18,111
5
€13,078
6
€9,615
7
€7,200
8
€5,494
All PokerNews live updates will be published according to the security delay of the cards-up coverage in order to not spoil any of the action.
Martin Kabrhel limped the in the cutoff and Bjorn Verbakel called in the small blind with the while Alfredo Vega Meister checked from the big blin d with the .
The flop brought a pot-sized bet worth 320,000 by Verbakel and Vega Meister folded his naked aces. Kabrhel called and the followed on the turn. Verbakel bet the pot for 960,000 once more and Kabrhel called as the two chip leaders went to war.
A brick followed with the river and Verbakel checked his option now. Kabrhel was into the tank and eventually separated a pot-sized bet while staring over to the other side of the table. He then made it 1,630,000 to go with 910,000 behind and now it was up to Verbakel for plenty of consideration.
The Dutchman reluctantly called to take a commanding lead while Kabrhel dropped below one million in chips.
Bjorn Verbakel raised to 225,000 with the and Martin Kabrhel defended the big blind with the .
"I put you on kings," Kabrhel said after he had called and promised that there would be a showdown anyways. That's exactly what happened after the flop on which Kabrhel check-jammed his last 425,000 with the queen-high flushdraw into a bet of 175,000 of Verbakel.
The Dutchman called and locked up the knockout on the turn.
"Put the queen of hearts there for a split pot," Kabrhel joked buzt knew it was all over. The river further improved Verbakel to aces full of kings and Kabrhel departed in 8th place for €5,494.
Zhao Feng raised to 400,000 on the button and then instantly called the shove by Plum for 880,000 out of the big blind.
Zhao Feng:
Mikkel Plum:
The flop gave Zheng a lot of equity with a pair, gutshot and flush draw. He improved on the turn and the river to make a full house. Plum's tournament ended in 7th place and he takes home €7,200.
In the very next hand, Alfredo Vega Meister was all-in for 175,000 out of the big blind and Bjorn Verbakel called out of the small blind.
Alfredo Vega Meister:
Bjorn Verbakel:
The chip and a chair story of Vega Meister found a sad ending as he missed out on all four live cards, a gutshot and flush draw on the runout. Vega Meister was eliminated in 5th place and takes home €13,078.
Ken Beckers got through with a three-bet pot-sized raise against Bjorn Verbakel, who then raised the pot in the next hand. Richard Toth called out of the big blind with 760,000 behind and they headed to the flop. The Hungarian jammed and Verbakel snap-called.
Richard Toth:
Bjorn Verbakel:
Toth needed hearts or straight cards in order to retain his chances of survival but it was all over on the turn, which made the river meaningless. The field was reduced to the final three contenders and Toth collects €18,111 for the efforts.
Bjorn Verbakel raised the button to 525,000 and Ken Beckers then opted to three-bet the pot for 1,825,000 in the small blind. Zhao Feng was in the tank in the big blind with the , which he then let go.
Verbakel moved all-in and that sent Beckers into the tank, who had some 2,200,000 behind and invested nearly half of his stack by now. The crying call of Beckers followed and Verbakel instantly told Feng "I knew you had kings."
Ken Beckers:
Bjorn Verbakel:
"Optimistic three-bet," Verbakel joked and then added "you can't fold anymore."
The flop gave Beckers gained some equity. He improved on the turn but the river counterfeited the two pair of Beckers to eliminate the Belgian in 3rd place for €25,530.
There will now be a break of more than 20 minutes before the heads-up battle for the gold bracelet gets underway.
Bjorn Verbakel raised to 900,000 with the for Zhao Feng to call with the to leave him with 1,100,000 behind.
The flop came for Feng to flop a pair of sevens and a gutshot to a straight. He opted to push his last 1,350,000 in for Verbakel to snap-call.
The flip didn't go Feng's way as the rest of the board was completed with the on the turn for Verbakel to improve to a set while the river completed the board with the . Feng gets to collect $36,617 for finishing as the runner-up while Verbakel laid claim to the WSOP bracelet and $59,250.
