Teemu Jaatinen raised to 90,000 and Lulei Hu in the big blind asked for his stack size before he called. The K♣7♠4♠ flop was checked by Hu and Jaatinen checked behind to the 6♠ turn. Hu now bet 75,000 for Jaatinen to call and then increased his sizing to 610,000 on the 6♥ river.
Jaatinen folded and Hu asked "do you want to see?" to which his opponent nodded. Hu grabbed his cards and flashed the 8♣, with a smirk declaring he had a straight.
In a limped pot between the blinds, Vlastimil Pustina and Martin Kabrhel saw a flop of K♠8♣5♠.
Kabrhel complained to tournament officials about Pustina covering up his face as Pustina led out for 50,000. Kabrhel called and the 5♣ fell on the turn. Pustina then checked and Kabrhel bet 225,000.
"I hope I'm not giving out any tells," Kabrhel said while Pustina called. "Not like that! Houston, we have a real problem," he shouted out as the 3♥ fell on the river.
"Seven sixty," Kabrhel yelled out, putting in 760,000. Pustina snap-called. "Casino Royale!" Kabrhel shouted, turning over 5♥4♥ for trips as Pustina mucked A♥K♥.
Daniel Pidun came in for a raise to 80,000 under the gun with Jonas Lauck calling from the cutoff and Luca Maccatrozzo defending his big blind.
Maccatrozzo checked the 7♠A♣2♠ flop and Pidun fired out a bet of 110,000. Lauck and Maccatrozzo continued with a call.
A A♥ came on the turn and the action checked to Lauck, who bet 275,000. This was enough to get folds from Maccatrozzo and Pidun, which allowed Lauck to drag in the pot.
The World Series of Poker expanded across the Atlantic for the first time in 2007. In the nearly two decades since the WSOP Europe was created, just two players, both legends, have managed to make the Main Event final table twice. Today on Day 4, there are not one, but two players with a chance to make their own history.
Max Neugebauer, the Austrian former pro basketball player who literally towers over the rest of the field, won this event in 2023. Ran Ilani, meanwhile, finished third last year. They are both among the 37 players who will return to King’s Resort in Rozvadov at 1 p.m., local time to battle for the final table as they try to join Daniel Negreanu and Jason Mercier as two-time WSOP Europe finalists.
To get there, they and the rest of the field will have to try to silence Martin Kabrhel. The loquacious, flamboyant five-time bracelet winner put on a show yesterday on his way to taking the chip lead with 4,815,000. Kabrhel already won the €10,000 Omaha event this series, and another in Las Vegas during the summer.
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
Claudio Di Giacomo, the Italian veteran pro with more than $2.5 million in live earnings, is his closest challenger with 4,520,000. Colossus third-place finisher Lulei Hu (4,185,000), Gerald Karlic (3,465,000), and Murilo Garcia (3,105,000) round out the top five.
Ilani begins the day with 1,800,000, while Neugebauer is further down the leaderboard with 930,000. Also still in the hunt are Artem Kobylynskyi (2,900,000), 2013 EPT champion Daniel Pidun (1,945,000), Vlastimil Pustina (1,890,000), Ferdinando D’Alessio (1,825,000), Jonas Lauck (1,570,000), and Aliaksandr Shylko (1,160,000). Mini Main Event champion Yuhan Wang (960,000), Josef Gulas (780,000), and Cheng Zhao (575,000) return as short stacks; Gulas is trying for the unprecedented feat of joining his son as WSOP Europe Main Event champions.
Ran Ilani
The action on Day 4 picks up on Level 22 with blinds of 20,000/40,000 and a 40,000 big blind ante. The remaining 37 players are guaranteed €31,000 for making it this far out of the 659-entry field, while a spot at the eight-handed final table is worth at least €110,000. The eventual champion earns €1,140,000 and the coveted Main Event gold bracelet.
All the action will be streamed on King’s Resort’s official YouTube channel. The plan is to play down to the final table today before a champion is crowned tomorrow.
A spot at the final table and in the poker record books awaits, so stay tuned as PokerNews follows all the action here in Rozvadov.
