The World Series of Poker Europe will return to the King’s Casino in Rozvadov in the fall with ten bracelets and €13m in guaranteed prize money up for grabs.
I wonder if I carefully pulled my eye out of its socket, and moved it around the room with my red right hand would I still see things? Is the frog whose life I saved by moving him from my backyard to the safety of the local park, suffering from depression because I tore him away from his family? And what do you do in Rozvadov when you aren’t playing cards?
Or maybe that’s the magic, right there.
Away from roving eyeballs, and heartbroken frogs, perhaps the key to creating the most vibrant poker rooms in the world is to erect them in the towns where the most exciting thing to see are the mice you find when you lift up zinc roofs dying in the fields.
In 2016, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and Leon Tsoukernik, the owner of the King’s Casino in Rozvadov, agreed upon a multi-year deal to host the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) in the town of 782 people.
Back then, the plan was to host a WSOPE event in 2017 & 2019, with seven World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) events taking place between 2017 & 2021.
The initial WSOPE was a resounding success, dishing out €25m in prize money, as 7,689 entrants got off the bus believing they were in the wrong town.
Maybe that’s why the pair have decided to add an impromptu piece of 2018 WSOPE meat in between the two expensive slices of bread that lie either side.
WSOP and King’s Casino Announce 2018 WSOPE
While Doyle & Todd Brunson go to bed hoping for a perfect ending to the latest WSOP story, leaders from Kings and the WSOP have announced a €13m GTD, 10 WSOP gold bracelet WSOPE set to take place Oct 9 through November 2.
WSOP Executive Director, Ty Stewart, said of the announcement, “King’s Casino does everything big and first class, so we can’t wait to return to Rozvadov.”
Here is the schedule.
The Schedule
Event #1 – €550 COLOSSUS No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) €1m GTD (8 starting flights, 1 re-entry per flight) – Oct 9,10,11,12 and 13.
Event #2 – €1,650 6-Handed Deepstack NLHE €200k GTD, single re-entry – Oct 14
Event #3 – €550 Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) 8-Handed €100k GTD, one starting flights, unlimited re-entry – Oct 15 & 16.
Event #4 – €1,100 Turbo Special Bounty Hunter NLHE €200k GTD,$300 bounties – Oct 17.
Event #5 – €1,100 Monster Stack NLHE €1m GTD, 3 starting flights, 1 entry per flight – Oct 18, 19 & 20.
Event #6 – €1,650 PLO/NLHE Mix €200k GTD – Oct 21
Event #7 – €2,200 PLO 8-Handed €200k GTD, Unlimited re-entry – Oct 22
Event #8 – €25,000 High Roller NLHE €1m GTD, single re-entry – Oct 24
Event #9 – €100,000 Super High Roller €5m GTD, unlimited re-entry – Oct 26
Event #10 – €10,350 WSOPE Main Event €5m GTD, 2 starting flights, Bust Day A, re-enter Day B – Oct 27 & 28.
What’s Changed?
The inaugural festival handed out 11 bracelets including a very controversial €1,650 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better event that drew a paltry looking 92 entrants, won by the WSOP Player of the Year, Chris ‘Why Doesn’t Anyone Like Me” Ferguson.
The scalpel has come out.
That event has been cut.
The other significant change is the omission of a One Drop affiliation. The €1,100 Little One for One Drop is off the menu, replaced by Event #6 – €1,650 PLO/NLHE Mix €200k GTD – Oct 21, and the €100,000 event no longer has the One Drop brand seared into its hide.
Last year, a Spanish schoolteacher by the name of Marti Roca stopped throwing blackboard dusters long enough to beat 529 entrants to win the €1.1m first prize in the €10,300 Main Event, and was subsequently signed to represent the 888Poker brand. His fellow ambassador, Dominik Nitsche, defeated 132 entrants to win the €3.5m first prize in the €100,000 Super High Roller, and Niall Farrell joined the Triple Crown club winning the €25,000 High Roller.
And while all of this was happening, 782 people were wondering why so many people were hanging around in the streets looking for things to do.
