The excitement of the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is over for another six month but continues over in Europe for a few more weeks. The 2021 WSOP Europe festival is in full swing at King’s Resort, Rozvadov, Czech Republic. Switzerland’s Emil Bise claimed the largest prize of the series so far, netting €250,15 ($283,007) in the Mini Main Event.
New COVID-19 restrictions in the Czech Republic cast doubts over the runner of WSOP Europe. Further clouds drew overhead when PokerStars cancelled European Poker Tour Prague. However, King’s is adamant about completing the WSOP Europe festival.
The €1,350 Mini Main Event drew in a 1,397-strong crowd who created a €1,592,580 prize pool. €600,000 was the guarantee, so this prize pool blew that out of the water. There is a distinct lack of American and Canadian players in the Czech Republic, but there are still many stars competing.
Some of those, Richard Toth and Michal Mrakes among them reached the money place. A min-cash weighed in at €2,056 but the prize money increased to €21,261 at the final table.
Bise Third in Chips at the Final Table
Bise went into the nine-handed final table with 18,200,000 chips, around half the 36,000,000 of second-placed Marius Gicovanu. Circo Perna of Italy led the way thanks to his colossal stack of 44,900,000 chips.
Omid Kamali Novin was the first finalist out of the door. He open-shoved for 4,700,000 at the 400,000/800,000/800,000a level with Ac-4s. 888poker sponsored Brazilian Vivian Saliba called with Ad-Jd. The dealer fanned the Qs-7c-7d-2d-Qd board, and the short stack busted.
Eighth-place went to Pablo Finini, another short stack. Finini moved all-in for only three big blinds, and both Alessandro Pichierri and Rolf van Brug called. van Brug check-folded to a 1,000,000 bet on the 4s-As-Jc flop. Finini turned over Tc-2s and was against Kh-Js. An Ad turn and 6c river reduced the player count by one.
Saliba was the next star out of the door. First, Saliba lost all but 1.4 big blinds in a battle with British pro Jack Sinclair. That micro stack went into the middle with Kc-Jh, which ultimately lost to the van Brug’s Qs-Th.
That elimination burst another bubble because the top six finishers won €10,350 Main Event seats in addition to their cash prizes.
Start of the final table chip leader Perna fell in sixth. He bluffed all-in with Ah-Qs on a 2s-8c-3h-6d-2h board but van Brug looked him up with As-6s.
Former WSOPE Main Event Champ Bows Out
Sinclair won the 2018 WSOPE Main Event but had to make do with fifth-place here. Sinclair shoved five big blind with Ks-5d and lost to the As-Kh of Gicovanu.
Pichierri’s run ended in fourth place at the hands of Gicovvano. Pichierri ripped in seven big blinds with Kh-Tc, and Gicovanu called with the dominating Kc-Qd. The rest, as they say, is history.
Bise was the shortest of the three remaining stack yet ever gave up hope. He found himself heads-up when Cicovanu won a flip with 8s-8d versus van Brug’s Ts-9d. However, Bise trailed by 45,100,000 to 94,700,000 chips.
The Swiss grinder doubled early in the one-on-one match with Ac-4h versus 5h-5d, and won a few hands later. Bise moved all-in with Ks-9s, and Gicovanu called off his 13.5 big blind stack with Ad-3d. The board ran Js-9c-Jd-7d-Jh and Bise became a WSOP bracelet winner.
€1,350 WSOPE Mini Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (EUR) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Emil Bise | Switzerland | €250,175 | $283,007 |
| 2 | Marius Gicovanu | Romania | €154,611 | $174,901 |
| 3 | Rolf van Brug | Netherlands | €112,385 | $127,134 |
| 4 | Alessandro Pichierri | Italy | €82,646 | $93,492 |
| 5 | Jack Sinclair | United Kingdom | €64,495 | $72,959 |
| 6 | Ciro Perna | Italy | €46,304 | $52,380 |
| 7 | Vivian Saliba | Brazil | €35,288 | $39,919 |
| 8 | Pablo Finini | Switzerland | €27,223 | $30,795 |
| 9 | Omid Kamali Novin | Germany | €21,261 | $24,051 |
* top six finishers received a €10,350 WSOPE Main Event seat
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Brad Johnson
You name the game, and you can bet your bottom dollar that Brad has either played it or placed a wager on it! Brad calls himself a natural gambler, and someone who gains as much enjoyment from writing about the crazy game of poker as he does playing it.