WSOPE Event #12: No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT

The World Series of Poker Europe Main Event drew a record number of 763 entries to create a prizepool of €7,248,500 and after five hotly contested days of action, culminating in a six-hour heads-up battle, there was just one remaining champion at the end, 

Omar Eljach of Sweden took home the grand prize of €1,380,129 and his first WSOP bracelet after nearly grabbing one earlier during this WSOPE in Event #6: €5,000 Pot Limit Omaha where he finished in second place.

This win more than doubles his total career earnings, which had been near $600,000 prior to this tournament, much of which was in pot-limit omaha as six of his largest eight scores have come frpm the four-card game.

Final Table Results:

1st place: Omar Eljach - €1,380,129

Naturally there were a lot of talented players in the field but there can only be one winner. Some of the familiar faces that made the money in this event but fell short of the final day included the likes of Patrik Zidek (10th), Michael Huber (19th), Sebastian Langrock (33rd), Simone Andrian (39th), Michal Mrakes (40th), Tobias Peters (42nd), Nacho Barbero (46th), Jessica Teusl (54th), Johan ‘YohViral’ Guilbert (56th), Julien Martini (61st), Jack Sinclair (64th), Stefan Huber (69th), Orpen Kisacikoglu (75th), Alexandru Papazian (78th), Yuval Bronshtein (84th), Mike Leah (89th) and Roland Israelashvili (110th).

Words From the Winner

Eljach was seemingly overwhelmed by the moment afterwards “It’s really hard to describe. So many emotions, all of them amazing. Such a draining battle… I feel relief, I feel incredible joy. Yeah… it’s an amazing feeling."

Eljach’s poker journey has been an interesting story as he discussed after the win “The first time I played was with my cousin in Colombia. I was about 16. He taught me the basic rules and stuff and I loved it. But, obviously, it was just home games with friends for pennies. Then, in my early 20s, I began to give it a shot and play low-stakes cash at the casinos in Stockholm. I’ve just been grinding away step-by-step, playing bigger and bigger, and now we’re here.”

What's the next step for the newly minted bracelet winner? "Well, I’m going to leave as soon as possible. It will be nice to see something else after being here for a couple of weeks. I haven’t decided yet. I want to do a short vacation at least and celebrate but I don’t know where yet."

Poker-wise he indicated that he will play EPT Prague and then decide from there what to do next in the poker world. 

Action of the Day 

The final day began with the final table of eight players and despite the fairly deep stacks, the eliminations came a bit more quickly than anticipated early on thanks in large part to several coolers.

Alexandre Reard was the first victim of said coolers as he ran pocket queens into pocket aces to become the eighth place finisher.

Barny Boatman had a healthy stack with pocket aces but the next thing he knew he was headed out the door as Sean Deeb flopped two pair against him to crack the aces and send Boatman away in seventh place.

Armin Rezaei and Paul Covaciu went out in 6^th and 5^th respectively after both of them laddered up a bit with their short stacks.

Four-handed play would then commence with the shortest stack being as deep as 36 big blinds as the players strapped in for what was sure to be a long grind. After about an hour of play, Vladas Tamasauskas would get unlucky when his pocket nines were out-flopped by the pocket eights.

Shaun Deeb was going for bracelet #6 and entered three-handed play with a huge chip advantage and looked poised to break his third place duct here in Rozvadov. But one of the defining hands became when Deeb made a river call against Eljach to lose a large portion of his stack that sent him down as the short stack of the three. From there he was unable to regain traction and eventually bowed out for his third 3rd place finish at WSOP Europe.

Heads-Up Play

With Deeb’s elimination, the stage was set of the upcoming epic six-hour heads-up duel. Between Eljach and Jonathan Pastore. Eljach held a 108-83 big blind lead as heads up play started, both players very deep. Pastore took the lead on the first hand of heads up but Eljach soon took a strong grip as a three-barrel bluff from Pastore ran into trips to give Eljach a nearly 3:1 chip lead. Pastore was whittled down as low as 10% of the chips a few hands later. But he would double with runner-runner flush to deny Eljach a quick victory.

