Event #8: €1,111 Little One for One Drop No-Limit Hold'em

Another tournament of the 2017 World Series of Poker Europe is closer to determining a champion and winner of a coveted golden bracelet as Event #8: €1,111 Little One for One Drop No-Limit Hold'em is down to the last 11 players. Throughout two starting days a field of 868 entries emerged to create a prize pool of €866,654 and the top 131 spots were guaranteed at least €1,660 for their efforts.

After the remaining 24 minutes of level 14 and ten full levels of one hour each were done and dusted, the official final table was narrowly missed with 11 hopefuls remaining in contention. Abdelhakim Zoufri holds a commanding lead over the other 10 finalists, having racked up 4,260,000 at the end of Day 2, almost covering the combined stacks of second-placed Thomas Hofmann (2,170,000) and third-placed Artan Dedusha (2,130,000). Zoufri has three WSOP cashes to his name so far and recently won the €3,500 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller at the WSOP International Circuit in Rotterdam back in August 2017 for his first WSOP Circuit ring.

Among the other hopefuls for the title and first-place payout of €170,764 are Day 1a chip leader Serghei Lisiy (1,965,000), Oleh Haisiuk (1,915,000), Johannes Toebbe (1,550,000), Albert Hoekendijk (1,375,000), as well as the short stacks Przemyslaw Klejnowski (625,000), Vlado Banicevic (560,000), Jonas Lauck (535,000) and Stanislav Koleno (435,000). The action will recommence on Saturday November 4th 2017 at 2 p.m. local time with blinds of 20,000/40,000 and a running ante of 5,000, and the field will combine to an unofficial final table at 10 players with €9,306 guaranteed thus far.

Day 3 Seat Assignments

Only 143 hopefuls returned to the tables of the King's Casino in Rozvadov for Day 2 and the money bubble burst in the second level of play. Among those to leave empty-handed were such big names as Andreas Klatt, Jeff Lisandro and Tomas Fara. Witold Krawczyk was the last player to leave the tournament area without anything to show for when running with pocket eights into the pocket aces of Hannes Neurauter in the big blind.

Soon after the floodgates opened and many notables were sent on their way to the payout desk. Allen Kessler and Roland Israelashvili had to settle for a min cash worth €1,660 with the former ending up second-best with ace-seven versus pocket tens. Besim Hot and Mike Leah earned €1,738 for their efforts, while other big names such as Paul Michaelis, Marcel Luske, Barny Boatman, William Kassouf, Maria Lampropulos, Sebastian Langrock and Age Spets all busted well before the dinner break.

EPT13 Barcelona runner-up Uri Reichenstein was among the big stacks before a bluff went wrong with a busted flush draw, and Oleh Haisiuk tank-called with pocket jacks for the overpair to send Reichenstein to the rail in 47th place. Other notables such as Antoine Vranken, Alexandra Janikova, Michael Eiler and Martin Mulsow followed, and Mulsow's rise to an above-average stack came to an end when he five-bet jammed with ace-king into the pocket aces of Rene Crha.

Abdelhakim Zoufri was among the top five on the last three tables already and cemented his spotlight after winning a flip with ace-queen against the pocket tens of David Urban. Tomas Rous flopped top pair and turned two pair only to see Radek Castka snap-call his shove with pocket sevens for a set and Frank De Busscher lost a flip with pocket nines to the ace-jack of Vlado Banicevic. Zoukri knocked out several other players before the action came to a close including Alessandro Laubinger (19th place - €4,812), Day 1b chip leader Remco Verbakel (18th place - €5,900) with set of eights versus pocket aces and Willem de Jong (15th Place - €7,351).

In the last hand of the night, Rene Crha three-bet all in with king-nine suited and Johannes Toebbe called with ace-ten. Crha turned a king but a fourth diamond on the river gave Toebbe a flush to end the penultimate day with 11 players still in contention. The event is scheduled to play down to a winner tomorrow and the PokerNews live reporting team will be there to provide all the action.

In the final hand of the night, Johannes Toebbe raised to 60,000 from the cutoff and Rene Crha moved all in from the small blind. Toebbe asked for a count and Crha was all in for 330,000 and the German eventually called.

Rene Crha:   
Johannes Toebbe:   

After the     flop, Toebba asked for an ace. However, his request was met with the   on the turn, improving Crha to kings and sevens. The   on the river improved Toebbe to a flush and Crha missed out on the bagging and tagging to take home €9,306 for his 12th place finish.

