Martin Kabrhel picked up his third bracelet in the €50K Diamond High Roller at WSOP Europe in the Czech Republic after he dominated early play and got the best of Day 1 chip leader Sirzat Hissou in the end.
The chatty Czech pro has won all three bracelets in his home country, where he is unquestionably its top player. Kabrhel takes the short trip home with €529,000 from a prize pool of €1,995,900 that paid out the top five players.
Hissou finished in second after he extended his chip lead in the early part of the day to tower over the rest of the field. Kabrhel eventually caught up and took the top spot in a big hand on the bubble between the table's two biggest stacks.
Fahredin Mustafov, Enrico Camosci, and Viktor Blom rounded out the top five paying spots.
Hissou stays hot
Registration remained open for the first two levels of the day and 11 more entries went through the window to bring the field's total to 30. Niklas Astedt hopped in again, along with Roman Hrabec, Besim Hot, and King's Casino's very own Leon Tsoukernik.
Hot busted in the early going and left for good along with Klemens Roiter, Sergi Reixach, and Daniel Rezaei, who entered the day as the only player close to Hissou on the leaderboard.
Rezaei's downfall was part of a hot start for Hissou that kicked off with the double knockout of Alex Foxen and Blom. Both players jumped back in while Rezaei ran his queens into Hissou's kings to give the top stack from Day 1 a runaway chip lead. Kabrhel enjoyed similar success in the early levels and a well-timed shove against Enrico Camosci moved him closer to Hissou.
Kabrhel takes over
Registration closed with 13 players left at two tables and Tsouernik, Alex Foxen, Kisacikoglu, and Salih Atac made way in order for a final table of nine. Hissou still held a large lead with nearly twice the chips of Camosci, his nearest threat. Kabrhel entered the final table in fourth and Astedt was the short stack.
Kabrhel started the final table with a set against Mustafov and an overbet against Camosci that stole a pot on the river. He soon cracked Stephen Chidwick's aces and picked up jacks to bust Kristen Foxen before the knockout of Daniel Dvoress put Kabrhel in second behind Hissou's dominant stack.
Clash of the titans
The sequence of events set up six-handed play and the turning point of the tournament on the bubble between Kabrhel and Hissou with the top two stacks.
Martin Kabrhel in the tank after the money card hits on the river. Kabrhel called a three-bet after the flop with an open-ended straight draw on a flop of 
and led on the turn with a big bet when the 
didn't help him. Hissou called with pocket jacks and Kabrhel made a straight on the river with the 
. Both players checked and Kabrhel showed king-three for a straight to take a big chip lead and leave Hissou with just under 20 big blinds after he entered the final table with over 100.
Kabrhel finds a way
Astedt ended up bursting the bubble and Kabrhel gave a few back to Hissou to keep him in the hunt. Blom fell in fifth and Camosci hit the rail in fourth to set up three-handed play between Kabrhel, Mustafov, and Hissou. Mustafov bowed out and left the final two to play with the Czech pro holding two-thirds of the chips.
Martin Kabrhel now has three bracelets — all at WSOP Europe. The pair traded pots for almost two hours and the Hissou worked his way back into the lead before he made a wheel in a big hand that left Kabrhel in big trouble. But the champ fought back with a series of aggressive pots and took the permanent advantage. The final moment came when Hissou called for everything with ace-eight and could not improve against Kabrhel's fives.
€50K Diamond High Roller results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martin Kabrhel | €529,000 |
| 2 | Sirzat Hissou | €353,000 |
| 3 | Fahredin Mustafov | €222,000 |
| 4 | Enrico Camosci | €159,000 |
| 5 | Viktor Blom | €132,900 |
Lead photo courtesy of WSOP.com/Tomas Stacha
