2017 WSOP Europe Report – Shcherbak Wins Monster Stack While Ferguson Regains POY Lead

1. Home
2. News
3. 2017 Wsop Europe Report Shcherbak Wins Monster Stack While Ferguson Regains Poy Lead

The 2017 World Series of Poker Europe is in full swing and we already have our first bracelet winner. Oleksandr Shcherbak took down the Monster Stack Event for the first bracelet of the series and €117,708.

Meanwhile, the Player of the Year chase is heating up. Ryan Hughes took the lead after the first Event thanks to a deep run but a min-cash in Event #2 will put Chris Ferguson back into first once points are posted on Wednesday.

Oleksandr Shcherbak Wins Monster Stack for First Career Bracelet

The first event of the 2017 WSOP Europe was the €1,100 Monster Stack Event. The event drew a combined field of 561 players for a prize pool of €538,280 ($633,673 US). For most of the event, the big story was the run of Ryan Hughes.

Hughes sat 2nd in the Player of the Year standings heading into this event and Ferguson whiffed on all three starting flights. Hughes put together a deep run in the event, eventually finishing 21st for $3,184. More importantly, this finish vaulted him into the lead for POY with 922.10 points versus 898.46 for Ferguson.

After four days of action, the final table of this event was reached. Amazingly, the chip leaders from 3 of the four days of action made the final table. Day 1B chip leader Sergio Fernandez headed into the final as overall chip leader. Day 2 chip leader Carlo Savinelli was second in chips.

Day 1A chip leader Ismael Bojang was the final table headliner, but unfortunately he started as the short stack. He was eliminated in 8th place when he ran Ah-Kd into the pocket aces of Walter Treccarichi.

Ultimately the final table came down to Oleksandr Shcherbak and Viliyan Petleshkov. Shcherbak held a 2:1 chip lead at the start of heads-up play but Petleshkov didn’t give up. He managed to storm back to take the chip lead for a time but Shcherbak switched into another gear and started simply dominating the heads-up match.

Ultimately, the event came down to a coin-flip. Petleshkov was all-in Ah-Qs and Shcherbak called with pocket sevens. The flop missed both players but the turn fell the 7c to give Shcherbak a set and the victory.

The Ukraine’s Oleksandr Shcherbak wins the first bracelet of the 2017 WSOP Europe and €117,708 ($138,568). This is not only Shcherbak’s first WSOP bracelet but also his first WSOP cash. The young poker pro only has 2 live tournament cashes in his career with the other coming in a preliminary during the PokerStars Championship Barcelona in August.

Chris Ferguson Will Retake Player of Year Lead After Event #2

Event #2, €550 PLO, is down to the final 31 players but two players have picked up valuable Player of the Year points. Both Chris Ferguson and Alex Foxen managed to min-cash during Day 1b and both will earn 31.56 points towards Player of the Year.

Once the event concludes, Ferguson will move back into first place with 930.02 points. Foxen will jump up to 5th place overall with 785.92 points.

While no other POY contender made the final 31 in the PLO, there are still a few notables left. Kristen Bicknell, the present #1 ranked player on the Women’s GPI, is sitting middle of the pack. Other notables in good shape include James Akenhead, Alexander Lakhov and Jani Vilmunen.

Sergio Fernandez finished 3rd in the Monster Stack and is presently 3rd overall heading into Wednesday. Two-time WSOP bracelet winner Brandon Cantu will be back on Wednesday but is one of the short stacks.

Event #3, the €1,100 NL Hold’em Super Turbo Bounty will kick off on Wednesday and is scheduled to complete in a single day. It sets up a weekend of action that will include the €550 Colossus and the €1,650 NL 6-Max.