Post by Ryan Knuppel on -

2018 World Series of Poker Circuit International Holland Casino Rotterdam €3,500 High Roller has passed and Luuk Gieles managed to become the winner and take home a prize of €53.073. He played his heads-up against Kevin Paque and the two other persons who managed to cash in this tournament are Albert Hoekendijk and Raoul Refos.

Gieles immediately answered the journalists’ questions and stated that he had not felt at any point as he was going to win the tournament – not even during the heads-up session with Paque. As a matter of fact, Gieles had a very bad start and had a great disadvantage when it comes to the number of chips. Nevertheless, he managed to show a great fight and eventually emerged a winner in this event in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Tournament Field

There were a total of 31 entries to the tournament and only 17 managed to go through to the second day. However, several players entered during the second day as the organisers still allowed late registrations. In fact, some of the players used this possibility to enter the tournament late. Even the winner Luuk Gieles had a late entrance. Some other notable names that were late are Tonny van Eck, Jack Salter, Marijn van Puffelen, and Hakim Zoufri who actually won this very same tournament last year and now acted as a defending champion.

Van Eck was only in for 16 minutes as he immediately had to go to the rails after his pair of tens faced the pair of jacks that the runner-up, Paque, had in his hand. However, all of the players were a far cry from receiving money as the organizers announced that only the first four players would be paid. Some of the names worth mentioning here that participated in WSOPC Rotterdam High Roller but did not make it to the final table are Wim Emo, Mark Radoja (a winner of two bracelets), Ronald Keijzer (the winner of 2018 WSOP bracelet), and Clyde Tjauw Foe who was a chip leader for the first day.

On the other hand, James Romero, Firoz Mangroe, Ad Schaap, and Haci Bayram all made it to the final table but were not lucky enough to make it to the pay table as well. Michal Mrakes was the cause of the bubble when he managed to go all in with an ace-six in his hand. On the other hand was the champion Gieles who faced him with the pair of jacks and made him go home with empty hands.

How it Went Down

When it comes to heads-up, Paque had a great advantage because he had a 3-1 when it comes to the chip lead. However, Gieles managed to even the things out only after a couple of hands during the heads-up play. Only 20 minutes after that, the tournament ended with Giles winning over Paque. Gieles rivered a straight in the last hand when he went all in, and Paque had to go home with a sum of €35,386.