Top Stories to Watch at the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe

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The 2018 World Series of Poker Europe is almost here! After enjoying a successful run in 2017, the WSOP Europe will return to King’s Casino Rozvadov with the first event kicking off this coming Tuesday, October 8th. The series will run through November 2nd and will feature ten WSOP gold bracelet events.

There’s a lot to look forward to with this upcoming series and below are just a few stories that we will be watching over the next few weeks.

Will Hellmuth Win Bracelet #16?

Phil Hellmuth extended his record for most WSOP bracelets this summer when he won Event #71, the $5k NL Turbo. He claimed after winning the event that he has been working on his game and that he had just started studying GTO prior to this event. Hellmuth put on a classic performance that resulted in his 15th bracelet win.

Now we will get to see whether Hellmuth can become a multi-bracelet winner and extend that record to 16 bracelet. He has stated in the past that he saw himself winning 30 bracelets before he’s done in poker, and he still manages to find a way to win even after everyone else has written him off.

Will Anyone Else Become a Multi-Bracelet Winner?

Thus far, we have three multi-bracelet winners in 2018. Shaun Deeb, Joe Cada, and Justin Bonomo have all won two bracelets in 2018 and now the question is whether anyone else will be able to add to their hardware totals.

Several big names have won bracelets this summer, including Elio Fox, Nick Petrangelo, Paul Volpe, John Hennigan, Michael Mizrachi, Eric Baldwin, Scott Seiver, Jean-Robert Bellande, Phil Galfond, Brian Hastings, and Ben Yu. Can any of these players add to their totals?

Also, is there a chance that Deeb, Cada, or Bonomo will add to their totals. With a pair of High Roller events on the schedule, Bonomo would seem the player most likely to win three bracelets in 2018, tying the record for most bracelets in a year.

Will Phil Ivey Show Up?

Phil Ivey has been in the news lately due to continued legal troubles with the Borgata Casino in Atlantic City. He is starting down the barrel of a $10.1 million judgment and is in the middle of trying to appeal that judgment.

Ivey returned to live tournament poker earlier this year and has won over $2 million, but was a relative non-factor during the summer outside of a ninth-place finish in the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship.

The question now is whether Ivey will show up and play. He played a decent schedule this summer due to a promotion with Virtue Poker, a company he presently represents. If he has a similar deal with them for the WSOP Europe, expect him to show up. If not, you may not see much of him outside of the Main Event and maybe the high rollers, if you see him at all.

Can Shaun Deeb Close Out WSOP Player of the Year?

Heading into the WSOP Europe, Shaun Deeb has a comfortable lead over Ben Yu and Joe Cada for 2018 WSOP Player of the Year. He leads Yu by 588 points and Cada by 802.2 points. The only other player with a realistic shot at catching Deeb is John Hennigan who presently sits 834.15 points back.

For Deeb to lose POY at this point, he would have to play poorly in Europe and one of these players make a run in one or more events. That’s also assuming that anyone close to Deeb decides to make the trip out to Rozvadov. Joe Cada and John Hennigan are both a bit of a question mark at this point. Ben Yu is the player most likely to chase down Deeb, but never underestimate any player looking to make their mark on history.

We will be following all of the action at King’s Casino and bringing you regular updates on the events, so stay tuned as we find out who will win the final ten WSOP bracelets of 2018.