The World Series of Poker has begun on the 19th and the game action is taking place in Rozvadov, the Czech Republic. The first event in the diversified schedule of the poker festival was the €1,100 No-Limit Hold’em Monster Stack and the player who emerged victorious from it was Oleksandr Shcherbak from Kiev, Ukraine. For his deep run in the tournament, he received a total of €117,708, as well as his first-ever WSOP gold bracelet, coveted by many.
The opening event of the WSOP Europe festival attracted a total of 561 players willing to give their luck a try and run for the big prizes and top positions. With their joint efforts, they helped the total prize pool to reach €538,280. The final table featured nine players who have managed to survive until the last day and they were all ready for the gold bracelet. The first one to go was Germany’s Ali Sameeian, and he was eliminated by the big winner himself after pocket kings. He received €7,605 for his good performance and closely behind him was his fellow German player Ismael Bojang who finished 8th.
Peter Bstieler from Germany was also a notable name on the final table since he played proficiently, but he ran into the pocket nines of Shcherbak and had to end his game as the 6th player receiving €17,940. Carlo Savinelli from Italy was opting for a more aggressive approach and for a while he was prevailing over Petleshkov, but he ended up finishing in fourth place, receiving €34,869. At the beginning of the final day, the winner arrived as 7th in chips, but he clearly had the objective to win this final table and lay his hands on the gold bracelet.
Heated Heads-up Duel
The heads-up duel happened to be against the Bulgarian poker pro Viliyan Petleshkov and the two of them demonstrated a dynamic game with many ups and downs. This was hand #102 at the final table and both of them were giving their best. However, the last turn brought a stronger card for the Ukrainian player and he won the poker tournament, sending Petleshkov at the runner-up position with €72,747.
This is the second recorded cash in Shcherbak’s poker career, as the previous one is from Barcelona where he took part in this year’s edition of the PokerStars National Championship. With his win, the Ukrainian poker pro became the third poker player from Ukraine to win a gold bracelet from the WSOP Europe festival after Oleksii Kovalchuk and Igor Dubinsky. He is also the first one to do so on European soil. Another big first for Shcherbak was the fact that this was his first career cash from the WSOP and he managed to make it a memorable one.
