Josef Gulas Jr Wins the 2021 WSOP Europe Main Event

Josef Gulas Jr added the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event title to his already impressive poker resume. Gulas Jr claimed a gold bracelet and €1,276,712 ($1,440,227), which takes his lifetime winnings to $2,263,030.

Gulas Jr has more than 100 live poker tournament cashes on his Hendon Mob profile. Almost all those cashes came at King’s Resort, Rozvadov, Czech Republic. This made his WSOPE Main Event victory quite fitting.

The €10,350 buy-in tournament drew in a 688-strong crowd, who created a €6,536,000 prize pool. The top 104 finishers shared this pot, with the likes of Roland Israelashvili, Dominik Panka, and Alexandros Kolonias cashing. Dzmitry Urbanovich, Pete Chen, and Ole Schemion also cashed.

Gulas Jr Hold Commanding Lead at the Final Table

Nine players reached the final table, although the official final table seated only eight players. Gulas Jr held a commanding lead because his 18,495,000 stack was the equivalent of 116 big blinds. Athanasios Kidas sat down in second place with 7,650,000 chips, or 48 big blinds.

The elimination of Brian Kemphorts left eight players in the hunt for the title. Alexander Tkatschew min-raised to 320,000 before calling the 770,000 all-in bet from Kamphorst. Tkatschew showed Ah-3h, Kamphorst the Kc-Js, and the board ran 8h-6h-5s-3s-Tc.

Ilija Savevski was the next finalist heading to the cashier’s cage. A battle of the blinds saw him lose a coinflip and bust. Frenchman Johan Guilbert bet enough to set Savevski all-in, and Savevski called off his 18 big blinds with Ah-Ts. Guilbert showed 4c-4s, and spiked a set on the flop of the Qd-4d-2s-3h-7s run-out.

Savevski’s exit brought the curtain down on the day’s play, and the remaining seven players returned the following day. Gulas Jr held the chip lead, although it was less substantial.

Major Prize Money Awarded

It did not take long for a player to bust on the final day. Thomas Denie of the Netherlands was that player. Denie opened to 450,000 at the 100,000/200,000/200,000a level, Tkatschew called in the hijack, only for Guilbert to squeeze to 1,900,000. Kidas riped it in for 6,325,000, and Denie called off the 5,900,000 chips he had behind; the others folded. Denie showed Qh-Qs, but Kidas held Ks-Kc. The Td-6d-3s-3h-6s board ended Denie’s participation.

A short-stacked Aleksandar Trajkovski busted in sixth. His Ts-7s failed to get there against the Kh-9d of Guilbert, with the chips going in on a Kc-3s-2s flop.

The final five became four when Gulas Jr sent Stanislav Koleno to the rail. Gulas Jr min-raised to 500,000, and Koleno called. Koleno checked on the Jd-9s-3d flop, then check-raised all-in for 2,575,000 when Gulas Jr fired a 2,575,000 continuation bet. That bet was called, and Koleno’s Jh-Td was against Kd-Kh. The 7d turn and 3h river sent Koleno home.

Four-handed play lasted two hours before Gulas Jr eliminated Kidas. The former open-shoved from the small blind, and Kidas called off his 13 big blinds. It was Ac-Js for the champion elect and Ks-Qc for the at-risk player. The Ah-Ad-3c left Kidas drawing dead.

Heads-Up Set; Guilbert Holds Big Chip Lead

The tournament progressed to heads-up when Guilbert busted Tkatschew in third. Guilbert min-raised to 1,000,000 with Ac-2c, and Tkatschew called with Kc-Td. Both players checked the Tc-2h-9c flop. Tkatschew led for 1,300,000 on the 4c turn, and Guilbert called. Tkatschew shoved on the 7s river, and Guilbert snap-called with the nut flush. Hands like this are why people play so-called weak aces.

Guilbert held a 50,300,000 to 18,500,000 lead over Gulas Jr. The roles reversed when Guilbert got his stack in with Ks-Qs and lost to the dominating Ad-Kh. Gulas Jr never looked back and became a worthy champion.

The final hand saw Gulas Jr put Guilbert all-in for his last 12 big blinds. Guilbert called with Ad-8s, and found himself against 2c-2h. The five community cards ran Jd-Kc-3h-7d-8h, and the WSOPE Main Event had its new champion.

Place	Player	Country	Prize (EUR)	Prize (USD)
1	Josef Gulas Jr	Czech Republic	€1,276,712	$1,440,227
2	Johan Guilbert	France	€789,031	$890,073
3	Alexander Tkatschew	Germany	€558,505	$630,026
4	Athanasios Kidas	Greece	€401,344	$452,739
5	Stanislav Koleno	Slovakia	€292,862	$330,365
6	Aleksandar Trajkovski	Macedonia	€217,854	$245,769
7	Thomas Denie	Netherlands	€163,434	$184,376
8	Illija Savevski	Macedonia	€125,052	$141,076

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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