The WSOP Europe kicked off this weekend at King’s Casino in the Czech village of Rozvadov, which has over the past several years become the European epicenter of quality poker action.
After a successful summer in Las Vegas, the WSOP has now traveled all the way to the heart of Europe for one of this year’s most exciting live tournament events. The major poker festival began in style with a €350 Opener No-Limit Hold’em tournament that saw Ukraine’s Renat Bohdanov emerge victorious over a massive field and claim his first WSOP gold bracelet.
The WSOP Europe’s opening event took place over four days. It saw its two starting flights attract a total of 1,011 entries, all thirsty for WSOP fame and a coveted gold piece of jewelry that accompanies every win.
The final day of the €350 buy-in event was played this past Wednesday and saw ten players return at the host casino to play down to a champion, the winner of the first 2019 WSOP Europe gold bracelet.
Israeli player Eyal Bensimhon was leading the ten finalists at the start of the final day of action. With a stack of 6.8 million, the player was running for his first WSOP gold bracelet. Bensimhon previously scooped a gold ring from the WSOP’s sister series – the WSOP Circuit. The opening event gold bracelet eluded the Israeli poker pro to go to Bohdanov.
Bohdanov’s Run in the Event
The Ukrainian player entered the final day of action with the third largest chip stack. He bagged 3 million worth of chips the previous night to secure a somewhat comfortable start of the final stage of the tournament.
Bohdanov kept his momentum throughout the day, building his stack bit by bit. Down to five-handed play, the Ukrainian won one of the key hands of the final table. He participated in an all-in challenge against Michal Kral that could have gone terribly wrong for the eventual champion, if it wasn’t for the river card. Kral exited the race in fifth place, while his Ukrainian fellow player emerged as the chip leader with a big advantage over the remaining three runners.
Mikhailo Hryhoriev, the other Ukrainian at the final table, went out in fourth place and Bensimhon departed in third to leave it to Bohdanov and Hungary’s Norbert Mosonyi to determine the champion.
It was a long heads-up battle. Bohdanov dominated action for the better part of the duel, but Mosonyi, despite being less experienced, proved to be a challenge for the Ukrainian. The Hungarian player managed to take the lead a couple of times, but the title was Bohdanov’s to win.
On what turned out to be the final hand of the event, Mosonyi raised to 1.5 million and his opponent moved all in. Mosonyi called after giving it some thought and the two players showed their hands. The Hungarian held [Kd][5d] and Bohdanov turned over [Ad][9s]. The board ran out [Ah][Kd][20d][As][6s] to secure Bohdanov with the victory.
The tournament’s champion claimed €53,654 in prize money and the shiny gold bracelet. As for his runner-up, Mosonyi had to settle for a consolation prize of €33,112. Both players also secured tickets into the €10,350 buy-in WSOP Europe Main Event later this month.
Source: Ukraine’s Renat Bohdanov Wins First Bracelet of the 2019 World Series of Poker Europe, WSOP.com
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