A poker room is usually filled with the familiar sounds of chips riffling, chairs dragging over the floor, and a constant murmur as the players engage in idle banter at the tables. But when Martin Kabrhel is in the room, the soundtrack becomes a lot different.
Kabrhel, with his loud and flamboyant antics, is impossible to miss at the poker table, and for the five-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, it's usually while he’s dragging in a pot. That happened a lot on Day 3 of the WSOP Europe Main Event as Kabrhel ended up as the chip leader of the remaining 37 players.
Kabrhel played nearly every pot and talked during all of them, his familiar phrases of “Not Like That!” and “Casino Royale!” ringing across King’s Resort today. He was nearly sent to the rail if not for a fortunate fold from Yuhan Wang, who laid down two tens after Kabrhel reshoved for 1,275,000 over the top of Pavel Binar’s opening 345,000 push. Kabrhel’s ace-queen ended up beating Binar’s ace-jack and earning him the knockout. He then picked off a big bluff from Wang when Wang bet 1,400,000 on the river, and Kabrhel called with a full house. Kabrhel, already with the €10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Mystery Bounty title this week in Rozvadov, his second WSOP bracelet of 2025, bagged up 4,815,000.
Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martin Kabrhel | Czechia | 4,815,000 | 120 |
| 2 | Claudio Di Giacomo | Italy | 4,520,000 | 113 |
| 3 | Lulei Hu | Italy | 4,185,000 | 105 |
| 4 | Gerald Karlic | Austria | 3,465,000 | 87 |
| 5 | Murilo Garcia | Brazil | 3,105,000 | 78 |
| 6 | Jan-Willem Nijmeijer | Netherlands | 2,995,000 | 75 |
| 7 | Artem Kobylynskyi | Ukraine | 2,900,000 | 73 |
| 8 | Teemu Jaatinen | Finland | 2,490,000 | 62 |
| 9 | Dimitrios Gkatzas | Greece | 2,330,000 | 58 |
| 10 | Bastian Gallitzendoerfer | Germany | 2,175,000 | 54 |
His closest challenger is Claudio Di Giacomo, who went on a run of premium hands during the penultimate level of the day to climb the leaderboard. Di Giacomo won a big three-way pot with jacks, then picked up aces to bust Presiyan Tsvetanov. He finally sent Bastian Dohler to the rail when both players got their chips in on the flop with flush draws, but Di Giacomo was ahead with ace-high and ended up making trips. Di Giacomo finished the day with 4,520,000, putting him in second place on the leaderboard. Lulei Hu, who already finished in third place in the Colossus earlier this series, is third in chips after making “one of the greatest calls in poker history” when he called Jan-Willem Nijmeijer on the river with ace-high on his way to 4,185,000.
Gerald Karlic (3,465,000) and Murilo Garcia (3,105,000) round out the top five. Nijmeijer, Kabrhel’s favorite target at the table near the end of the night, ended up with 2,995,000, while other top stacks include Artem Kobylynskyi (2,900,000), EPT champion Daniel Pidun (1,945,000), Vlastimil Pustina (1,890,000), and Jonas Lauck (1,570,000). Further down the leaderboard are Aliaksandr Shylko (1,165,000), Wang (960,000), and Ivan Banic (865,000). Josef Gulas, whose son won this event in 2021, will try to make it a father-son championship dynasty tomorrow when he comes back with 780,000.
Two players still in the hunt have had success in the WSOP Europe Main Event before. Ran Ilani (1,800,000) finished in third place last year, while 2023 champion Max Neugebauer (930,000) is also still alive and seeking to become the first player to win two Main Event titles.
Day 3 began with 165 players remaining out of a starting field of 659 entries, but only 99 made the money. Among those who fell short were Luka Bojovic, Mariusz Golinski, Adrian State, Sorel Mizzi, Alessandro Pichierri, Pascal Pflock, Dominik Panka, Frankie Cucchiara, and Aaron Duczak. WSOP bracelet winner Lukas Pazma began the day second in chips, but lost a massive all-in after missing his nut flush draw against Kobylynskyi’s two kings, sending Pazma to the rail a few spots off the money in what was the biggest pot of the tournament at the time.
Kestutis Jungevicius had his top set of aces cracked by Ilani’s turned straight to burst the money bubble. Darius Samual (93rd), Andrei Spataru (92nd), Colossus champion Jose Gomez Casillas (74th), Monsterstack champion Giuliano Bendinelli (72nd), start-of-day chip leader Michael Sklenicka (62nd), and Pierre Calamusa (59th) were then sent to the payout desk. Iago Savino was all in for 355,000 and flopped two pair against Wang, but Wang hit a set and was poised for the knockout until the turn improved Savino to a full house. Then a one-outer on the river gave Wang quads, and Savino busted in 43rd place. Georgios Tsouloftas was among the last to fall on Day 3, missing a straight draw against Karlic’s top pair.
The remaining 37 players return Tuesday at 1 p.m. local time. The action picks up on Level 22 with blinds of 20,000/40,000 and a 40,000 big blind ante. They're all guaranteed at least €31,000, while a spot at the final table is worth €110,000. The eventual champion will take home €1,140,000 and the coveted WSOP Europe Main Event bracelet.
PokerNews will be back, providing live updates from the tournament floor as the field plays down to the final table.
