Jack Sinclair Claims WSOP Europe Main Event Title; Shaun Deeb Runs Away With 2018 WSOP POY

After 19 days of tournament action, the second World Series of Poker Europe held at Kings Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, has come to a close. England’s Jack Sinclair closed out the series by winning the Main Event for €1,122,239.

This year’s WSOP featured 10 bracelet events and almost €21 million in payouts. Several players scored their first bracelets and a couple took home their second of the year. The series featured plenty of action and big payouts to close out the last bracelet hunting event of the year.

Sinclair takes Main Event

It may have been his only cash of the series, but Sinclair made it count. He topped a field of 534 to claim his first bracelet.

“It’s like being in a dream at the moment,” Sinclair told WSOP.com after his win. “The whole week has been absolutely insane; just super smooth and not like any other tournament I’ve ever played. I never really lost a big pot as far as I can remember and just got all the hands when I needed them.”

It was his second deep run in a WSOP Main Event. In 2017, he finished eighth in the Main Event in Las Vegas for $1.2 million. This time he closed the deal.

During heads-up play with Hungary’s Laszlo Bujtas, Sinclair dominated after both began with almost even stacks. Throughout the tournament, Sinclair went through occasional downswings but was often rescued by a big pot.

“Every time I felt like things were getting precarious I instantly won a big pot,” Sinclair said. “I’m very happy with how I played and even more happy with how I ran!”

Israelis make a statement in preliminary events

One of the major stories was the success players from Israel, who won three of the first five events and also scored one third-place finish. Events kicked off with the €550 COLOSSUS, won by Israel’s Tamir Segal for his first bracelet and only his second WSOP cash. The event attracted a field of 2,992 entries a $1.4 million prize pool.

It was another Israeli taking the second event as well with Asi Moshe winning the €1,650 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed Deepstack, topping a field of 221 (prize pool of €318,074) for €82,280. Austrian resident Hanh Tran took home a bracelet in the €550 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed event (€59,625), which attracted 572 entries and €274,417 prize pool.

The fourth event featured some bounty hunting, with the €1,100 Turbo Bounty Hunter attracting 387 entries and a €371,326 prize pool. Ukrainian Mykhailo Gutyi took down the title for €61,000.

Yet another Israeli headed to the winner’s circle in the fifth event, with Timur Margolin topping a field of 666 for €134,407 in a tournament that featured a €639,027 prize pool. The win continued a nice year for Margolin, who won his first bracelet this summer in Vegas in a $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em event for $507,000.

In €1,650 Mixed PLO/NLHE, Hungary’s Norbert Szecsi took the title for €86,956 in an event with 241 entries and a €343,425 prize pool. The win secured bracelet No. 2 for Szecsi, who won a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event in Las Vegas in 2013 for $345,037. That was followed up with a win in the third event featuring Omaha, €2,200 PLO 8-Handed. Hong Kong’s Anson Tsang won his first bracelet and €91,730 – topping 186 other entries with a prize pool of €358,853.

The eighth and ninth events brought some high roller action and Michael Addamo took down the €25,500 Super High Roller for €848,702. The event attracted 133 entries for a hefty €3.2 million prize pool. It was his second bracelet for the Australian, with the first also coming this year. In Las Vegas in June, Addamo won the $2,620 Marathon for $653,581.

In the €100,000 King’s Super High Roller, the host country’s Martin Kabrhel claimed the title and €2.6 million. The event brought in 95 entries with a prize pool of a bit more than €9 million.

Deeb goes unchallenged for Player of the Year

One story of the WSOPE may have been the lack of American players making really deep runs throughout the series, and possibly just the lack of Americans who made the trip. Many of the top players in the Player of the Year standings decided not to attend. Other well-known players like Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu didn’t make the trip.

An exception was David Peters, who finished second in the €100,000 Super High Roller for €1.6 million. Ryan Riess also finished fourth in the Main Event for €337,778.

Another American player who made the trip was Shaun Deeb, who led in the Player of the Year standings and completed that mission in style. Deeb scored four cashes in Rozvadoz including almost nabbing his fifth bracelet after finishing runner-up in the €1,650 Mixed PLO/NLHE for €63,731. He already captured two bracelet in Las Vegas over the summer.

After both WSOP events wrapped, Deeb held 5,073.92 Player of the Year points – a considerable stretch over runner-up Ben Yu with 3,746.04. Yu and third-place finisher Joe Cada didn’t travel to WSOPE.

With the title, Deeb earns an entry into the Main Event in Las Vegas next summer and will grace a banner in the Rio to honor his accomplishment.

2018 WSOP Europe Winners

• Event #1: €550 COLOSSUS – Tamir Segal (Israel), €203,820
• Event #2: €1,650 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed Deepstack – Asi Moshe (Israel), €82,280
• Event #3: €550 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed – Hanh Tran (Austria), €59,625
• Event #4: €1,100 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo Bounty Hunter – Mykhailo Gutyi (Ukraine), €61,000
• Event #5: €1,100 Monster Stack – Timur Margolin (Israel), €134,407
• Event #6: €1,650 Mixed PLO/NLHE – Norbert Szecsi (Hungary), €86,956
• Event #7: €2,200 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed – Anson Tsang (Hong Kong), €91,730
• Event #8: €25,500 Super Highroller – Michael Addamo (Australia), €848,702
• Event #9: €100,000 King’s Super High Roller – Martin Kabrhel (Czech Republic), €2,624,340
• Event #10: €10,350 Main Event – Jack Sinclair (United Kingdom), €1,122,239

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