Dennis Ruijgrok opened from middle position. Marcel Grubinger in the hijack three-bet all in for 25,300 and Ruijgrok called.
Marcel Grubinger: 7♦7♥ 
Dennis Ruijgrok: J♣J♥
Ruijgrok flopped a set on 5♦8♣J♠3♦2♥, leaving no chance for Grubinger, who was eliminated .
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
187,000
187,000
|
187,000 |
|
Busted |
There was an open from early position, and Christian Schneider called in the cutoff, before Andreas Goeller three-bet jammed for 30,200 from the button. The opener folded, but Schneider called after some thought.
Andreas Goeller: 8♦6♥
Christian Schneider: K♣Q♣
Goeller needed some help, and picked up an open-ended straight draw on the 9♣7♦7♠ flop.
Schneider found a queen on the Q♦ turn to solidify his position, and the 8♥ river was not enough for Goeller to stay in it.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
170,000
170,000
|
170,000 |
|
Busted |
Tomislav Topcic opened to 2,500 from early position, and was met with a three-bet to 10,000 from Yannick Schumacher in middle position.
Max Neugebauer was in the next seat, and he cold four-bet to 25,000. Andrei Birgaoanu was in the small blind, and when action reached him, he contemplated the position for a moment before five-bet jamming for 62,800.
Topcic quickly folded, and Schumacher asked for a count. On being informed of the amount, Schumacher rejammed, forcing out Neugebauer.
Andrei Birgaoanu: Q♦Q♣
Yannick Schumacher: K♦K♠
In a cooler, Birgaoanu had run queens into kings, and there was no unlikely escape on the A♦4♥4♦5♣8♦ runout.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
460,000
85,000
|
85,000 |
|
140,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
83,000
1,000
|
1,000 |
|
||
|
Busted | |
The clock has been paused and the tournament director has announced there will be four more hands before play concludes in Day 1a of the WSOPE Main Event.
After an open in middle position, Safwane Bahri in the hijack and Ronny Schubert in the cutoff called. Borgki Biba on the button, however, squeezed to 12,600. Bahri and Schuber were the only ones to call.
The dealer fanned a flop of 8♠Q♦5♣ where Biba continued for 18,000. Bahri and Schubert both called.
All three players checked the 4♥ turn leading to the 8♦ river, where Bahri led out for 12,000. Schubert folded, but Biba eventually made the call.
Bahri thought he had the win by quickly flipping over A♠Q♠, but Biba had K♦K♣ to take the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
175,000
175,000
|
175,000 |
|
|
135,000
70,000
|
70,000 |
|
132,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
Ratmir Kesidis opened to 2,500 from early position, and was faced with a three-bet jam to 35,000 from Robert Blaauwgeers in the next seat.
Action folded back to Kesidis, who asked for a count, and then shrugged and made the call.
Robert Blaauwgeers: 10♣10♠
Ratmir Kesidis: A♣Q♣
It was a fair fight, and Blaauwgeers was still ahead after the 8♦4♦2♠ flop and K♣ turn, but the A♥ appeared on the river to send Blaauwgeers to the rail.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
295,000
45,000
|
45,000 |
|
Busted |
Viktor Blom opened to 2,600 from early position, and received calls from Uwe Dietzinger in the next seat, and the button and big blind.
On the A♣K♦4♦ flop, action was checked to Blom, who continued with a bet of 4,600. Only Dietzinger called.
The 10♦ hit on the turn, and Blom quickly check-folded versus a bet of 15,000 from Dietzinger.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
310,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
|
|
64,600 |
Play has now finished in Day 1a, with 304 players progressing from the 462 entrants.
Stay tuned for updated chip counts and a recap of the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
679,000
41,000
|
41,000 |
|
||
|
665,500
37,500
|
37,500 |
|
|
||
|
543,800
215,800
|
215,800 |
|
||
|
|
456,700
3,300
|
3,300 |
|
455,800
29,200
|
29,200 |
|
431,300
131,300
|
131,300 |
|
407,000
123,000
|
123,000 |
|
375,500
9,500
|
9,500 |
|
||
|
374,000
374,000
|
374,000 |
|
370,200
205,200
|
205,200 |
|
363,900
203,900
|
203,900 |
|
362,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
348,300
93,300
|
93,300 |
|
345,600
14,400
|
14,400 |
|
345,000
275,000
|
275,000 |
|
341,700
99,700
|
99,700 |
|
336,400
101,400
|
101,400 |
|
319,300
20,700
|
20,700 |
|
|
306,700
3,300
|
3,300 |
|
304,000
29,000
|
29,000 |
|
303,100
6,900
|
6,900 |
|
|
||
|
303,000
155,000
|
155,000 |
|
296,100
146,100
|
146,100 |
|
292,600
292,600
|
292,600 |
|
289,000
29,000
|
29,000 |
Poker players from all over the world descended on King’s Resort in Rozvadov today, eager to take their shot at one of the most prestigious prizes in poker, the 2025 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event.
A total of 462 entrants were obtained in the first of two starting flights of the €10,350 buy-in, €6,000,000 guaranteed event, and the field was a mixture of famous faces, pros eager to earn their spurs, and enthusiastic semi-professionals.
Players such as Sorel Mizzi, Ren Lin, Martin Kabrhel, Shaun Deeb and Viktor Blom provided the star power, while the field was also full of players who qualified via deep runs in other festivals at King's throughout the year.
When the dust settled after seven 90-minute levels, Christopher Puetz of Germany (679,000) had risen to the top of the standings to lead 304 qualifiers, just ahead of Jose Gomez Casillas of Mexico (665,500) and Czech Michael Sklenicka (543,800).
Casillas is having quite the series, having bagged his first bracelet in the Colossus event along with €158,350, and following that up with a cash in the €1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Mystery Million event.
Puetz has come close to major titles before, having a number of deep finishes on his resume for six-figure scores, including a third-place finish for $238,204 in Event #29: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em at this year's World Series, and he will no doubt be determined to finally capture a top-tier event (All stats courtesy of The Hendon Mob).
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christopher Puetz | Germany | 679,000 | 566 |
| 2 | Jose Gomez Casillas | Mexico | 665,500 | 555 |
| 3 | Michael Sklenicka | Czechia | 543,800 | 453 |
| 4 | Yannick Schumacher | Germany | 456,700 | 381 |
| 5 | Diego Montone | Italy | 455,800 | 380 |
| 6 | Iago Savino | Brazil | 431,300 | 359 |
| 7 | Bastian Gallitzendoerfer | Germany | 407,000 | 339 |
| 8 | Dominik Panka | Poland | 375,500 | 313 |
| 9 | Cristian David | Romania | 374,000 | 312 |
| 10 | Mateusz Hajman | Poland | 370,200 | 309 |
The tournament room was absolutely packed at the start of the day, and there were fireworks immediately as Juan Velasco ran ace-king into the aces of Vikrant Mangal to bust. Barak Oz followed him out the door shortly thereafter in somewhat unfortunate circumstances.
Blom chipped up early after bluff-catching versus Campbell Ashton, and would progress to Day 2 with 306,700. Deeb also got moving early, doubling via Seyed Fazeli, and he too would progress, bagging up 270,400, along with Mizzi (304,000).
Casillas was at the front of the pack by the second break, and he would remain there throughout the day. Kabrhel joined the field towards the end of the day, and was straight into the action, securing a swift double-up, but would not make the Day 2 cut. By the last break Puetz had taken over the overall chip lead, and he would increase his stack throughout the final session, including getting paid with a full house. He also busted Kabrhel, catching him bluffing in the last level of the night.
There are a remarkable 46 bracelets held overall by Day 1a qualifiers, with the likes of Axel Bayout (251,900), Jonas Lauck (241,200), Vivian Saliba (181,600) and Giuliano Bendinelli (163,500) all progressing.
Notable players who fired a bullet today without success include Ivan Banic, Ian Simpson and Lukas Pazma.
The final starting flight is Day 1b, kicking off at noon local time on October 4. Players will sit down to a 100,000 starting stack, at blind level 100/300, with a 300 big blind ante.
The clock is set to 90-minute levels, and play will conclude at the end of Level 7. A break will occur at the end of each level, with a 60-minute dinner break scheduled for the end of Level 4.
Late registration is open until the end of Level 12, five levels into Day 2.
| Day | Date | Time | Blind Levels |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1b | October 4 | 12 p.m. | 90 minutes |
| 2 | October 5 | 12 p.m. | 90 minutes |
| 3 | October 6 | 12 p.m. | 90 minutes |
| 4 | October 7 | 1 p.m. | 90 minutes |
| 5 | October 8 | 4 p.m. | 90 minutes |
PokerNews will be on the floor until a champion is crowned, so stay tuned for all your coverage of the WSOPE Main Event.
