King's Resort to host WSOP Europe for the third consecutive year.
More than €22 million in guarantees will be spread over 15 gold bracelet events.
ROZVADOV, Czech Republic -- The 2019 World Series of Poker Europe officially gets underway at King’s Resort in Rozvadov, Czech Republic Sunday, October 13. This year’s series will mark the 11th edition of World Series of Poker Europe, and will be the third consecutive year that King’s Resort plays host to Europe’s biggest poker series.
Everything World Series of Poker-related in 2019 has been bigger from the WSOP at the Rio to the WSOP Circuit, and that will continue in Europe starting Sunday. The 2019 WSOP Europe series will feature 15 bracelet events, which is the most ever for WSOPE, and €22,472,450 in guarantees. For perspective, last year’s WSOP Europe awarded €20,977,184 in total.
King’s Resort is also bigger than in year’s past. The resort grew from 250 to 402 hotel rooms and 160 to 200 poker tables since last year to help accommodate for this year’s bigger series.
Bracelet events this year range from the lowest buy-in ever in series history to the highest buy-in ever. The WSOP Europe Opener - €350 No-Limit Hold’em is the kickoff event to the series and is the most affordable buy-in ever offered in a WSOP Europe bracelet event. On the other end of the spectrum, Event #4: €250,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold’em is the most expensive buy-in ever offered in a WSOP Europe event. This mega high roller will attract some of the game’s best and is expected to award one of the largest top prizes in World Series of Poker Europe history. The current record for the largest win ever at World Series of Poker Europe belongs to four-time bracelet winner Dominik Nitsche for his victory in the 2017 €111,111 High Roller for One Drop for a whopping €3,487,463.
The 2019 WSOP Europe brings with it several new bracelet events. New events to WSOP Europe include two Short Deck events, two 8-Game Mixed events, including the €25,500 Mixed Games Championship starting Monday, October 21. Also new to WSOP Europe is the €1,350 Mini Main Event. The Mini Main Event was introduced to the WSOP earlier this year and it was a major hit at the Rio drawing 5,521 unique players. The Mini Main Event uses the same structure as the Main Event, just with accelerated blind levels.
Not to forget some of the staple events of recent WSOP Europe, the €550 Colossus returns to the schedule along with €550 PLO and the exciting €1,100 Turbo Bounty Hunter event.
The combination of exciting new events and proven staple events will lead to an unforgettable series, but as always, the WSOP Europe Main Event still reigns as the premiere event on European soil.
The WSOP Europe Main Event returns with no major changes. The buy-in will once again be €10,350, and once again King’s Resort and the WSOP are guaranteeing a €5 million prizepool for the event. Players will have the option of playing in one of the two starting flights or opting to wait and enter on Day 2 of the event. All players, regardless of when they enter for the first time, may use a single re-entry at any time during the registration period if they are eliminated. Flight A of the Main Event is scheduled for Friday, October 25 at noon and Flight B for Saturday, October 26 at noon. The surviving players will combine with all Day 2 entrants for Day 2 starting Sunday, October 27 at noon.
Player of the Year
The 2019 Player of the Year honors will go to the player who accumulates the most points in open WSOP and WSOP Europe events this calendar year. The race is tight at the top of the standings with just 14 point-earning eligible events remaining. The $250,000 Super High Roller will not award Player of the Year points.
The current leader is Australia’s Robert Campbell with 3,418 points. He had a monster summer at the Rio, earning his first two career gold bracelet and reaching four final tables. Right on his tail are big hitters Shaun Deeb (3,280) and Daniel Negreanu (3,166). Both Deeb and Negreanu are hoping to make WSOP Player of the Year history. A PoY win for Deeb will make him the first player to ever win the honor in back-to-back years, and a PoY win for Negreanu will give him the honor of being the only player to win the title three times. Rounding out the top 10 in the PoY standings are Daniel Zack (3,126), Phillip Hui (2,881), Jason Gooch (2,643), Joseph Cheong (2,595), David “ODB” Baker (2,480), Chris Ferguson (2,476), and Anthony Zinno (2,443).
2019 Player of the Year Standings – Top 100
Key Stats and Facts
- The 2019 WSOPE at King’s Resort is the first time the series has been held at the same location in three consecutive years since the event was held at Casino at the Empire in London, UK from 2007-2010
- 15 gold bracelet events is the most ever for WSOPE. The previous high was 11 in 2017
- €22,472,450 in guarantees already makes the 2019 WSOPE the second richest WSOPE in history. In 2017, €25,371,585 in total was paid out
- The equivalent of $132,989,651 has been awarded in the first 10 WSOPE series'
- The largest WSOPE Main Event ever was in 2011 and won by American Elio Fox for €1,400,000
- 69 WSOPE bracelets have been awarded all-time
- USA has the most WSOPE bracelets all-time with 14 despite failing to win one in 2018
- United Kingdom has second most WSOPE bracelets with seven and France is third with five
- Israel won the most bracelets at the 2018 WSOPE with three
- 25 individual nations have a won a WSOPE gold bracelet, including 18 different European nations
- Roger Hairabedian (’12 and ’13) and Martin Kabrhel (’17 and ’18) are the only two players to have won multiple WSOPE bracelets