World Series of Poker Europe Rozvadov 2025: Stories of the Series So Far

The World Series of Poker Europe is now in full swing across the vast tournament hall of the palace of poker that is the King’s Resort in Rozvadov. Nestled away in the rural Czech countryside, a stone’s throw from the German border, players from across the globe have been taking to the pristine felts at the resort, all with the hopes of coming away with a coveted gold bracelet. Let’s have a look at some of the highlights and biggest stories from the event so far, as this years instalment of WSOPE enters the home stretch.

Event #2: €350 No-Limit Hold’em King’s Million

Winning a 3,229-runner event at the WSOPE takes some doing, no matter how many chips you have, but to be down to a sub one big blind stack at the final table after grinding for three days, to then come back and win, that is something truly special. This is an achievement that Moldovan national Stepan Budac can lay claim too, as he made a classic “chip and a chair” comeback to win a maiden bracelet, banking €113,350 in the process, the largest share of the €949,326 prize pool. He became only the second Moldovan to win a WSOP bracelet in the US or in Europe, with Pavel Plusev being the only countryman to have a piece of prestigious hardware in his collection.

Budac came into the final day fifth in chips of the final sixteen, but with seven left on the final table, he lost a monster pot to eventual runner up Jan Kohl. Kohl binked Broadway on the river with A J across the 10 5 4 K Q runout to crack the 9 9 of Budac, leaving him with 875,000 chips with the blinds at 250,000/500,000. The very next hand, he gets aces and four callers having moved all in for a big blind. The 6 5 J 9 A runout kickstarted his comeback and secured more than four times his stack.

Budac proved resilient and completed a comeback for the ages, besting Kohl over a back-and-forth heads-up battle for the bracelet and a €10,300 Main Event ticket.

Final Table Payouts

Place	Player	Country	Prize (EUR)
1	Stepan Budac	Moldova	€113,350
2	Jan Kohl	Germany	€79,350
3	Martin Vittek	Slovakia	€60,850
4	Heger Sare	Turkey	€47,750
5	Sarah Link	Germany	€38,250
6	Michal Szczeblewski	Poland	€31,350
7	Tudor Zapsa	Moldova	€26,250
8	Bogdan Roman	Romania	€22,550
9	Vagke Sagkinian	Greece	€19,782

Event #4: €2,000 No-Limit Hold’em Monsterstack

Comebacks seem to be a theme at this year’s WSOPE Series, and Italy’s Giuliano Bendinelli is a player who is known for pulling off the improbable. Bendinelli already has one famous comeback victory under his belt, which came under the bright lights of the feature table at Casino Barcelona during the 2022 €5,300 Main Event. Bendinelli was left with crumbs early in the final day, but made an unbelievable comeback to have all the chips in play, the trophy, and a massive €1,491,133 when the tournament concluded.

Only three years later, he’s done it again in the €2,000 No-Limit Hold’em Monsterstack, winning €169,850 from the generated prize pool of €870,000 and a €10,350 WSOPE Main Event seat. With this achievement, Bendinelli also joins an exclusive club of players to have won an EPT Main Event and a WSOP bracelet, which includes Mike “SirWatts” Watson and Adrian Mateos.

Bendinelli came into the day as the chip leader, but found himself trending down and having to claw his way back up the counts.

When heads-up play was reached, he overcame a four-to-one chip deficit that Backgammon Grandmaster and WSOP Bracelet holder Zdenek Zizka held over Bendinelli. Zizka had Bendinelli at risk in the first hand with ace-ten offsuit, but Bendinell’s pocket sixes filled up across the runout to double him up. He then chopped with ace-deuce versus ace-jack. Bendinelli then turned an ace with ace-eight against ten-eight, with the flop being ace-ten-ten, to make a full house and double again. His heater continued as he went runner-runner to make a backdoor flush with king-eight to crack Zizka’s flopped pair of aces. Bendinelli sealed with deal with jacks holding against ace-ten to cap off an insane journey for the Italian, cementing his place in poker as the true “comeback kid.”

Final Table Payouts

Place	Player	Country	Prize (EUR)
1	Giuliano Bendinelli	Italy	€169,850
2	Zdenek Zizka	Czechia	€115,650
3	Oleh Okhotskyi	Ukraine	€81,450
4	Silviu Baltateanu	Romania	€59,450
5	Jose Gaona	Mexico	€45,000
6	Daniel Knuth	Germany	€35,400
7	Ioannis Chorianopoulos	Greece	€28,900
8	Yehonatan Behor	Israel	€24,400
9	Ratmir Kesidis	Greece	€21,300

Note: Each of the top ten also earned a €10,350 Main Event seat, which is already included in the prize amounts listed.

Event #7: €550 No-Limit Hold’em Colossus

Jose Gomez Casillas has been running hot across the continent since the start of the summer. He cashed for €11,750 in Rozvadov in the €590 No Limit Hold’em – EPM Main Event, according to The Hendon Mob. He won two events at the German Clubs Championship of Poker (GCCOP) in Rozvadov in back-to-back days in July, for €1,448 and €1,824 before finishing sixth in a £550 PLO tournament at the Grosvenor in Coventry for £4,830. After a brief stint back in Czechia, he found his way to The Festival Series in Malta, having been on the island for the SiGMA Poker Tour. Gomez Casilas is a Mixed Game fan, with his favourite game being Badugi. It is clear he is fond of the Mixed Games indeed, as he racked up six cashes across a variety of games.

And now he’s a WSOPE bracelet winner, having won the €550 No-Limit Hold’em Colossus for a career best score of €158,350, besting a 2,765-entry field for the lion’s share of the €1,292,637 prize pool. He has become the fourth Mexican national to win a WSOP Bracelet, and was here due to being sold a ticket whilst in Malta. Gomez Casillas has picked up a reputation at the tables for a very aggressive approach to poker, trying to apply maximum pressure at any given opportunity. He had the lead in heads-up play, and after a series of raise and takes, he shoved from the button with queen-five offsuit. His heads-up opponent, Claudio Daffina, woke up with Big Slick, but the Poker Gods favoured Gomez Casillas as he hit two pair on the flop to seal the victory.

Final Table Payouts

Rank	Player	Country	Chips
1	Jose Gomez Casillas	Mexico	€158,350
2	Claudio Daffina	Italy	€108,850
3	Lulei Hu	Italy	€82,650
4	Felix Kretschmann	Germany	€63,650
5	Rifat Palevic	Sweden	€50,150
6	Juan Velasco	Spain	€40,250
7	Marcin Kacprzak	Poland	€33,150
8	Ivan Fedor	Slovakia	€27,850
9	Manig Loeser	Germany	€23,950

What’s Next?

There is still more WSOPE action to come, as Event #10: €10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Mystery Bounty resulted yesterday, and the star-studded field of Event #13: €25,000 No-Limit Hold’em GGMillion€ remains in play. Last but not least, the €10,350 Main Event No-Limit Hold’em European Championship will be starting in just a few days time.

That’s all for now, folks. Until next time.