Josef Gulas Jr Wins the WSOP Europe Main Event for €1,276,712

Josef Gulas Jr was proclaimed the winner of Event #14: €10,350 WSOPE Main Event and a proud owner of the WSOP gold bracelet. This title will remain on home soil, as Josef Gulas Jr represented the Czech Republic during this festival. In order to win this tournament, Josef Gulas Jr had to overcome a field of 688 entries, which has become a new attendance record for the WSOP Europe Main Event and created a huge prize pool of €6,536,000. However, only the top 104 players were able to get into the money. Unsurprisingly, this victory has become Gulas’ biggest payday of his career so far as he took home an impressive top prize of €1,276,712. 

With this victory, Gulas has become the eighth player from the Czech Republic to win a WSOP gold bracelet. Here is what Josef Gulas Jr had to say about his most recent triumph:

“It’s an incredible feeling. I am truly thankful and happy. It was a perfect tournament with a very nice structure in the best casino in Europe. Just incredible! 

Josef Gulas Jr did not make many entries during the WSOP Europe. He has only participated in the Opener event and then spent his days playing cash game tables. Meanwhile, he was anticipating the start of the Main Event. Gulas Jr secured his entry thanks to his third-place finish in the €250 IPS Main Event in June. But, there is no denying that he would have entered the Main Event through a direct buy-in anyways. Josef Gulas Jr made the following comments about the atmosphere he felt during the Main Event:

“It is something incredible, I would wish it to everyone. Everyone should participate and play in such circumstances, to feel the atmosphere and the feel of the final table,”

Josef Gulas Jr was also asked about his plans regarding the money he has won. Gulas is pretty determined to build a house and save the rest of the money for the future. His family runs a car-selling business and Gulas is more than happy to help them with money. What’s interesting is the fact that his father has also participated in the Main Event but was eliminated a few spots short of the money on Day 3. 

Final Table

Now let’s take a close look at how the events at the final table unfolded. There were seven total players at the start of the final table of the Main Event. It took just 15 minutes for the first participant to be eliminated. Thomas Denie was knocked out by Athanasios Kidas when Denie went all-in during pre-flop with pocket queens against pocket kings of Kidas. The board ran 10 6 3 3 6 and Thomas Denie was awarded €163,434 for his seventh-place finish. 

Aleksandar Trajkovski was the next one to hit the showers. With the blinds at 125,000/250,000/250,000a, Guilbert raised to 500,000 under the gun with his 10 7. Trajkovski defended his position from the big blind with K 9. The flop showed K 3 2 and Trajkovski was able to hit the top pair. He checked, but Guilber placed a small bet of 250,000. Trajkovski then bet his remaining five big blinds as a response and was called by Guilbert. Unfortunately for Trajkovski, Guilbert was able to get a flush with 9 of spades on the river. Aleksandar Trajkovski was awarded €217,854 for his sixth-place finish. 

With just five players remaining, Slovenia’s Stanislav Koleno was the next one to be eliminated. Koleno went all-in in the middle of a J 9 3 flop with J 10 but was immediately called by Josef Gulas with pocket kings. The 7 on the turn did not give any advantage to Koleno as well as the 3 on the river. Stanislav Koleno was awarded €292,862 for his fifth-place finish. 

The four-handed play lasted for a while. During this time, Guilbert has managed to double up through Gulas Jr and become the chip leader with 24 million ahead of Athanasios Kidas with 17.4 million. Alexander Tkatschew was right behind Kidas with 16.9 million and Gulas was the shortest stack with 10.3 million. Very little changed throughout this hour. 

However, the next hour brought more action. Tkatschew was able to get into the chip lead while Guilber fought back and tried to reclaim this position. Gulas Jr was on the brink of elimination on several occasions but was able to hold on to his place as the home country’s last hope. After some time, Greek player Kidas found himself to be the shortest stack at the final table. The battle of short stacks was on and Gulas was the aggressor as he shoved pre-flop for 22 big blinds with his K Q. Kidas went all-in with his last 13 big blinds while holding A J. Eventually, Gulas was able to get a superior combination and Kidas was awarded €401,344 for his fourth-place finish.

Soon after that, Germany’s Tkatschew has overtaken the chip lead for a brief moment but Guilbert snatched a big pot off him and reclaimed his top position. Tkatschew’s stack became smaller and smaller over time and he had to survive with less than 20 big blinds for almost two hours. However, Tkatschew could not hang on this way for much longer as he ran into Guilbert with a big hand. Guilbert raised from the button to 1 million chips with his A 2 and Tkatschew called from the big blind with his K 10. The flop ran 10 9 2. This gave Tkatschew the top pair and Guilbert had a good chance for hitting a flush. Luckily for Guilbert, he has managed to turn 4 of clubs, which gave him a confident advantage over Tkatschew, who bet for 1.3 million chips. Guilbert called but then Tkatschew went all-in with 7 of spades on the river. Guilbert called without any hesitation and Tkatschew was awarded €558,505. 

Heads-Up

Guilbert had entered the heads-up play with a 2:1 chip lead over Gulas Jr. However, Gulas Jr was able to shift the momentum in his favor after Gulas was able to snatch a large pot. After that, both players have decided to slow down a little bit as they traded blows. Guilbert has even managed to regain the lead when he hit a flush against Gulas’ straight. However, Gulas took the lead back shortly after that when he got two pair. 

After a long back and forth, Gulas took over the chip lead for good. Gulas went all-in with A 8 and Guilber snap-called it with his pocket two’s. The flop showed K J 3, which kept Guilert in the lead. The 7 on the turn did not change anything. However, Gulas rivered a much-needed 8, which gave him a pair. Johan Guilber was awarded €789,031 for his second-place finish. Josef Gulas Jr was awarded the top prize of €1,276,712 for his first-place finish.

Here are the full WSOP Europe Main Event final table results: