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2017 888Live Rozvadov Festival
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Day: 1
Yesterday saw the first of two days of live-streamed high-stakes cash game action here at King's Casino. At the time it was the biggest cash game taking place anywhere in Europe. Seven players sat down to play €100/€100 Pot-Limit Omaha featuring Theo Jorgensen, Ismael Bojang, Martin Kabrhel and Ronny Kaiser.
Mid-way through the session, Theo Jorgensen scooped a sensational pot worth just over €90,000. We spoke with Jorgensen himself as well as 2016 Pot-Limit Omaha bracelet winner Ryan Laplante for their thoughts on the hand.
Here's how the players started the hand:
| Position | Player | Country | Chips | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ronny Kaiser | Switzerland | €58,000 | -€2,000 |
| 3 | Ismael Bojang | Germany | €13,900 | +€8,900 |
| 4 | Nick | Germany | €7,400 | -€2,600 |
| 5 | Theo Jorgensen | Denmark | €37,800 | +€27,800 |
| 6 | Jan-Peter Jachtmann | Germany | €7,100 | -€22,900 |
| 7 | Thomas Bichon | France | €32,300 | +€2,300 |
| 8 | Martin Kabrhel | Czech Republic | €5,500 | -€4,500 |
Pre-Flop
Thomas Bichon folded under the gun, and Martin Kabrhel limped from early position holding 
. Ronny Kaiser then raised to 500 with 
.
Ryan Laplante: The initial limp with Kings [by Kabrhel] appears to be fine in this game. They are only seven-handed and people appear to be playing fairly loose. I'd say the raise by Ronny Kaiser is standard.
Ismael Bojang 
, Nick 
, Theo Jorgensen 
and Jan-Peter Jachtmann 
all called and Martin Kabrhel three-bet to 3,500. Everyone but Bojang called and play was five-handed to the flop.
Laplante: I'd say that both of Theo's peels are on the loose side. However, considering Kabrhel is three-bet squeezing his bad Kings and Jachtmann is peeling that said squeeze with the hand he's holding then I understand. Ronny Kaiser should definitely peel the three-bet with his hand.
The Flop: 
Jorgensen and Jachtmann both checked and Martin Kabrhel moved all in for his remaining 2,500.
Theo Jorgensen: This hand is interesting because I have position on the big stack [Ronny Kaiser] without actually being in position. I know that it's going to check to Kabrhel, who's going to move all in. Then the action will be on Kaiser and I will then have position on him.
However, I flop a hand that I'm never going to get away from. If I'm extremely unlucky Kaiser has an overset where I'm beat. In that case I always have the flush. The chances that I’m beaten here and have no outs are slim to none. I'm not convinced that my sixes are good, but I am very confident.
Ronny Kaiser then raised to 24,000. Nick folded.
Laplante: Kaiser should definitely be trying to isolate here.
Jorgensen: I didn't expect Kaiser to isolate. But if he is isolating obviously he's not doing that with a stone cold bluff. He's not doing that with one pair - he has to have something. He could very well have jacks and eights and be dominating.
Jorgensen moved all in for 34,300. Jachtmann and Kaiser called.
Laplante: Theo can't really do anything here but get it in. The only hands that Kaiser can have that he's in bad shape against are hands with jacks, which are very few combos. Generally, he will be up against two-pair with either a flush or a straight draw. If Theo didn't have a flush draw to go with his set of sixes, he could consider folding, but would definitely need a read that Kaiser is a player on the tighter side.
Jorgensen: Moving all in I expected to have the best hand. Kaiser's isolating range is very wide here. Even with only bottom set, there’s no way I’m going to fold. Even if I didn't have the flush draw I would still call. There’s no way I’m moving all in that fast if I don’t expect to have the best hand. If he had jacks you could expect me to be swearing a lot.
The turn was the 
Jorgensen: The eight is the dream card, and suddenly I have to fade just one out for the main pot.
The river was the 
Jorgensen: And of course he hits is flush just because.
By the end of the five-hour session, Jorgensen was up over €80,000. After this monster hand he visibly tightened up, something he said wasn't a conscious choice of his.
Jorgensen: I think it's more a coincidence. [At the beginning] I was just hitting flops and having better hands, and getting into positions where I could do something about it. You could argue that after this hand people started to get a little looser as they had lost quite a bit, so maybe I tightened up a little bit.
Since hosting a WSOP Circuit event in November last year, King’s Casino has played host to no less than ten different poker festivals. These include the German Masters of Poker, the Italian Masters of Poker, and the 2017 European Poker Sport Championships (EPSC).
There’s no rest for organisers at the conclusion of this 888Live Festival. As soon as this Festival finishes the Spanish Poker Festival Winter Challenge begins. After that there is the Dutch Classics and the German Poker Days Festival. And after all that, the arrival of the first PokerStars Festival here in Rozvadov, and the return of the WSOP Circuit in April and May.
All of this makes the focus of King’s Casino very clear: poker. After King’s Casino CEO Leon Tsoukernik bought the land in Rozvadov in 1993, his dream of opening a casino on the site was eventually realised ten years later.
“The land in Rozvadov was just swamp land, but I felt the location in terms of Europe had huge potential and just stuck to what I believed in my heart – that it would work!” said Tsoukernik.
In 2009, the venue was transformed into a property that was really orientated towards poker. According to Tsoukernik, this was intentional.
"Not many casinos do this and I spotted the gap in the market. The big thing was I am a poker player myself and I wanted it to be the centre of the action.
“I didn’t rush things. I went one step after the other and this strategy paid off very well. Look at it now: we have a tournament every weekend and we have a full house every time!”
King's Casino at Night
In September it was revealed that there are plans in the pipeline to expand the casino. Not only are there plans to add 1,800 square metres of Las Vegas-style casino space with 40 more poker tables, but they will be opening a new hotel with 218 additional rooms. There will even be 18 luxury suites which will be able to accommodate “even the most demanding of guests.”
Tsoukernik says that with the expansion, there is a need to connect King’s with the biggest and best poker tours and operators
“The recent multi-year deal with two WSOPE festivals being held in Rozvadov really makes me proud. We have exciting events in the schedule already for 2017, and we still welcome our partners from all over the world.
“We recently had a large group of players from Georgia at King’s – I want to see more of that from more and more countries!”
Tsoukernik insists that at King’s Casino, the focus is on the player, and that the player is king.
“Our players are always right, even when they are not. They are our customers and we need to treat them the best we can.
“Everyone who comes here is treated as a real king because our business works only if we convince people to come back to us every time they want to play.”
And with a whole host of poker tournaments and festivals scheduled over the course of 2017, there are more than enough reasons for players to return to King’s Casino time and time again.
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