Pazma, Eljach, and Lee Win First Three Bracelets At 2023 World Series of Poker Europe Festival

The 2023 World Series of Poker Europe is underway at King’s Resort Rozvadov in the Czech Republic. The festival will run from Oct. 25 – Nov. 15, with 15 bracelet events and more than €15 million in collective guaranteed prize money.

There have already been three champions crowned in just over a week of play. Below is a look at the results from the trio of tournaments that have played out so far.

€350 No-Limit Hold’em €1 Million GTD

The very first bracelet event of the festival was the €1,000,000 guaranteed €350 buy-in no-limit hold’em ‘Opener’ tournament. A total of 3,503 entries were made across six starting flights, surpassing the guarantee by more than €48,000.

In the end, Lukas Pazma emerged victorious with the title, the bracelet, and the top prize of €110,000* ($127,571 USD). Pazma and the 11 other players inside the top 12 of this event also took home an entry into the €10,350 main event which kicks off on Nov. 12.

This was not only Pazma’s first bracelet, it was his first overall live tournament title. Prior to this big win, the Slovakian’s crowning achievement was a third-place finish in the WPT Prime Lichtenstein event for $143,360. He now has nearly $311,000 in recorded earnigns to his name.

Emil Bise was the only bracelet winner to make the final table of this event. The two-time WSOPE event winner won his first back in 2021, and his second last year. He ultimately finished ninth in this event for $21,571.

€550 Pot-Limit Omaha Eight Max €300K GTD

Omar Eljach took down the record-setting 2022 WSOPE main event for $1,380,129. He earned his second career bracelet in the second event on the schedule this year, the €550 pot-limit Omaha eight-max.

The Swedish player outlasted a field of 719 entries to secure the hardware and the top prize of €65,900 ($69,854 USD). The strong turnout saw the events €300,000 guarantee easily cleared.

Eljach now has more than $2 million in lifetime earnings to his name, with the vast majority coming from his success in WSOPE tournaments.

2023 WSOP badugi bracelet winner Michael Rodrigues finished fourth, while ten-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Roland Israelashvili placed third.

€2,000 Pot-Limit Omaha €300K GTD

The first four-figure buy-in event to wrap up was the €2,000 pot-limit Omaha event. A 206-entry turnout saw built a final prize pool of €362,045, once again surpassing the €300,000 guarantee.

The last player standing was Hok Yiu Lee. The Hong Kong resident earned his first bracelet and €91,183 ($96,654 USD) for the win.

This was Lee’s largest score yet, blowing by the $63,732 he received as the sixth-place finisher in a €10,300 buy-in pot-limit Omaha event at the European Poker Tour Barcelona stop in 2016. His lifetime tournament earnings now sit at nearly $259,000.

Lee was joined by a couple of bracelet winners at the final table in two-time WSOP champion Barny Boatman (5th) and Dario Alioto (2nd). The latter earned his hardware by taking down the 2007 WSOPE $10,000 pot-limit Omaha event for $464,000.

Photo credits: WSOP / Tomas Stacha, Christian Zetzsche.

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