Jan-Henrik Westerhoff raised to 600 from under the gun and was called by Naum Barulia in middle position and Rama Mulaj in the big blind.
The dealer fanned a flop of 5♣9♠6♠ and Westerhoff continued for 700. Barulia folded but Mulaj check-called.
Westerhoff fired a second barrel to 2,000 on the 6♦ turn and Mulaj check-called again. He checked the 9♦ river and Westerhoff quickly checked back with 8♥8♣. Mulaj had 7♥7♣ and lost the pot.
Jerry Odeen raised to 500 from under the gun and was called by Apo Chantzis to his left, Felix Kohl in the cutoff and Peter Cieslik who defended from the big blind.
Odeen continued for 1,000 on a flop of 3♦Q♥10♦. Kohl and Cieslik called but Chantzis folded.
Odeen fired a second barrel to 4,000 on the 5♣ turn and made both of his opponents fold. He was moved to an opening table after this hand.
Tracy Nguyen raised to 500 from under the gun and was called by Gazmend Zela from middle position. It folded to Terrance Reid, who three-bet to 2,500 from the big blind. Nguyen and Zela called.
It checked to Zela on the A♦J♥9♣ flop, and he bet 3,500. Only Reid called.
The 4♦ turn checked through to the 5♥ river, where Reid led for 8,500. After a moment of thought, Zela called.
Reid tabled A♥K♠ for top pair, top kicker. Zela flashed the A♠ and mucked his hand to concede the pot.
Attila Ivacson opened to 600 from under the gun and was called by Tomasz Doktor from the hijack. Adil Oubaaous made it 2,500 from the button and was called by both players.
The K♠6♠4♠ flop checked through to the Q♣ turn. It checked to Oubaaous, who bet 3,000, and won the pot uncontested.
Kevin Fernandez opened to 500 from under the gun. Dimitri Huley three-bet to 1,200 from the cutoff. Thomas Jurrissen called from the small blind and Fernandez also came along.
Huley continued for 1,700 on the 8♦5♦3♣ flop. Only Jurrissen called.
The 6♥ turn checked through to the 5♠ river, where Jurrissen check-called a bet of 3,000.
Huley showed A♣J♣, but lost to Jurrissen A♠8♠, which was good for eights and fives.
With 1,456 entries recorded across the first two starting flights, the 2026 €5,300 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event at Hilton Prague has already entered the history books as the largest WSOP Europe Main Event ever. It surpasses the previous record of 817 entries set in 2023 (but with a €10,350 buy-in). However, this year’s total will continue to grow, especially with this Sunday’s Day 1c still to come, which should help push the prize pool beyond the €10,000,000 guarantee.
After Aliaksei Boika led the 336 survivors of Day 1a with 424,500 chips, Roberto Romanello bagged the biggest stack among the 269 remaining players from Day 1b with 451,000 chips, just ten big blinds ahead of Biao Ding who finished with 431,500.
WSOPE Main Event Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Roberto Romanello
United Kingdom
451,000
226
2
Biao Ding
China
431,500
216
3
Gabriele Guerrini
Italy
362,500
181
4
Bartosz Wesolek
Poland
352,000
176
5
Quirin Heinz
Germany
351,000
176
6
Asko Muratovic
Austria
327,000
164
7
Martin Hellmuth
United Kingdom
322,000
161
8
Martin Kabrhel
Czechia
322,000
161
9
Hugo Delmaire-Sizes
France
314,500
157
10
Rokas Asipauskas
Lithuania
308,500
154
Day 1b saw many notable players bag their chips to enjoy a rest day before Monday’s Day 2. After several attempts, Martin Kabrhel was among them, finishing as one of the chip leaders with 322,000. He was followed by Hugo Delmaire-Sizes (314,500), Tom Middleton (304,500), and Felipe Ketzer (262,500).
Two-time Ladies Event champion Shiina Okamoto (250,000), Josh Arieh (200,000), David “ODB” Baker (191,000), Georgios Sotiropoulos (190,500), Ole Schemion (187,500), Jesse Lonis (171,500), and Benny Glaser (163,000) all advanced to Day 2 via Day 1b, along with this week’s €3,300 Pot-Limit Omaha Mixed and €565 Colossus runner-up Shaun Deeb (105,000).
Another player to keep an eye on is the defending champion Daniel Pidun, still in contention with 138,500 as he looks to go back-to-back. There is still a long way to go, however, with players like the 2018 WSOPE champion Jack Sinclair (59,000) and the 2019 WSOP Main Event winner Hossein Ensan (34,000) also advancing, but with shorter stacks than they began with.
Martin Kabrhel
Day 1c of the WSOPE Main Event starts this Sunday, April 5 at noon at noon local time with blinds beginning at 100/200 with a 200 big blind ante. From a 60,000 chips starting stack, players will have to navigate through ten 60-minute levels with two re-entries allowed per flight. Also, late registration remains open for the first two levels of Day 2.
Main Event Remaining Schedule
Day
Date
Time
Blind Levels
1c
April 5
12 p.m.
60 minutes
2
April 6
12 p.m.
90 minutes
3
April 7
12 p.m.
90 minutes
4
April 8
12 p.m.
90 minutes
5
April 9
12 p.m.
90 minutes
6
April 10
12 p.m.
90 minutes
As always, stay tuned to PokerNews for all the action until a new WSOP Europe champion is crowned!
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