Pastore would then be the one to take the lead not long after that after a series of medium sized pots and took command to send Eljach down to a 5:1 chip disadvantage. But the tables would turn again as Eljach started to chip away at the lead with a series of pots. A crucial pot gave Eljach the chip lead back when Pastore folded after a 13-minute tank. But Eljach would be unable to keep the pedal to the metal after that big hand as the stacks became even and for the first time in the heads up battle neither player held a large lead for about an hour.

Things got topsy-turny after that as Eljach zoomed ahead before Pastore took the lead briefly before losing it again prior to what would end up being the final break. After the break Eljach would steadily climb to a larger and larger chip lead before eventually holding with pocket queens on the final hand to sew up the bracelet. 

That ends things for WSOP.com's coverage of the World Series of Poker Europe here in Rozvadov. We hope you enjoyed following all of the action!

Omar Eljach raised to 2 million with    and Jonathan Pastore called with   . The flop came     and both players checked to the   turn. Pastore checked, Eljach bet 3.5 million and Pastore called.

The river completed the board with the   and Pastore opted to lead out for 6.5 million. Eljach folded.

Jonathan Pastore - 32,600,000
Omar Eljach - 43,700,000

Omar Eljach raised to 2 million with    and Jonathan Pastore called with   . The flop came     and Pastore checked. Eljach bet 2 million and Pastore called.

The turn was the   and both players checked to the   river. 

Omar Eljach - 41,000,000
Jonathan Pastore - 36,000,000

Jonathan Pastore raised to 2.3 million with the    Omar Eljach three-bet to 4.5 million with the    and Pastore called.

The flop came    . Both players checked to the turn which was the  . Pastore bet 3.5 million and Eljach called.

The river came the  . It checked down and Eljach took the pot.

Omar Eljach - 42,600,000
Jonathan Pastore - 33,700,000

Omar Eljach opened to 1.2 million with    and Jonathan Pastore defended   .

They went check-check on the     flop but on the   turn, Pastore put in a bet of 1.4 million. Eljach made the call.

The   arrived on the river and Pastore put out a bet of 3.2 million with eight-high. Eljach would lay down third pair.

Jonathan Pastore - 20,000,000
Omar Eljach - 57,000,000

Jonathan Pastore called with    and Omar Eljach raised to    for 2.1 million. Pastore made the call.

The flop came     and Eljach continued for 2.5 million. Pastore made the call with his gutshot.

The turn brought the   and Eljach fired again for 3 million. Pastore made the laydown.

Omar Eljach - 51,000,000
Jonathan Pastore - 25,000,000

Omar Eljach opened to 1.5 million with    and Jonathan Pastore defended   .

The flop came     and Eljach continued for 2 million and Pastore made the call.

The turn brought the   and Pastore lead out for 3.7 million and Eljach made the fold.

Jonathan Pastore - 45,000,000
Omar Eljach - 32,000,000

Omar Eljach opened to 1.5 million with    and Jonathan Pastore defended   .

They checked down the     flop and the turn brought the   and Eljach fired for 2.5 million. Pastore made the call with his second pair.

On the   river, Eljach fired for 6 million and Pastore would take about a minute before mucking.

Omar Eljach - 34,000,000
Jonathan Pastore - 42,000,000

Omar Eljach opened to 1.5 million with    and Jonathan Pastore defended with   .

The flop came     to give both players an open-ended straight draw and Eljach continued for 1.5 million. Pastore made the call.

The   arrived on the turn and they'd both check. The river brought the   to give both players the straight. Pastore put out a bet of 1.1 million and Eljach raised to 8 million. Pastore would consider his options before calling and chopping it up.

Omar Eljach - 39,500,000
Jonathan Pastore - 36,800,000