Ryan Riess Eyes Second Main Event Title at WSOPE Rozvadov With 6 Left
Just six players remain in the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event and it is Hungarian Laszlo Bujtas who leads the way with over 14 million in chips.
Bujtas finished 58th in last year's Main Event for €16,710 but he and the other five players at the final table have already guaranteed themselves €175,965 in prize money, with €1,122,239 awaiting the winner of this year's Main Event.
Two big names will be back for the final day of play here at King's Resort, Rozvadov with both 2013 WSOP Main Event champion Ryan Riess and 2017 WSOP Main Event final tablist Jack Sinclair still in the hunt for the coveted gold bracelet.
And with six different countries represented in the final six players, the final day's play is going to have a very international feel to it. Here's a look at seating and counts for when play resumes.
| Seat | Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Milos Skrbic | Serbia | 12,720,000 | 80 |
| 2 | Ryan Riess | United States | 10,615,000 | 66 |
| 3 | Laszlo Bujtas | Hungary | 14,040,000 | 88 |
| 4 | Krasimir Yankov | Bulgaria | 3,995,000 | 25 |
| 5 | Jack Sinclair | United Kingdom | 8,585,000 | 54 |
| 6 | Ihor Yerofieiev | Ukraine | 3,170,000 | 20 |
Bujtas, who says he has been playing poker for ten years, had a quiet day for the most part, allowing the first four eliminations to pass him by and still coming into the final table second in chips. However, he sent Balcsu Lukacs and Koray Aldemir out in four hands to end the night and resume his place at the top of the chip counts.
It was Milos Skrbic who came into the final table as the chip leader, and he is second in chips despite failing to knock out a single player on Day 5. Most of his chips came at the unofficial final table when he won house over house against Riess to move up to 10 million in chips.
In his own words, former WSOP champion Riess called today "fucking painful" adding that he considers today "one of the worst [days of poker] he's played all year."
A slow start saw him run aces into the set of Krasimir Yankov and fold top set to a bluff from Jack Sinclair. Despite this, he still managed to come into the final table of eight second in chips - three places higher than what he achieved in Vegas five years ago - and eliminated the two players on the final day, the same as chip leader Bujtas.
"I picked such a huge day to play bad," he said despite bagging up third in chips. "I think I made the wrong decision on almost everything."
WSOPE Rozvadov Main Event Day 5 Recap
It took a while for the first elimination of the day, with players clearly aware that just six eliminations separated them from the final day. And it took a cooler to send Ming Xi to the rail, rivering a straight and shoving into the full house of Sinclair.
One quickly became two with the experienced Russian Vladimir Troyanovskiy doubling up Stoyan Obreshkov before busting to the Bulgarian when he shoved king-ten into the ace-eight of his opponent.
Dominik Matejka came into the day as the shortest stack, and laddered two spots before he four-bet shoved ace-nine into the ace-queen of Riess. There was a nine on the flop, but a queen as well and the last Czech player in the tournament was eliminated.
With this elimination, Riess topped the chip counts at the unofficial final table of nine, and chipped up further with the elimination of Obreshkov. The Bulgarian shoved river with pocket kings, but Riess had rivered two pair and brought the table to the official final table of eight.
Skrbic would get some back from Riess after a house-over-house situation, and Krasimir Yankov bagged himself a double through Riess as the American fell to third in chips, before Bujtas finished off both Lukacs and Aldemir in four hands to end the night.
2018 WSOPE Main Event Payout
| Position | Prize in € | Prize in $ |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | €1,122,239 | $1,283,744 |
| 2 | €693,573 | $793,387 |
| 3 | €480,028 | $549,110 |
| 4 | €337,778 | $386,352 |
| 5 | €241,718 | $276,478 |
| 6 | €175,965 | $201,269 |
The final table resumes at 3 p.m., with PokerNews coverage starting from 3:30 p.m. alongside the official livestream. Stay tuned as we crown the winner of the 2018 WSOPE Main Event.
