Jack Sinclair is Your WSOPE Main Event Champion

The Englishman took home the 10th bracelet from King's Casino, Rozvadov.

The featured event at the World Series of Poker Europe in King's Casino, Rozvadov was the €10,300 Main Event, which awarded the tenth bracelet in the festival for the winner. A total of 534 players wanted to grab the title and the first prize, which grew to €1,122,239. The total prize pool of €5,073,000 was spread between the top 81 spots, with a €15,074 min-cash.

Several notables made the money including Ben Heath (80th; €15,074), Mustapha Kanit (78th; €15,074), Rainer Kempe (52nd; €18,210), Sergio Aido (47th; €20,262), Norbert Szecsi (46th; €20,262), Dario Sammartino (43rd; €20,262), Allen Kessler (40th; €23,025), Jack Salter (37th; €23,025), Niall Farrell (27th; €26,712), Igor Kurganov (22nd; €31,623) or Andy Black (13th; €47,019).

However, only 6 players returned for the final day, all guaranteed to walk away with at least €175,965. The shortest stack belonged to Ihor Yerofieiev, and despite several successful blind stealings, he eventually busted in 6th place when he lost a race with sixes against Ace-Queen.

Milos Skrbic, who busted Ihor suddenly found himself on the top of the leaderboard, but he couldn't rest on his laurels, as top-notch players like Ryan Reiss, László "omaha4rollz" Bujtás and Jack Sinclair all had their aim at the bracelet. As the quality of his opponents wouldn't be enough for a serious battle, Skrbic even found himself at the wrong end of a cooler situation, when he ran into Jack's pocket rockets, holding two queens.

"I think I made a good decision to go all in there instead of calling," Sinclair told later about the hand. "I think calling would be a common play in that spot. But obviously, the luck was clearly on my side. I had to play pretty tight at the start of the day which I think is the correct strategy in that scenario."

It didn't take long for Milos to lose his remaining stack, as he shoved for his last 18 big blinds with King-jack, which couldn't beat the Ace-Queen, Bujtás woke up in the big blind with. The Serbian busted in 5th place, good for a €241,718 payday.

Former WSOP Main Event winner, Ryan Riess was the biggest attraction of the table. All eyes were set on Ryan, some hoping he can be the first player after Phil Hellmuth to win both the WSOP and the WSOPE Main. However, Riess limp/shoved his pocket sevens and ran into Aces against Krasimir Yankov. The deck didn't help out the US pro, and he was out in 4th place adding €337,778 to his bankroll.


The final table

"I'm kind of bummed that I didn't go deeper or win," Riess said shortly after his elimination. "But I don't think I made as many mistakes today like I made yesterday, so I'm happy about that."

The three-handed play saw Bujtás and Sinclair with big stacks while Krasimir had the shortest with his 40 big blinds. A stack of this size is certainly playable, but the Bulgarian was the victim of a huge setup in a set-over-set confrontation. He couldn't hit his one out on the river and had to settle for €480,028. “You know that every time you cash at a final table and you’re not first, you’re very disappointed,” he said afterward. “But for my first WSOP final table, because it’s very good. It’s not easy to win when you get to the final table. I’m very happy.”

The heads-up started between Sinclair and Bujtás, with about even stacks. The Hungarian online phenom started out strong, which gave him a sizeable lead, but Sinclair was able to climb back, picking off a few bluffs and finally finished off László.


Runner-up László Bujtás

Bujtás was a little bit disappointed after losing the duel, but he can probably reconcile with his runner-up finish during his two-week vacation. "I'm sad at the moment," he told after the tournament was over. "Going into heads-up confident but card dead. My opponent played well so congratulations to him. Of course, I'm not 100% happy at the moment but...it happens."

Not surprisingly, Sinclair had no complaints: "It’s like being in a dream at the moment," said Jack after closing out the tournament. "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."

Final table results

Position Player Country Prize in € Prize in $
1 Jack Sinclair United Kingdom € 1,122,239 $1,279,352
2 Laszlo Bujtas Hungary € 693,573 $790,673
3 Krasimir Yankov Bulgaria € 480,028 $547,232
4 Ryan Riess United States € 337,778 $385,067
5 Milos Skrbic Serbia € 241,718 $275,559
6 Ihor Yerofieiev Ukraine € 175,965 $200,600