Adon Ursu Crowned Champion of The Big Wrap (€200,000)
The biggest Pot-Limit Omaha tournament of the year outside of Las Vegas has come to a conclusion in Europe's biggest poker arena at the King's Casino and Resort in Rozvadov and it was Adon Ursu that lifted the trophy for the winner shots in the early morning hours after defeating Veton Raka in heads-up.
It was the second edition of the PLO festival in 2019 and the flagship tournament drew a total of 474 entries for the €2,350 buy-in, the top 55 spots took home a portion of the €1,000,000 prize pool.
For Ursu and Raka it was the far biggest payday on the live circuit thus far while third-placed Tomasz Kozub reached back-to-back final tables in this very event. In April 2019, Kozub finished 5th for €61,363 and took home €88,000 this time.
The final table also featured Sergey Verkhoturov and Han Kuo while Marian Vacha and Sascha Minerva were ousted just before the field combined to one table. Martin Kabrhel, first on the Czech Republic all-time money list, led the remaining 28 players as chip leader into the final day but had to settle for a rather disappointing 22nd place and €8,750.
Ursu began the final day fifth in chips and quickly found his way to the top of the leaderboard when the final three tables were reached. He remained one of the most active players and sent several opponents to the rail to regain momentum after small setbacks.
Two clashes with eventual third-place finisher Kozub sent Ursu back into the middle of the pack but he then sent Pawel Keller to the rail to take over control. Ursu never ceased the top spot anymore and knocked out seven of his eight final opponents to the rail to showcase his dominating role in the late stages of the tournament.
Final Result The Big Wrap €2,350 Main Event
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in EUR) | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adon Ursu | Turkey | €200,000 | $222,986 |
| 2 | Veton Raka | Kosovo | €120,000 | $133,792 |
| 3 | Tomasz Kozub | Poland | €88,000 | $98,114 |
| 4 | Borritoo | Lithuania | €71,200 | $79,383 |
| 5 | Sergey Verkhoturov | Russia | €56,300 | $62,771 |
| 6 | Han Kuo | Germany | €43,400 | $48,388 |
| 7 | Pawel Keller | Poland | €32,250 | $35,956 |
| 8 | Victor Nalim | Turkey | €23,260 | $25,933 |
Martin Kabrhel made his presence known on Day 2 and topped the leader board of the remaining 28 players, but the final day was filled with obstacles for the two-time WSOP bracelet and five-time WSOP Circuit ring winner in his home casino. Kabrhel doubled Hasan Nazarian and MAXIFELI to drop below the average and his run came to an end when he got it in with kings against the aces of Sergey Verkhoturov.
By then, Ilyaz Dosikov, Erich Kollmann and Leonid Yankovski were already on the rail and other notables that fell short of the final table were Iaroslav Boiko, Oleh Sushko, Sascha Minerva and Marian Vacha. Both Minerva and Vacha were nursing shorter stacks for a long time and Minerva was well ahead with a wrap when he ended up at risk only for Veton Raka to spike a pair on the river.
Down to the final table, Pawel Keller was in the lead with Adon Ursu and Sergey Verkhoturov hot on his heels. Hasan Nazarian was left with crumbs and failed to make any further pay jumps. Lithuania's Borritoo was the next short stack to face elimination but throughout the final day the Lithuanian turned out to be a cat with more than nine lives. Time after time, he would get short and double again to postpone the trip to the payout desk.
Instead, Victor Nalim and Pawel Keller were felted by Ursu and Borritoo knocked out fellow short stack Han Kuo when both were even in chips. Borritoo doubled much to the delight of his rail from Lithuania, got short, tripled and doubled when his queens hit a flush to best the queens of Sergey Verkhoturov. Ursu finished off Verkhoturov soon after and Borritoo seemingly escaped from elimination once again when he clashed with Ursu, but he was counterfeited on the river to end up in 4th place.
Three-handed play was all about the sheer aggression of Ursu and Veton Raka. Tomasz Kozub managed to double his short stack twice against Raka. If there was any proof needed for the run-good of Ursu, it was his clash with Kozub when he flopped a pair, gutshot and flush draw against a straight draw. Ursu turned a straight flush to leave Kozub without any hope and heads-up play lasted all but two hands after.
That wraps up the PokerNews updates from Rozvadov for now and Europe's biggest poker arena is getting ready for the upcoming 2019 World Series of Poker Europe in a month from now. Some of the biggest names in poker will be heading to Rozvadov to battle for 15 WSOP gold bracelets.
Winner Picture courtesy of Vasyl Tsubera / King's Resort and Casino.