Goetz and Halevy Claim Rings as Main Event Nears Its Guarantee at WSOP Circuit Bratislava

The 2026 WSOP Circuit Bratislava keeps delivering unforgettable moments at Card Casino Šamorín, and Friday was as busy a day as the festival has produced yet. Two more rings changed hands, with Czechia’s Ondrej Goetz capturing the €1,800 PLO Championship for €106,800, and Israel’s Tomer Halevy taking down the €600 NLH/PLO Mix for €21,934 and a WSOP Paradise package of his own. Meanwhile, two more Main Event flights pushed the field to the very doorstep of its €1,000,000 guarantee, with more still to come.

Goetz Wins Back-and-Forth Battle in €1,800 PLO Championship

Most eyes on Friday were on the final day of Ring Event #5, the €1,800 PLO Championship with a €500,000 guarantee. A total of 272 players entered across the event’s three starting flights. 41 players advanced to the final day, with everyone already locked into a €4,080 min-cash, though in an action game like Pot-Limit Omaha, the routes to the top of the payouts are always wide open.

The final day was livestreamed, with commentary from Bobby James and poker.pro’s own Head of Media, Jason Glatzer, and there was plenty to see. Much of the show, though, was stolen by Slovenia’s Kevin Goršič, who played the most aggressive game of anyone at the final table. In the end, he finished right back where he started, in third place, for €48,950.

The ring itself came down to a battle between Italy’s Valter Proia and Czechia’s Ondrej Goetz. Goetz entered the heads-up with a 2-to-1 chip lead after eliminating Goršič, but Proia quickly flipped the script and took over, at one point holding a 5-to-1 chip advantage of his own.

Goetz, though, played his way back into it in short order and closed out the win, banking €106,800, the best result of his career. Along with the gold ring and a $5,000 WSOP Paradise package. Proia had to settle for €71,100 as the runner-up.

2026 WSOP Circuit Bratislava €1,800 PLO Championship Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Ondrej Goetz	Czechia	€106,800
2	Valter Proia	Italy	€71,100
3	Kevin Goršič	Slovenia	€48,950
4	Nikola Minkov	Bulgaria	€44,450
5	Jan Maule	Czechia	€24,790
6	Borislav Bogdanov	Bulgaria	€18,260
7	Harald Casagrande	Austria	€13,760
8	Damir Alidžanovič	Slovenia	€10,630
9	Attila Zab	Hungary	€8,410

Halevy Outlasts Overnight Marathon in NLH/PLO Mix

Another marathon session played out at Card Casino Šamorín, this one starting at 19:00 and not wrapping up until 9:30 the next morning, with players nearly missing breakfast. The €600 NLH/PLO Mix drew 172 entries, and the guarantee was handily reached, with the prize pool settling at €89,784 and 26 players finishing in the money.

The final battle came down to Romania’s Cosmin-Ionuț Nica and Israel’s Tomer Halevy. Nica was chasing his second WSOP Circuit ring of the year, having already won one back in January at the WSOP Circuit Rozvadov. But it was the relatively unknown Halevy who prevailed in the end. Nica had to settle for €14,500, while Halevy collected the €21,934 top prize, the gold ring, and a trip to the Bahamas in December for the WSOP Paradise.

2026 WSOP Circuit Bratislava €600 Mix NLH/PLO Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Tomer Halevy	Israel	€21,934
2	Cosmin-Ionut Nica	Romania	€14,500
3	Niccolo Tomei	Italy	€9,990
4	Dmytro Smyrnov	Ukraine	€7,040
5	Thaaer Abu Hamid	Israel	€5,080
6	Samuel Stranak	Slovakia	€3,750
7	Guy Yehielov	Israel	€2,850
8	Jose Carrasco	Spain	€2,210
9	Konstantinos Nanos	Germany	€1,770

Main Event Closes In on the Guarantee

The Main Event continued to produce stellar numbers on Friday. Two more flights hit the felt, a regular Day 1B at noon and a fast-paced Day 1C at 19:00, adding 378 entries to bring the overall total to 713. Two more flights are still to come on Saturday, and the Main Event now needs just 67 more players to reach its €1,000,000 guarantee.

Expect to be reporting on a crushed guarantee by tomorrow and quite possibly on last year’s numbers being beaten too, when the Main Event drew 882 entries and Robert Obrtlík took home €180,200 for the win.

After three starting flights, Italy’s Riccardo Trevisani sits atop the leaderboard with 1,552,000 in chips, a stack he built by absolutely demolishing the fast-paced Day 1C flight, with his closest opponent in that flight having just 330,000. Trailing in second is Austria’s Shihong Chen with 1,319,000, who topped the counts out of Day 1B.

2026 WSOP Circuit Bratislava €1,500 Main Event Current Top 10 Chip Count

Position	Player	Country	Chips
1	Riccardo Trevisani	Italy	1,552,000
2	Shihong Chen	Austria	1,319,000
3	Maksym Ronshyn	Ukraine	1,004,000
4	Lorenzo Arduini	Italy	975,000
5	Laszlo Janoszki	Hungary	899,000
6	Tomas Kubaliak	Slovakia	837,000
7	Rudolf Kosa	Austria	799,000
8	Zoltan Farkas	Romania	750,000
9	Samuel Stranak	Slovakia	660,000
9	Itamar Nachshon	Israel	660,000

Saturday, August 8, 2026, Schedule at WSOP Circuit Bratislava

Saturday brings two more Main Event flights, with Day 1D firing at noon and a fast-paced Day 1E following at 6 p.m. Rounding out the evening is an NLH Knockout event with €350 bounties on every player’s head, carrying a €50,000 guarantee of its own.

Time	Event	Guarantee
10:00	Event: €150 Satellite to WSOPC #7 NLH Championship Main Event Day 1	€6,000
12:00	Ring Event #7: €1,500 NLH Championship Main Event Day 1D	€1,000,000
14:00	Event: €150 Satellite to WSOPC #7 NLH Championship Main Event Day 1	€6,000
18:00	Ring Event #7: €1,500 NLH Championship Main Event Day 1E Fast	€1,000,000
19:00	Event: €770 NLH KO (€350 Bounty)	€50,000