Bjorn Verbakel Wins World Series of Poker Europe €550 Pot-Limit Omaha Event

The second bracelet event of the 2021 World Series of Poker Europe was the €550 buy-in pot-limit Omaha tournament. A total of 623 entries were made by the time that registration closed, building a total prize pool of €295,925 ($332,531 USD). After three full days of action, Dutch player Bjorn Verbakel emerged victorious with the title, his first gold bracelet, and the top prize of €59,250 ($66,360 USD).

In addition to all that, the 34-year-old businessman from Beek en Donk, Netherlands was also awarded 420 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first POY-qualified final table showing of 2021.

The final day of this event began with eight players remaining, with Verbakel in second chip position behind two-time bracelet winner Martin Kabrhel. The two chip leaders clashed in one of the first hands of the day, with Kabrhel’s river bluff with missed flush and straight draws receiving a call froim Verbakel’s flopped set of sixes. Verbakel took a commanding lead after the hand, while Kabrhel slid toward the bottom end of the chip counts.

Kabrhel was ultimately the first player to be eliminated at the final table, with his pocket queens and a queen-high flush draw failing to outrun the trip aces of Verbakel. Kabrhel earned €5,494 ($6,153 USD) as the eighth-place finisher.

Mikkel Plum’s pocket aces were beaten by the double-suited middle rundown with an ace of Zhao Feng. Feng flopped a straight and backdoored sixes full of eights to secure the second knockout of the day. Plum earned €7,200 ($8,064 USD) for his seventh-place showing.

Tobias Peters’ run in this event came to an end when his KJ107 failed to improve against the pocket tens and pocket nines of Richard Toth. A pair of tens remained the best hand by the river and Peters settled for €9,615 ($10,769 USD).

Alfredo Meister doubled up Ken Beckers and was left with just more than big blind after the hand. He was eliminated in fifth place in the following hand (€13,078 / $14,647 USD).

Verbakel was the player who had taken the last of Meister’s stack. He backed that knockout up by busting Richard Toth in fourth place (€18,111 / $20,284 USD). Toth was in rough shape with his J1086 and a flop of K84. Verbakel showed AK98 for top two pair. The 2 on the turn left Toth drawing dead, and the 10 on the river sealed the deal.

Ken Beckers got all-in preflop with 7643 up against the AA85 of Verbakel. The board came down QJ76J. Beckers took the lead on the turn with two pair, only to have the board counterfeit him on the river. He secured €25,530 ($28,594 USD) as the third-place finisher.

With that Verbakel took more than a 2:1 chip advantage into heads-up play with Zhao Feng. He extended that lead even further by the time the final hand of the event was dealt. Verbakel raised to 900,000 on the button with AAQ3 and Feng called from the big blind with 7532. The flop came down K76. Feng moved all-in with his flopped pair and a gutshot straight draw. Verbakel called with his overpair, which quickly improved to a set of aces on the A turn. The 8 on the river locked up the pot and the title for Verbakel, with Feng earning €36,617 ($41,011 USD) as the runner-up.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photos via King’s Resort’s official Facebook page.

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