The WSOP Mini Main Event (MME) shares just one key trait with the $10K Main Event — a massive field.
This year it attracted 10,794 entries. Those are entries, not players, because, unlike the Main Event, the MME wasn’t a freezeout this year. It’s also 1/10th the buy-in and is run as a turbo with 30-minute levels.
Day 2 returned with 859 players, all in the money.
And one of the players attracted a steady rail throughout the day. By the time there were 17 players left late in the evening, Martin Kabrhel had employed a ‘rail captain’ — later sacked, of course — and spectators were two deep. They were here for the entertainment and the drama. And they got both.
One-round penalty
An altercation is never too far away with Kabrhel, and he received one at a particularly inopportune moment here. When the blinds are so big and the stacks so shallow, a one-round penalty is a big deal, and Kabrhel didn’t take it quietly. It was almost doubled to two rounds before he saw sense and stood (relatively) quietly on the rail.
The only rule you need to know at this stage in a WSOP tournament, with big money up top, is to take any penalty on the chin and lodge a complaint later if you feel the need. Kabrhel remembered just in time.
Whatever you think of him, you can’t deny the talent Kabrhel has got — and his passion for poker. Whether it’s a $250,000 buy-in (he finished 7th for $674,359 a couple of weeks ago in the Super High Roller) or a $1,000 turbo, they all mean the same to him.
And he’s had an incredible summer. Seven cashes, three final tables, and now another run at his first Las Vegas bracelet (he has three from WSOP Europe). What’s his secret?
Let’s play a round with Kabrhel to see how it’s done.
'Don't do anything stupid'
Hand 1
Kabrhel raises to 5 million on the button. The small blind folds and the big blind folds. "Vamos,” exclaims Kabrhel.
Hand 2
It folds round to Kabrhel in the cutoff. "95 million!" Kabrhel says proudly. It folds to Thomas Cazayous in the big blind, who tanks before Kabrhel eventually calls the clock. Cazayous calls.
- Kabrhel:
- Cazayous:
The board runs out 
, Kabrhel busts Cazayous and moves up to 156 million to take the chip lead.
Hand 3
Kabrhel raises to "6 million, Casino Royale!" from the hijack. “Don’t do anything stupid like call with ace-high for your tournament life for 65 million,” Kabrhel warns the rest of the players. Cazayous has gone by this point, thankfully. Everyone folds.
Hand 4
Kabrhel asks the big blind what he has behind before exclaiming, “6 million!” The big blind calls.
Flop: 
The big blind checks, Kabrhel bets 6 million, and the big blind folds. “Round of applause for Peter,” Kabrhel asks the rail as Peter Placey busts from the other table in 12th.
Hand 5
Kabrhel raises to “6 million!” from UTG. The small blind moves all-in, and the big blind shoves as well. Kabrhel calls.
- Kabrhel:
- Connor Daynard:
- Lucas Lew:
Lew triples up on the 
board, and play pauses for the final table redraw.
Kabrhel leads rail to final five
As the unofficial table of 10 sat down, the new floor defused the situation with Kabrhel.
“Everyone is here to see my beautiful dealers,” he said to Kabrhel with a flourish.
“Not all of them,” Kabrhel replied.
“We’re Kabrhel,” said the rail.
“Not like that!” said the floor, which got the biggest laugh of the night.
Then, on the last break of the night, Kabrhel was interviewed by the WSOP. It was, perhaps, not the best timing.
“How are you, Martin?”
“Very tired, and very excited, and very disappointed. I played with 859 players today, and only three had a problem, but I got a penalty for trying to help the dealer.”
Switching over to the topic of him winning his first bracelet in Vegas, Kabhrel said, “I only play for the glory.” And the rail — which is getting bigger as the clock ticks past midnight.
Kabrhel picked up aces and busted ACR pro Katie Lindsay in 8th place for $114,260. The two hugged after Kabrhel flopped a set.
“What are you all doing here?” he asked the rail. “Go and sleep. It’s 4am or something.”
No one was leaving. He lost a big one and won a big one back, and by the time we were down to five, he was second in chips and still bright as a spark.
“We’re playing the rest of this level? Yes?”
But the bags were out, and the Kabrhel show was over for the night. Can he win his first bracelet and $843,140 in Las Vegas on the day the $10,000 Main Event starts? Play restarts in this one at 1pm, and we’ll be watching closely.
$1,000 Mini Main Event final 5
- Alexander Yen: 189,500,000 (38 big blinds)
- Martin Kabrhel: 166,500,000 (33 big blinds)
- Vadzim Lipauka: 156,000,000 (31 big blinds)
- John Ishak: 85,000,000 (17 big blinds)
- Bartlomiej Swieboda: 50,500,000 (10 big blinds)
