Name: The World Series of Poker Europe, the WSOPE, the ‘other, other WSOP’.
Age: 18.
Appearance: A dozen + tournaments played in Rozvadov in the Czech Republic, each awarding big money and the most coveted hardware in poker: a WSOP gold bracelet.
Only 18 years old? That’s not even old enough to play a WSOP event. That may be true in Las Vegas, but not in Europe. The USA’s 21+ age restrictions don’t apply, you just need to be over the age of 18 to compete for gold bracelets — including the €10K buy-in Main Event.
That’s a lot of babysitting money. Do any youngsters actually play it, though? They sure do, and what’s more they win. The first WSOP Europe Main Event, in 2007, was won by an 18-year-old.
Impressive. That’s one thing you won’t see in Las Vegas. Not only that, but the player in question was a woman — the first to win a WSOP Main Event anywhere, and so far the only one. Annette Obrestad of Norway won £1 million, two days before her 19th birthday, topping a field of 362 in London.
Is it still held in London? It was for the first four years, then it hopped around France and Germany before appearing to settle in Rozvadov, a small town in the Czech Republic near the German border. That’s where it’s been held annually since 2017, including this year’s series — which is happening right now.
Is Rozvadov anything like Las Vegas? Let’s see. It only has a population of 800 people, it doesn’t have anything to match The Sphere in terms of spectacle, and it’s over 500 miles from the nearest Eiffel Tower (although that one is the actual Eiffel Tower). We asked Tripadvisor for a list of the top 10 attractions and it came up with one — a bar. What it does have, though, is an enormous casino: King’s Resort.
That definitely helps. Would I have heard of any of the winners? Have you heard of Phil Hellmuth? The ‘Poker Brat’ won the Main Event and over €1 million in 2012, becoming the first person to win both the US and European incarnations of the Big One. Other names you might know include John Juanda, who won in 2008, CardPlayer Magazine CEO Barry Shulman (who beat Daniel Negreanu heads-up in 2009) and Adrian Mateos who won in 2013, aged 19.
Okay, those are some pretty big names. Then you’ve got the side events, where winners over the years have included Daniel Negreanu (who won the €25K High Roller the same year he finished runner-up to Mateos), Jeremy Ausmus, Antonio Esfandiari, Martin Kabrhel, Daniel Dvoress, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospelier… and the list goes on.
How many events do they have? Any badugi or double-board bomb pot PLO, like at the 'OG' WSOP? Sadly not — it’s all fairly standard no-limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha events. And there are far fewer of them, too: Where the 2025 WSOP had a schedule of 100 events, this year’s WSOPE has just 15.
Isn’t Central Europe a long way to go if there are just 15 events to play? Not if you live there, but it’s true that the field sizes at the WSOPE are often smaller than at other major poker festivals. The WSOP, the WPT and the EPT all regularly attract much bigger fields, and seeing big names there feels like more of a rarity in recent years.
Why is that? Have you seen the list of top attractions in Rozvadov on Tripadvisor? There are also so many options when it comes to playing big poker tournaments these days. You don’t have to travel far if you don’t want to, and you don’t have to venture into a small town in Czechia with just 800 inhabitants. However, the WSOPE still has something that other stops can’t offer.
What’s that? 15 chances to win a WSOP gold bracelet.
Great point. What’s the nearest airport to Rozvadov? Nuremberg in Germany is about 65 miles away, but get a move on — the current series finishes on October 8.
Do say: “Další pivo za 2 dolary, prosím” (“Another $2 beer, please”)
Don’t say: “Czech to the raiser!”
Featured image courtesy of King's Resort.
