HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 2018 WSOP EUROPE

Rozvadov, Czechia (2 November 2018) When the final card of the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe was dealt Friday night, Jack Sinclair completed some unfinished business. Last year, Sinclair (pictured, center) made it to the final table of the biggest poker tournament of the year, the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas. He finished better than over 7,000 of his opponents, but eventually was eliminated in eighth place. About 15 months later, Sinclair was again at a high-profile final table, this time of the WSOP Europe Main Event in Rozvadov, Czechia. And this time around, he was never eliminated. He won the event, earning his first WSOP gold bracelet €1,122,239.

For a few days before the Main Event concluded, it looked like Sinclair might get upstaged by Ryan Riess, the 2013 WSOP world champion. Riess finished atop the chipcounts after Day 3, and was in fourth place out of the remaining 12 players after Day 4. He then entered the final day in third out of the six remaining players, but ended up bowing out in fourth place (€337,778). Had Riess won the event, he would’ve become the second player in history to win both the WSOP Main Event and the WSOP-E Main Event. He wouldv’e been in elite company, as the other is hall-of-famer Phil Hellmuth.

This was the 10th edition of WSOP Europe, and second to be held in King’s Casino in Rozvadov. One of the biggest winners from this year’s WSOP-E, even though he didn’t win (another) bracelet was Shaun Deeb (pictured, left), who locked up his place in WSOP history by securing Player-of-the-Year honors. At the conclusion of WSOP in Las Vegas in July, Deeb held the lead in the POY race, but was trailed closely by Ben Yu, Joe Cada, and John Hennigan after impressive results from all of them over the summer. Deeb finished the summer with 16 cashes, including two bracelets (the third and fourth of his career) and one third-place finish. In Rozvadov at WSOP-E, Deeb cashed an another four events, including a runner-up finish in the €1,650 Mixed PLO/NLHE tournament, and he finished 2018 with 20 cashes, two bracelets, four final tables, and over $2,530,000 in WSOP earnings.

As the first few events of the 2018 WSOP Europe wrapped, there was one obvious trend – the historic success of Israeli players. In a showing reminiscent of the of Greece’s powerhouse performance in 2015, Israeli’s won three of the first five tournaments. It started with Tamir Segal’s victory in the Colossus, the opening event this year in Rozvadov. Segal earned his first WSOP bracelet and €203,820. The following day, Asi Moshe earned his second career bracelet by winning the €1,650 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Deepstack tournament for €82,280.

Less than a week later, Timur Margolin (pictured, right)made it three for the Israeli’s with a victory in the Monster Stack for €134,407. This was Margolin’s second bracelet of 2018 (he also won the $2,500 No-Limit event in Las Vegas in June).

This is the third consecutive WSOP Europe where one nation dominated the early running. Last year, the hometown Czech players earned three bracelets in the first six events, and 2015 saw the first three Greek winners in WSOP history.

Margolin was actually not the first player to earn his second bracelet of 2018 at WSOP Europe. That honor goes to Hanh Tran, of Austria, who emerged victorious in the Event #3: €550 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed (€59,625). He won his first career bracelet in the $1,500 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw tournament at the WSOP in Las Vegas earlier this year. That impressive feat was repeated by a third player a few days later. Michael Addamo, of Australia, won the €25,500 Super High Roller event (€848,702) for his second bracelet of the year. This summer, he won the Marathon event for his first career bracelet.

There were also two players who earned their second career bracelets, though not second of 2018. Norbert Szecsi won Event #6: €1,650 Mixed PLO/NLHE for €86,956. Szecsi won his first bracelet in 2013. Since then he’s had several close calls, including two runner-up finishes, and now finally joins the club of multiple bracelet winners.

Martin Kabrhel didn’t have to wait as long. He won his first bracelet in Rozvadov at last year’s WSOP Europe, and followed it up this year by taking down the biggest buy-in tournament of the series, the €100,000 King's Super High Roller. He earned €2,624,340 for the victory, by far the largest live cash of his career.

The other bracelet winners were Mykhailo Gutyi, who earned  €61,000 for winning Event #4: €1,100 No-Limit Hold'em Turbo Bounty Hunter, and Anson Tsang, who earned €91,730 for his victory in Event #7: €2,200 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed.

Click here for a full schedule of events from the 2018 WSOP Europe, along with links to Results, updates, and more.