The biggest name in the field today is Rico Verhoeven. The 28-year old and 1m96 (that's 6 ft 5 in) tall kickboxer is the current GLORY heavyweight champion. He's also ranked the #1 heavyweight in the world by LiverKick.com and Combat Press and was seen partying with Conor McGregor in Las Vegas mere days ago.
National media in Holland have picked up on Verhoeven's challenge to try and capture a coveted WSOP Circuit ring. The giant from Bergen op Zoom, Brabant has made it clear he's not here to act as a punching bag.
"This is definitely not a publicity stunt," Verhoeven told Algemeen Dagblad. The Dutchman is a known poker aficionado and has been playing before in Holland Casino. The King of Kickboxing banks on his martial arts skills to get him through the day.
"There are many similarities between kickboxing and poker," Verhoeven continued. "Sometimes, it's best to be on offense, the other time, you want to be bluffing. A lot of fighters are into poker."
Verhoeven, who defeated the notorious Badr Hari in Germany last year, will be boasting a supportive rail with friends who will check on the champion throughout the tournament. We will follow Verhoeven to see if he can deliver the kicks on the poker table as well.
Today at 2 p.m. local time, Day 1b of the inaugural WSOP International Circuit Rotterdam commences. The second largest city in Holland has the scoop of hosting the first ever WSOP-event on Dutch soil. Yesterday, Hakim Zoufri was crowned champion in the €3,500 High Roller, and the Dutchman took home €69,888 for his efforts.
Yesterday also featured Day 1a of the Main Event. 104 entries were made on Day 1a, with 34 players making their way to Day 2 on Thursday, August 31st. For Dutch players, Holland Casino Rotterdam is one of the most popular venues to play it, and it comes to no surprise that a lot of Dutch superstars have traveled to the Gateway to Europe.
Fatima Moreira de Melo is one of the players who has already locked up her seat for Day 2. The Rotterdam native bagged 80,500 on the first day, which puts her in 9th place on the overall leaderboard. Another big name who took his seat is EPT13 Prague winner Jasper Meijer van Putten. The last ever EPT winner extended his 25,000 starting stack to a healthy 60,200, keeping him in strong contention going forward. Teunis Kooij (114,200), Tobias Peters (66,500), Michiel Brosky (62,000), Farid Yachou (61,800), and Rens Feenstra (13,800) also bagged on the first starting day. Chipleader after Day 1a is Eric Sfez (155,200).
One of the players who will take his seat today is kickboxer Rico Verhoeven. The 28-year old Dutchman is the current GLORY Heavyweight Champion and was among those to party with Conor McGregor in Las Vegas after McGregor's iconic boxing match with Floyd Mayweather. We will follow Verhoeven closely to day to see if he can deliver the knockouts on the green felt as well as in the ring.
Day 1b will feature eight 60-minutes levels before play is suspended for the night. All players start with 25,000 in chips and blinds will kick off at 50/100. A single reentry is allowed on each starting day, as well as at the start of Day 2, allowing players to buy up to five times into this event if they do so desire. PokerNews will be on the floor to cover this event until the last card is dealt on Saturday night and a new WSOP Circuit ring winner has been crowned.
