Five Poker Stars Hailing From the Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. It is a place steeped with history, in addition to housing some incredibly talented poker players. The country has some weird online poker laws, however. They include not allowing its residents to register for online tournaments if there is an overlay. Those quirks have not stopped the following five Czech Republic stars from flourishing.

Martin Kabrhel Is Number One in the Czech Republic

Martin Kabrhel is the biggest live poker tournament winning from the Czech Republic with $8,460,146 in winnings. The highly intelligent grinder has two bracelets to his name, which help confirm his number one status.

Kabrhel won both his bracelet at King’s Resort in the Czech Republic. He won a €1,100 Super Turbo Bounty in 2017 for €53,557 ($62,990). Victory in a €100,000 Super High Roller at the 2018 WSOP Europe came with a career-best €2,624,340 ($2,990,088) and his second bracelet. Kabrhel followed up that win with a runner-up finish in another €100,000 buy-in event a couple of days later. It came with an additional €773,457 ($878,948) payday.

The Czech star also has five WSOP Circuit rings on his poker resume. Throw into the mix some remarkable online poker results, and Kabrhel is a superstar in every sense of the word.

Martin Staszko Almost Won the WSOP Main Event For the Czech Republic

Martin Staszko’s $6,356,930 in winnings places him second in the Czech Republic rankings. Some $5,433,086 of that sum stems from one tournament. More on that very soon.

Staszko was a relative unknown when he finished 11th in the €5,300 EPT Deauville Main Event. Little did the poker world know that 18-months later, Staszko’s name would be globally recognised.

He was one of 6,865 players who bought into the 2011 WSOP Main Event. He almost took it down, too, but ultimately fell in second place at the hands of German ace Pius Heinz. Staszko saw $5,433,086 head to his poker bankroll.

Staszko enjoyed some decent results after his massive score but never hit the same dizzy heights. His volume serious waned to the point he hardly plays these days.

Leon Tsoukernik the High Rolling Casino Owner

Leon Tsoukernik is a polarizing character. The art collector and businessman owns the King’s Resort casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic. Tsoukernik is well-known for playing in high stakes cash games, particularly Pot-Limit Omaha. However, he is no slouch in tournaments either.

Tsoukernik has $4,935,642 in live winnings from a largest score weighing in at $1,800,000. The casino mogul received this payout for a third-place finish in the 2017 Super High Roller Bowl. That tournament commanded a $300,000 buy-in.

2019 saw Tsoukernik enjoy his second seven-figure haul. He won a €100,000 buy-in Short Deck event held during the WSOP Europe festival. However, it did not award a coveted bracelet. Tsoukernik did, however, reel in a €1,102,000 score ($1,231,519).

Vojtech Ruzicka Grinds Both Live and Online Poker

Vojtech Ruzicka is one of the most-feared Czech Republic poker players. He has $4,200,837 in live winnings, and more than $10 million from his online grind. The PocketFives website ranked Ruzicka as highly as 36th in the world earlier in his career.

Ruzicka came close to winning the 2016 WSOP Main Event. He navigated his way to the final table only to fall in fifth place for $1,935,288. Qui Nguyen won that day and scooped a cool $8,005,310.

The Czech star is a consistent casher in major events. A major tour title is surely only around the corner.

Michal Mrakes Is a Mid-Stakes Star

Michal Mrakes has accumulated $2,296,942 in winnings, with most of his cashes coming in his native Czech Republic. Mrakes does, on occasion, play some higher stakes events, but usually frequents €300 to €1,500 buy-in tournaments. It is safe to say he excels in them.

His two largest cashes came within a month of each other. He finished third in the 2017 EPT Prague Main Event for €332,000 ($391,246) in December. Mrakes finished second in the WPT European Championships in January 2018 for an additional €143,845 ($171,781).

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.

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