King’s Casino owner, Leon Tsoukernik, has increased the guarantee for the €10,350 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event from €4m to €5m with €1m guaranteed for the winner.
It’s mind boggling that 250,000 poker players sat down and played in a town of only 500 residents. That’s exactly what happened last year in the tiny town of Rozvadov, Czech Republic.
It’s the home of King’s Casino; fast becoming one of the most sought after venues in Europe, thanks to partnerships with some of the biggest names in poker, and they don’t come much bigger than the World Series of Poker (WSOP).
The coupling entered into a long term partnership that will see the casino become the home of the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) festival for the foreseeable future, and this week, the casino owner Leon Tsoukernik had some good news for prospective players.
Tsoukernik has increased the guarantee in the €10,350 buy-in WSOPE Main Event from €4m to €5m, which means the winner is guaranteed to earn a seven-figure sum, outside of any potential final table deal making.
Four players have won a seven-figure score at the WSOPE Main Event: Annette Obrestad (2007), Elio Fox (2011), Phil Hellmuth (2012), and Adrian Mateos (2013). Three players caught the bug at the most inopportune time: John Juanda (2008), Barry Shulman (2009), and Kevin MacPhee (2015).
The new move is likely to result in the largest prizepool ever created for a WSOP Main Event outside of Las Vegas. The timing couldn’t be better. The last effort, in 2015, attracted the lowest number of entrants in series history (313).
Tsoukernik said the decision to increase the guarantee came about after a raft of early sign ups prompted his boldness.
The other piece of news is the €111,111 One Drop High Roller looks likely to hit the 111 player cap, with Tsoukernik withdrawing from the event to make more room. More than 90 players have already registered to compete including Phil Hellmuth, Fedor Holz, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, Antonio Esfandiari, Tony G, and Liv Boeree. Tsoukernik will give his €11k deposit to the One Drop Foundation.
The WSOPE Festival begins on October 19, and there will be 11 bracelets up for grabs.
It will also be the final sprint for the WSOP Player of the Year (POY). Let’s hope that we will remember the 2017 WSOPE as a record-breaking success, and not the year poker had to bow down to the might of Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson.
Here is the schedule in full.
