A Look Back at the 12 PokerNews Cup Champions

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Mar 29, 2019 8 min read Last updated Apr 30, 2019

The 2019 PokerNews Cup is heading to Finix Casino, located on the Greek border in Kulata, Bulgaria on May 9-19. This marks the 13th edition of our exciting and much-anticipated event. Twelve players from around the world can lay claim to being PokerNews Cup champions. Can you remember them all?

Dory Zayneh: 2007 PokerNews Cup Australia Champion

The PokerNews Cup began more than a decade ago with its inaugural event taking place at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia in October 2007. A total of 428 entrants ponied up the A$3,000 buy-in to create a prize pool of A$1,198,400 ($1,066,410).

Australia's Dory Zayneh defeated countrymate Kenny Ng heads up to claim the A$300,000 ($266,959) top prize. More than a decade later, this remains Zayneh's only live tournament cash, according to The Hendon Mob.

Darren Kramer: 2008 PokerNews South Africa Open Champion

Building upon the success of the inaugural event, the PokerNews Cup headed to three different stops in three different continents the following year in 2008. The first event of 2008 took place at Montecasino in South Africa with 175 entrants buying in for $3,353 to create a $502,233 prize pool.

Darren Cramer won the tournament for $140,575 after beating Chris Convery (second - $95,826) in heads-up play. This was Kramer's first six-figure cash. He has gone on to notch four more and now has nearly $1.1 million in live tournament cashes, good enough for third place on South Africa's All-Time Money List, according to The Hendon Mob.

Erich Kollman: 2008 PokerNews Cup Austria Champion

The PokerNews Cup then headed to Europe for the first time, taking place at Concord Card Casino in Salzburg, Austria with a reduced buy-in of €220. A total of 201 players battled it out for a share of the €120,600 ($192,115) prize pool.

For the third straight PokerNews Cup, the event was won by a local player with Austria’s Erich Kollman claiming the top prize of €31,160 ($49,638).

Kollman has gone on to amass more than $1.73 million in live poker tournament winnings, putting him sixth on Austria's All-Time Money List.

Nali Kaselias: 2008 PokerNews Cup Australia Champion

During the last stop of 2008, the PokerNews Cup headed back to where it all began - Melbourne. A total of 410 entrants battling it out in the A$2,200 buy-in tournament for a chance to win a share of the A$820,000 ($563,079) prize pool.

The trophy stayed on local soil once again when Australia's Nali Kaselias notched his first live tournament cash in a big way by winning the event for A$250,000 ($171,670). Kaselias has yet to match this poker success as it remains his largest cash to date.

Marc Naalden: 2009 PokerNews Cup Alpine Champion

The following year, in 2009, the PokerNews Cup headed to two stops with the first taking place at the Alpine Palace Card Casino on the majestic ski resort in Hinterglemm, Austria. The event featured a €1,500 buy-in and the 129-entrant field created a €172,054 ($233,585) prize pool.

For the first time in PokerNews Cup history, the event was won by a foreigner when the Netherlands’ Marc Naalden triumphed for €46,474 ($63,094).

The final table was an international affair with players from eight different nationalities battling it out, showing the PokerNews Cup had truly gone global.

Con Tsapkounis: 2009 PokerNews Cup Australia Champion

The PokerNews Cup then returned to Melbourne in what would turn out to be the last PokerNews Cup until its return five years later. The A$2,200 event attracted 381 entrants to generate a A$762,000 ($661,045) prize pool.

Australia's Con Tsapkounis won the tournament for an impressive haul of A$250,000 ($216,878), which still remains his biggest cash to date by far.

Hanh Tran: 2014 PokerNews Cup Vienna Champion

The PokerNews Cup made its triumphant return after a five-year break to the Montesino Pokertainment Centre in Vienna when 367 players competed, with 75 rebuys tallied, for a €90,675 ($115,420) prize pool in the €250 buy-in event.

Austria's Hanh Tran was crowned the tournament’s champion for €19,010 ($24,198) after agreeing to a three-way deal at the final table with Austria's Fabian Gritsch (€12,610; $16,051) and the Czech Republic's Lubos Trembecki (€10,000; $12,729).

Christian Krupp: 2015 PokerNews Cup Rozvadov Champion

The following year, the PokerNews Cup returned with a bang to Europe's largest poker room, King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic which hosted the €250 buy-in Main Event. The €200,000 guarantee was smashed after a massive field of 1,230 entrants bought in and made 235 rebuys. That brought the prize pool grand total up to €310,499 ($355,498).

Germany's Christian Krupp won the lion's share of the prize pool after besting countrymate Torsten Wichtrup in heads-up play to claim the top prize of €57,473 ($65,802) for his biggest live tournament cash.

Daniel Can: 2015 PokerNews Cup Rozvadov Champion

Ever hear of a nine-way final table deal? That is exactly what happened at the second PokerNews Cup of 2015 at King's Casino. That's right, the final table ended before it even began with all nine players agreeing to a deal.

Germany’s Daniel Can was credited the win and took home the trophy and a prize of €17,105 ($17,898) with the other eight finalists securing payouts of between €9,814 and €16,822.

The €250 buy-in event was also the first in PokerNews Cup history to feature overlay when the 689 entrants and 131 rebuys failed to meet the €200,000 guarantee.

Timur Caglan: 2016 PokerNews Cup Rozvadov Champion

For the third stop in a row, the PokerNews Cup was held in Rozvadov for its first stop of 2016. The event was in high demand with 904 entrants and 200 rebuys generating a €235,980 prize pool.

Germany’s Timur Caglan won the tournament for €44,695 ($49,864) after beating Ronny Voth in heads-up play.

Caglan, a regular player at King's Casino, went on to win a WSOP Circuit ring at the same venue in 2017 for €62,539 ($67,541).

Ryan Van Sanford: 2016 PokerNews Cup Borgata Champion

Later in 2016, the PokerNews Cup switched things up and ventured to Atlantic City, New Jersey for a $2,150 buy-in event as part of the WPT Borgata Poker Open. This marked the first time the festival headed to North America with the event previously taking place only in the continents of Australia, Africa and Europe.

The event attracted 119 entrants to generate a $222,324 prize pool with 18 players cashing for at least $3,492.

It was a tough final table with both Christian Harder and Barry Hutter in contention for the trophy and the $68,676 top prize.

However, it was another notable player in Ryan Van Sanford finding gold in the end.

Holger Bansner: 2017 PokerNews Cup Rozvadov Champion

In 2017, the PokerNews Cup returned to King's Casino for a fourth time.

It appeared for a while that Caglan would become the first two-time PokerNews Cup champion after having the chip lead when making a four-way deal with Holger Bansner, Benjamin Benoit, and Daniel Novak.

Indeed, Caglan was able to secure the top prize of €28,300 ($33,208) but ultimately finished runner-up to Bansner when the two played for the remaining €2,000 that was reserved for the winner. Instead, Bansner made history himself by winning the event for €24,098 ($28,277).

"I didn't care much about those €2,000, but I really wanted another trophy," 2016 champion Caglan said after the defeat.

With no PokerNews Cup in 2018, the popular event is set to make its 2019 return in Kulata, Bulgaria in May. You can check out the complete PokerNews Cup Kulata schedule below.

2019 PokerNews Cup Kulata Schedule

_{* Schedule subject to change at tournament director's discretion.}

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