All remaining 11 players are now bagging up their chips and will return the next day at 2 p.m. local time.

Johannes Toebbe	1,550,000	475,000
Rene Crha	0	-395,000

No showdown has been in sight during the last minutes and Stanislav Koleno moved all in twice to steal the blinds and antes. "Someone give me a hand when he shoves," Artan Dedusha sighed. In the second all in hand, Vlado Banicevic was in the big blind and flashed    before sending it into the muck.

Vlado Banicevic	600,000	-35,000
Stanislav Koleno	515,000	115,000

Stanislav Koleno pushed from the cutoff and Erkan Sönmez in the big blind folded the  . Koleno flashed the   and Sönmez replied "I had ace five suited."

A few hands later it was up to Sönmez to push from the cutoff for his last 250,000 and Albert Hoekendijk called out of the big blind.

Erkan Sönmez:   
Albert Hoekendijk:   

"Oh no, hoping for a split pot," Sönmez immediately said. The flop of     was followed by the   on the turn and that was a very bad card for Sönmez, as he was suddenly in need of a six to stay in contention. The   fell on the river and Sönmez was eliminated in 13th place for €7,351.

Albert Hoekendijk	1,290,000	340,000
Stanislav Koleno	400,000	-110,000
Erkan Sönmez	0	-460,000

Hand 1

Johannes Toebbe raised to 70,000 first to act and Radek Castka pushed all in for around 190,000 from two seats over. Thomas Hofmann in the big blind eyed the stack of Toebbe and folded, while the German quickly called.

Radek Castka:   
Johannes Toebbe:   

The board of       brought an ace-high straight and they chopped it up.

Hand 2

Castka shoved from early position and Toebbe called in the big blind.

Radek Castka:   
Johannes Toebbe:   

This time it was Toebbe who improved on the     flop. The   turn and the   river completed the board, giving Toebbe a flush and Castka finished in 14th place for €7,351.

Johannes Toebbe	710,000	190,000
Radek Castka	0	-205,000

The remaining 14 players have been sent into a 15-minute break, in which the T-1,000 chips will be raced off. One level remains to be played unless the final table is in sight, in which case the action may continue.

Jonas Lauck made it 50,000 to go from the cutoff and was called by Radek Castka on the button.

On the flop of    , Lauck checked and called a bet of 50,000 by Castka before the   turn went check, check. Lauck also checked the   on the river and Castka bet 200,000. Lauck called and Castka mucked his cards to forfeit a big portion of his stack.

Jonas Lauck	800,000	270,000
Radek Castka	205,000	-215,000

Johannes Toebbe moved all in from under the gun and claimed the blinds and antes.

The next hand, Jonas Lauck raised from under the gun and Toebbe defended his big blind. The flop fell     and Toebbe checked, Lauck bet 50,000 and quickly folded to the check-shove of Toebbe.

On the other table, Abdelhakim Zoufri four-bet shoved into a three-bet of Erkan Sonmez and the latter eventually called with the   . Zoufri had    and they chopped it up. "Waste of time!" Artan Dedusha jokingly added.

Right after Sonmez min-raised to 48,000 and Dedusha shoved from the big blind. Sonmez folded    and Dedusha's    were revealed. "How can you fold?" he asked and Sonmez replied "It wasn't ace queen."

Artan Dedusha	1,675,000	-50,000
Jonas Lauck	530,000	-70,000
Johannes Toebbe	520,000	100,000
Erkan Sönmez	460,000	-60,000

Thomas Hofmann opened to 55,000 and Lukas Soucek went all in for his remaining stack and Hofmann called. Hoffman had    and was behind the    of Soucek.

The     flop was safe for Soucek, but he started getting up when the   came on the turn.

The   on the river was of no help and Soucek had to settle for 17th place.

Thomas Hofmann	1,650,000	230,000
Lukas Soucek	0	-325,000

Rene Crha raised to 55,000 and was called by Oleh Haisiuk on the button. The duo checked the     flop and the   turn before the   appeared on the river. Crha bet 80,000 and Haisiuk raised to 185,000 before Crha went deep into the think tank. After more than three minutes, he reraised to 430,000 and Haisiuk tossed in a single chip for the call.

Crha turned over    for top set while Haisiuk had    for the rivered straight.

Oleh Haisiuk	1,850,000	780,000
Rene Crha	770,000	-465,000