Despite the state of emergency in Czechia, the World Series of Poker Europe managed to pull off a successful Mini Main Event. The €1,350 (~$1,500) event attracted 1,397 players, managing to smash the €600,000 (~$680,000) guarantee.
The total post-rake prize pool ended up being €1,592,580 (~$1.8 million), with €250,175 (~$283,000) set aside for the first-place finisher.
First place went to Emil Bise, a Swiss player, who beat a final table including the 888poker ambassador, Vivian Saliba, and Jack Sinclair, winner of 2018's WSOPE Main Event. It took Bise barely four hours to beat the entire final table.
Players began with 100,000 in chips, 40 minute blind levels, and starting blinds of 100/300 with a 300 big blind ante.
Most big-name players were either still in Vegas, recovering from the WSOP(US), or headed to Florida for the WPT event at the Seminole Hard Rock. However, among the field that failed to make the money were Martin Kabrhel -- a two-time bracelet winner -- and Stoyan Madanzhiev, the 2020 WSOP Online Main Event winner.
State of Emergency
Under the new Czech government regulations, the WSOPE is still putting on a full roster of events. However, King's Resort will be adjusting start times to ensure events finish before the new curfew of 10 PM. There will also be event caps in order to keep the total number of attendees at any one time at 1,000.
The European Poker Tour — originally planned to take place at King's Resort's site in Prague — has been canceled in response to the new restrictions.
All in all, King's response to the change in rules has gone pretty smoothly. Day 1A of the Colossus had to be canceled earlier in the week over staff and capacity issues. But since then, reports of logistical trouble have been noticeably absent. After the chaos at the WSOP in Vegas, the smooth transition probably comes as a great relief to the team at Caesars.
King's tweeted: "Important Update: New government regulations, but all planned WSOPE events still happening (adjustments)."
The end of the day
The event came to an end with Emil Bise and Marius Gicovanu heads up.
With blinds at 1.5 million/3.0 million, Gicovanu pushed his stack of 40.6 million over the line with A♦️3♦️. Bise called and flipped over the K♠9♠, putting him at a disadvantage.
The tables turned along with the three flop-cards as the board rolled out J♠9♣J♦️. Now it was for Gicovanu to chase some outs. He needed an ace or runner-runner diamonds to win.
The turn was the 7♦️, keeping hope alive for Gicovanu. Unfortunately, the river was the J❤️, giving Bise a full house and the bracelet.
Gicovanu won €154,611 (~$283,000) for his second-place finish.
The final table was live-streamed online. You can watch the full stream below, or on YouTube.
2021 WSOPE €1,350 Mini Main Event complete final table results
| Position | Player Name | Country | Payout (€) | Payout (~$) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Emil Bise | Switzerland | €250,175 + €10,350 Main Event ticket | ~$283,000 |
| 2nd | Marius Gicovanu | Romania | €154,611 + ME ticket | ~$175,000 |
| 3rd | Rolf van Brug | Netherlands | €112,385 + ME ticket | ~$127,000 |
| 4th | Alessandro Pichierri | Italy | €82,646 + ME ticket | ~$94,000 |
| 5th | Jack Sinclair | United Kingdom | €64,495 + ME ticket | ~$73,000 |
| 6th | Ciro Perna | Italy | €46,304 + ME ticket | ~$52,000 |
| 7th | Vivian Saliba | Brazil | € 35,288 | ~$40,000 |
| 8th | Pablo Finini | Switzerland | € 27,223 | ~$31,000 |
| 9th | Omid Kamali Novin | Germany | € 21,261 | ~$24,000 |
Featured image source: Twitter