The seventh bracelet for the Netherlands and the first for Verbakel himself.
Bjorn Verbakel has won his first gold WSOP bracelet and €59,250 in Event #2: €550 Pot-Limit Omaha. Verbakel is the seventh bracelet winner for the Netherlands and the third Dutchman to win in the Pot-Limit Omaha format after Vincent van der Fluit (2012) and Ronald Keijzer (2018).
The second event of the 2021 World Series of Poker Europe drew a total of 623 entries, creating a prize pool of €295,925, surpassing the guarantee by nearly 50%.
Verbakel collected the top prize of €59,250 after coming out on top of a short-lived heads-up duel with Zhao Feng who won €36,617.
WSOP Europe Event #2: €550 Pot-Limit Omaha Final Table Results
Place
Winner
Country
Prize (in EUR)
1
Bjorn Verbakel
Netherlands
€59,250
2
Zhao Feng
Singapore
€36,617
3
Ken Beckers
Belgium
€25,530
4
Richard Toth
Hungary
€18,111
5
Alfredo Vega Meister
Spain
€13,078
6
Tobias Peters
Netherlands
€9,615
7
Mikkel Plum
Denmark
€7,200
8
Martin Kabrhel
Czech Republic
€5,494
The Dutchman fired multiple entries but mentioned that it wasn't about the money on the final table but rather the coveted gold bracelet as he considers himself as a "retired card player". He actually earned two payouts as he was among those to bust on Day 1a minutes before bagging up. He collected €1,003 and re-entered into Day 1b to start his journey to glory with the second-biggest stack at the end of the night.
He is a 34-year-old e-business owner from Beek en Donk in the Netherlands and will stick around for another week at the King's Resort in Rozvadov to compete. Howver, the €10,350 WSOPE Main Event is not included in the planning as his wife and family back home come first.
A total of seven different countries were represented on the final table and the action was broadcasted on the WSOP YouTube channel with commentary provided by Ali Nejad and Len Ashby. Ken Beckers, Richard Toth, Alfredo Vega Meister, fellow Dutchman Tobias Peters, Mikkel Plum and Martin Kabrhel joined Verbakel and Feng on the big stage.
He overcame the arguably biggest obstacle on the final day in the first orbit after sending two-time WSOP bracelet winner Kabrhel to the rail. Both were the big stacks heading into the live-streamed showdown and Kabrhel was caught bluffing in just the second hand for Verbakel to claim a commanding lead. The Dutchman seemed unfazed by the table antics of Kabrhel and happily engaged in table chat with his foe throughout the last few days.
"He is just an annoying guy, everybody agrees on that, I guess. I already played with him once before and he is always acting like this, talking all the time and slowing down the game," Verbakel said when asked about the only previous WSOP bracelet winner on the final table. He also admitted adjusting accordingly because he was aware that Kabrhel was bluffing a lot and utilized more check-calls in his range as there was "nothing more you could do".
The hand that changed the table dynamics was one of such calls. "If he bets the river, it's pretty difficult. I think it's fifty-fifty, I guess, because I have the blocker with the nine but I didn't have any diamonds. I know he is capable of bluffing and against all other players at the table, I would have folded."
"I played one hand really bad. I thought I had a flush draw but I didn't check again. I made a mistake and gave him the chance to have a lot of chips as well. Luckily for me, he played really tight when he had chips," Verbakel clarified with regards to Feng.
The entire final table was a rather brief affair with a one-sided leaderboard. It left Verbakel and Feng near the top until the heads-up stage was reached while one short stack after the other succumbed to the increasing blinds.
Third-place finisher Ken Beckers was the only one to threaten the duopoly after staging a comeback from fewer than two big blinds. However, an ill-timed move ended the run of the Belgian in third place and set the stage for a short-lived heads-up duel that lasted only 15 minutes.