The 2021 World Series of Poker International Circuit at the King's Resort in Rozvadov has come to a thrilling conclusion. Out of a field of 912 entries, nine players battled for the gold circuit ring and the biggest slice of the €1,342,920 prize pool. After a roller coaster heads-up duel, Andrea Ricci defeated fellow countryman Simone Lombardo to claim his first gold ring and the top prize of €236,489.
Ricci already came close to earn his maiden victory on the WSOP Circuit in Europe's biggest poker arena a few weeks ago. In a field of 320 entries, the Italian finished as the runner-up in Event #7 €660 No Limit Hold'em - Fiftystack for €22,934. His opponent back then, Karol Bogusz from Poland, also made the money in the €1,700 Main Event as well and finished in 36th place.
On top of that, Ricci comes fresh off a triumph in the IPO888poker San Marino, where he came out on top of a 1,497 entry strong field to claim the top prize of €125,535. His biggest cash until now came back in 2018 when the Italian emerged victorious in the €560 Premiere Million Main Event in Nova Gorica, Slovenia, for €230,000. Ricci has now topped that by a few thousand Euros.
Runner-up Lombardo put up a fierce fight in heads-up and all but sealed the victory only to see his hopes crushed in dramatic fashion. Aliaksandr Shylko repeated his fourth-place finish in this very event in 2019 and the final table also featured the 2019 EPT Sochi Main Event winner Uri Gilboa, who finished in sixth place.
WSOPC €1,700 Main Event at King's Resort Final Table Results
| Position | Winner | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrea Ricci | Italy | €236,489 |
| 2 | Simone Lombardo | Italy | €146,004 |
| 3 | Vincent De Neve | Germany | €104,359 |
| 4 | Aliaksandr Shylko | Belarus | €79,943 |
| 5 | Mourad Tounnouti | Netherlands | €63,334 |
| 6 | Uri Gilboa | Israel | €49,329 |
| 7 | Mr. Bond | Germany | €35,943 |
| 8 | Ahmad Achegsei | Germany | €24,565 |
| 9 | Sami Karli | Germany | €19,459 |
The nine finalists and tenth-place finisher Mihai Stinca also received an entry to the 2021 WSOP Europe €10,300 Main Event as well, which is currently scheduled to take place early in December. Through various live poker events, the King's Resort has now already awarded 172 entries for the pinnacle event of the upcoming festival.
Ricci Races to Heads-Up in Dominating Fashion
The nine-handed final table started with a bang as Sami Karli was eliminated by Ricci during the first few hands. He had started the final day second in chips and flopped trips nines while Ricci had already nailed a full house with pocket deuces. The turn and river bricked and the Italian soared into a commanding lead.
Ahmad Achegsei was then eliminated by Lombardo when a dominated pair found no help before Ricci flopped best to knock out King's regular "Mr. Bond". The short stacks were fighting for their survival and Gilboa, as well as Mourad Tounnouti, were the next to depart, leaving Ricci and Lombardo at the top of the leaderboard with four contenders remaining.
Ricci also sent Shylko to the rail when the Belorussian was caught with a triple barrel bluff. Three-handed play lasted for a while but Vincent De Neve then jammed at the wrong time into Lombardo to set up an all-Italian heads-up battle for the gold ring.
Long Heads-Up Duel Ends in Dramatic Fashion
For most of the final table, Ricci dominated at the top of the leaderboard. There were some setbacks along the way but he never really surrendered the top spot until the heads-up stage, which started nearly even in chips. Ricci fell behind and then doubled to pull well ahead of Lombardo with the chance to wrap it up twice only for his fellow countryman to survive, too.
Lombardo got there with ace-trey suited versus pocket eights to claim back the lead and both then clashed in a typical coin flip with pocket eights versus ace-queen. An eight on the flop all but sealed the victory for Lombardo but Ricci found a miracle escape thanks to running diamonds.
In the very next hand, Ricci jammed jack-six suited into queen-ten and Lombardo nailed the nut straight and gutshot straight flush draw. With just the blank middle pair by then, Ricci needed more magic and indeed spiked perfect-perfect for an unlikely full house to seal the triumph in an extraordinary fashion.
That wraps up the PokerNews coverage for this event but the next live poker event is just around the corner with the partypoker MILLIONS North Cyprus from September 16 to 27.
