Europe's largest poker arena saw card sharks from all over the world return to their seats at the King's Resort in Rozvadov for Day 2 of the 2025 World Series of Poker Europe €10,350 Main Event. That included all survivors of the two starting flights, however, the late registration was open for another five levels. During that time, the overall attendance increased to 659 entries and that generated a prize pool of €6,138,585.
When the dust had settled after seven levels of 90 minutes each, only 165 hopefuls bagged up chips for the penultimate chance at winning a gold bracelet in Czechia for the current year and one of their very own topped the leaderboard.
Michael Sklenicka already has more than $5 million to his name according to The Hendon Mob and his largest score on the live poker circuit came earlier this year when he won the $10,400 Wynn Summer Championship for $2,339,200. Sklenicka advanced with a huge stack of 1,388,000 while his nearest follower is Lukas Pazma, who made it through with 1,322,000.
Pazma has two cashes during the 2025 WSOP Europe and won his first-ever gold bracelet at this very venue two years ago when he topped a massive field of 3,503 entries in Event #1: €350 NLH Opener.
Only five players were able to accumulate a seven-figure stack thus far and among them were also Jan-Willem Nijmeijer (1,167,000), Gerald Karlic (1,127,000) and Jonas Lauck (1,105,000). Lithuania's Kestutis Jungevicius missed the same feat by one single chip as he bagged up 998,000, while Dutch live poker veteran Govert Metaal also advanced with a top ten stack worth 923,000.
Top Ten Chip Counts after Day 2
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Sklenicka | Czechia | 1,388,000 | 174 |
| 2 | Lukas Pazma | Slovakia | 1,322,000 | 165 |
| 3 | Jan-Willem Nijmeijer | Netherlands | 1,167,000 | 146 |
| 4 | Gerald Karlic | Austria | 1,127,000 | 141 |
| 5 | Jonas Lauck | Germany | 1,015,000 | 127 |
| 6 | Kestutis Jungevicius | Lithuania | 998,000 | 125 |
| 7 | Bartlomiej Muzacz | Poland | 940,000 | 118 |
| 8 | Timofey Asmolov | Russian Federation | 934,000 | 117 |
| 9 | Govert Metaal | Netherlands | 923,000 | 115 |
| 10 | Daniele Sacchi | Italy | 910,000 | 114 |
Recent gold bracelet event finalists Iago Savino (888,000) and Matthias Gude (850,000) are also among the 15 players who will return with more than 100 big blinds at their disposal for the race towards the money bubble, which is expected to unfold within the first two levels on Day 3.
The action will once again recommence at noon local time with blinds of 4,000-8,000 and a big blind ante of 8,000. As has been the case in the last three days, the level duration will remain at 90 minutes each with up to seven levels scheduled or down to the final 24 players - whichever of the two scenarios is reached first.
Among the slew of notables with above-average stacks are the likes of Josef Gulas (731,000), Christopher Puetz (703,000), Pascal Pflock (700,000), Dinesh Alt (614,000), Daniel Pidun (613,000), Georgios Tsouloftas (516,000), Pierre Calamusa (459,000) and Yannick Schumacher (452,000) to name all but a few.
Gulas has the chance to potentially follow into the footsteps of his son Josef Gulas Jr, who won the 2021 WSOP Europe Main Event at King's Resort. The 2023 champion Max Neugebauer is also still in contention, albeit with a shorter stack of 116,000 as he has the work cut out for a potential second victory on a mere 20 big blinds for Day 3. The 2019 champion Alexandros Kolonias was not as fortunate and bowed out after the end of the late registration period.
Many other big names from near and far came and left without anything to show for, including former national team football striker Max Kruse. Online poker legend Viktor "Isildur1" Blom has had many close calls for a maiden WSOP gold bracelet here at King's Resort and during the summer in Las Vegas, but he was also among those who had to leave empty-handed. Short-stacked after the end of the late registration, Blom got it in with ace-four suited and Florian Thumm improved with king-jack suited thanks to a jack on the turn.
Plenty of the participants left the poker arena with bad beat stories to tell such as Fahredin Mustafov, Uri Reichenstein or Zoltan Szarka who had their premium holdings failing to hold up. Georgios Zisimopoulos bowed out when his pocket kings were cracked by the flopped two pair of Savino while Lambertus De Haas ended up second-best with ace-king against the ace-queen of Pflock.
All those who were fortunate enough to bag up chips for the night will be back at noon local time with one firm first goal on the agenda: Making it through the money bubble. Only the top 99 finishes are set to earn at least €20,700 for their efforts and the bubble is expected to burst in the first half of the day.
Another three tournament days remain to crown a champion at the King's Resort in Rozvadov and the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide as many key hands as possible until the final river card has been dealt on the live stream feature table.
