Martin Kabrhel Wins World Series of Poker Europe €50,000 High Roller

Martin Kabrhel took down the 2024 World Series of Poker Europe €50,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em high roller on Friday, besting a field of 30 entries to secure his third career bracelet and the top prize of $587,190. The Czech player became just the 145th player in WSOP history to have won three or more bracelets.

All three of Kabrhel’s WSOP victories have now come at the WSOP Europe in his home country of the Czech Republic. His first came back at Kings Resort Rozvadov in 2017, when he came out on top in the €1,100 bounty super turbo tournament for $63,000. The following year he triumphed in the prestigious €100,000 buy-in event at the same venue, securing career-best score of $3 million.

Kabrhel now has more than $12.8 million in career earnings after securing this latest title, extending his advantage on the Czech all-time money list. He now sits roughly $2.8 million ahead of second-ranked Roman Hrabec, who ran deep but failed to cash in this event.

This win also conveyed 408 Card Player Player of the Year points upon Kabrhel. This was his second title of the year, having also won a €1,100 event at the Italian Poker Sport 1Million Series back in february. With 849 total points, he now sits just outside the top 800 in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

With 30 entries, this event surpassed it’s $1 million guarantee to build a final prize pool of €1,395,900 ($1,549,449), with only the top five finishers earning a share.

Day 2 began with late registration and re-entry still available. Plenty of big names ran deep, only to fall short of the money. Among them were bracelet winner and World Poker Tour champion Alex Foxen, bracelet winner Orpen Kisacikoglu, two-time POY award winner and bracelet winner Stephen Chidwick, four-time bracelet winner Kristen Foxen, and two-time bracelet winner Daniel Dvoress.

2024 WSOP main event third-place finisher Niklas Astedt was knocked out on the direct bubble, running A-J into the pocket kings of Fahredin Mustafov. Neither player connected with the board and Astedt was the final player sent home empty-handed.

Viktor Blom was the first to be eliminated inside the money, getting his last few big blinds in with J-2 suited facing the K-Q suited of Sirzat Hissou. Blom picked up both flush and straight draws on the turn, but Hissou ended up winning the hand with a pair of kings by the end. Blom earned $147,519 as the fifth-place finisher. The Swedish high-stakes star, known to many as ‘Isildur1’, now has more than $6.1 million in recorded tournament cashes.

Italy’s Enrico Camosci was the next to fall, with his last handful of blinds going in with J-4 in rough shape against pocket kings for Hissou. Camosci flopped a pair of jacks, but was unable to improve any further and was eliminated in fourth place ($176,490). The bracelet winner now has more than $4.5 million in career cashes after this score.

Kabrhel secured his first knockout inside the money when his 99 outraced the A10 of Mustafov. An ace-high flop gave Mustafov a big lead in the hand, but a nine on the river sent him home in third place ($246,420).

Heads-up play began with Kabrhel holding better than a 2:1 chip lead over Hissou. The lead changed hands a couple of times, but Kabrhel was on top when the final hand of the tournament was dealt. He open-shoved from the button with 55 and Hissou called from the big blind with A8. The board came down 10853K and Kabrhel’s set of fives locked up the win. Hissou walked away with $391,830 as the runner-up, the second-largest score yet for the German.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded in this event:

Photo credit: WSOP, Kings Resort / Tomas Stacha.