Opening WSOP Event in Rozvadov Won by Polish Pro Przemyslaw Szymanski

Over the coming week, the Czech-German border town of Rozvadov is all about the World Series of Poker. The largest cardroom in Europe, King’s Casino, is the home of poker for 15 bracelet events over the coming days and weeks, and with over 3,500 entries, the Opening Event proved to be hugely popular with the crowds.

Seventh WSOP Europe Opens in Style

It is the seventh time in poker history that the World Series of Poker Europe festival has arrived in Rozvadov, a small nondescript border town that exists almost as its own province between Czech Republic and Germany. There’s almost nothing to do in Rozvadov other than play poker, but that didn’t bother any of the 3,509 entries in Event #1 of the 2024 WSOP Europe at King’s Casino.

A total of 359 players made the money places and with three days of at-the-felt combat, the start of the third and final day saw 20 players still in seats. When the final table was reached, Daniel Trunk was the chip leader with 16.9m chips, with the Hungarian player Jozsef Dobos the short stack. It was Dobos who left first, as he won $21,610 in ninth place after his ace-five lost to Alberto Speranzoni’s pocket jacks. A clean board was just reward for the better hand and the Italian moved up the leaderboard while Dobos went home.

Soon, eight were reduced to just seven as Romanian player Viorel Gavrila busted for a score of $24,550. All-in with queen-six offsuit, Gavrila lost to Ukrainian player Rostyslav Sabishchenko’s ace-ten, as an ace came in the window and while Gavrila hit one six, it wasn’t enough to help him survive.

Trunk Heads to Broadway

Daniel Trunk had come into the final table with the chip lead and had the aggression to match his chip stack. Italian player Antonio Menga shoved with ace-eight and while Trunk was behind when he called with king-nine of clubs, it didn’t stay that way. A flop of J-T-9 put Trunk into the lead and Menga needed help. He got it on the turn of an ace, but a queen on the river was a sting in the tail of the hand and the Italian player Menga was out for $28,615.

Trunk was on a roll and took out Switzerland’s Georg Strebel next in sixth place for $34,125. Strebel lost with ace-five being shot down by Big Slick, a.k.a. ace-king as a board of Q-Q-J-T-J gave the seemingly invincible Trunk a Broadway straight on the turn.

With five players left, five, Dmitrij Fadeev was right to call off his stack pre-flop with pocket jacks but Speranzoni’s ace-eight overtook him after the cruelest of boards. A flop of 7-6-5 gave the Italian an open-ended straight draw and while the five changed nothing on the turn, a nine on the river completed that straight to send Fadeev home with a score of $41,810.

Symanski Soars as Trunk Left Empty

Only four players remained and despite winning that hand, the Italian Speranzoni was the next man to go home. Busting in fourth for $52,610, he lost his stack with ace-queen, which began his final hand all-in and called by the inferior ace-five with the five of diamonds belonging to Trunk. Four more diamonds came across the board to take out Speranzoni as Trunk’s bid to dominate the entire final table continued unabated.

Three-handed, the Ukrainian player Rostyslav Sabishchenko was shortest and he was all-in with ace-nine pre-flop against the pocket sixes of Trunk. A board of 7-4-3-T-Q sent the disappointed Sabishchenko home with a result of $67,750 while Trunk continued to pile up chips.

While he won that hand and had eliminated almost all of the opponents he faced in the final nine, Trunk only led by a short amount. Still, that looked to have won him the title when all the chips went in on a board of A-T-4-4 with Trunk holding six-four for turned trips. Szymanski had only ace-king and was drawing to one of the two remaining aces in the deck. Amazingly, it came on the river as the Polish player not only survived but took a massive 8:1 lead with almost all of the chips having been on the line.

Shortly after that hand, Szymanski had the bracelet. All-in with nine-three, he was was behind Trunk’s king-four and stayed that way on the K-J-3 flop. The turn of an ace looked like it would lead to a double-up for Trunk but a nine on the river gave Szymanski the pot and the WSOP Event #1 title!

Winning $128,400 for taking the title, Szymanski outdid the dominant player at the final table in Trunk, who cashed for $89,250 in second place.

Speaking after victory, Szymanski couldn’t help but acknowledge the miraculous ‘ace from space’ that save his tournament life heads-up.

“I was very happy when the ace came on the river – very, very happy!”

Photographs courtesy of Tomas Stacha for PokerNews, the home of live reporting during the 2024 WSOP Europe.