After a late night last night on Day 2 of the Mini Main Event, many of the same faces on the rail were back to see if Martin Kabrhel could win his first WSOP bracelet in Las Vegas.
And Kabrhel was playing to his crowd, calling the floor and talking a lot. He was in a great mood.
“All in!” he shouted with a flourish. “17 billion,” he joked. After a quick fold from his opponent, he proclaimed it “one of the greatest folds in poker history.”
He was keeping the floor busy. He called them over three times in the space of ten minutes.
By this point, Bartlomiej Swieboda had already had enough and busted after calling an all-in with a dominated king.
Kabrhel was running over the final four. The pay jumps were huge, especially for a $1K buy-in. The next player out would get $323K, third would get $426K, second $566K, and the winner would get $843K. You can see why Kabrhel was a bit freer with his chips than the others.
He won a big pot to move up to 230 million and showed the 
on the 
board when he elicited a fold, saying, “Not like that. This is embarrassment.”
The very next hand he called a raise from the button and checked through to the 
turn. He bet 25 million and, after a brief pause, said, “Where’s the floorman? I want to ask a question. Okay, clock.”
That also got a fold. A 28 million bet on the turn was good enough to win the next big pot. The next hand he announced, “250 million, just a small raise to keep things easy.”
Three folds saw his stack balloon up to 353 million — more than half the chips in play.
Dealer error costs Ishak
Then misfortune hit John Ishak. He moved all-in with his last 42 million and got a call from Kabrhel, only to see the dealer had mucked his cards. It was ruled that he would forfeit the 16 million minimum raise. He wasn’t happy, but the game continued.
And a shellshocked Ishak was out next hand when Kabrhel shoved 
. Ishak called with 
and was ahead all the way to the river on the 
board. It really looked like Kabrhel’s tournament to lose
But, just like that, he was distracted. Late reg in the $100K PLO to the side of the room was ticking down, and Kabrhel wanted to go and play it. He asked the other two players and the floor if they could pause the tournament for an hour so he could go and play it.
The floor said no, but Kabrhel insisted he call a supervisor. The supervisor also said no.
He bet 400 million the next hand and said to the dealer, “Don’t take my hand, please. It’s a joke, she loves me.”
If this all sounds scattergun, you need to witness Kabrhel in person. He's a force.
He rivered a flush soon after and won a big pot with a 28 million bet on the river that was called. “Vamos! And I even get to save $100K.”
And then there were two
It didn’t all go his way. He moved all-in with 
and almost eliminated Alexander Yen, who called with 
. The 
flop was clean, but a king on the turn and another on the river had Kabrhel up and celebrating like he’d hit them himself.
But it didn’t take him long to get it all back. And we were soon down to two when a clash between Vadzim Lipauka and Yen ended with Yen making runner-runner quad eights. Lipauka was down to fumes, and Kabrhel got the rest with 
against .
“Can you bring the bracelet and a big pile of money?” Kabrhel asked.
“No,” said the floor. “I can bring the bracelet.”
“What about a mini pile of money and a mini bracelet for the Mini Main Event?”
Kabrhel lost the chip lead briefly, but it felt like this one was going to be his, and he grabbed a big chip lead back with nines against Yen’s 
.
“Don’t gamble,” he told Yen. “If we go one hour more, we go on the stream, and you’ll be famous. I don’t want to be famous,” he added, looking to his rail for approval.
It didn’t go an hour.
Interview, photo and gone
His first all-in for the bracelet failed — vs. 
. But the next one was the charm.
He moved all-in with 
and Yen called with .
"Not like that," Kabrhel wailed as the 
board gave him the bracelet and massive first prize of $843,140.
He still had time for more antics. He looked like he was going to refuse the post-win interview with WSOP — “I’ve done a lot of interviews with you this summer, and you keep cutting them” — but eventually relented, after a quick change of clothes.
“Vamos!” he shouted. “This is a mini bracelet for the Mini Main Event, but I like it. Can you put more diamonds on it?”
Talking about his polarizing play, he said, “In this tournament there were 11 thousand people, and I think exactly seven or eight people didn’t enjoy my play. Everyone else did.”
And you can't argue with that. You also can't argue with his record this summer — eight cashes and four final tables, including the $250,000 Super High Roller and, now, his fourth WSOP bracelet. This win also puts him in the lead for the 2025 WSOP Player of the Year, ahead of Benny Glaser, who's won three bracelets.
He was also insistent that his bracelet was broken and should be fixed before his winner’s photograph. He managed to sort it out himself and just about stayed still long enough for some shots to be taken before he was off to play another tournament. For Kabrhel, time never stands still.
