Update: 23-Year Old Czech Takes First WSOP Bracelet

Event 56 brings first World Series of Poker win to Czech Republic

Thursday’s completion of the World Series of Poker Event 56 - $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em brought the new winner under the spotlight - Tomas Junek, a 23-year-old poker pro from Czech Republic who took home his and his nation's first WSOP bracelet and a first prize of $661,022.

However, after the huge success, the winner made a surprising comment which attracted a lot of attention - he said didn't much like live tournament action!

I actually don’t like live tournaments, but this is the World Series of Poker. It is the biggest action of poker," said Junek in his interview after the big win, adding that three days of pressure and exhilaration had left him exhausted.

Junek also said he had not been especially successful in six previous tournaments, but that his major win in event 56 would persuade him to play more as this his biggest pay day to date achieved against noteworthy opponents.

"I don’t have many cashes in live tournaments, but I think after this success I will play live tournaments a little bit more," he said.

The entry field of 2,798 did not position Prestavlky-based player as a favourite and reaching the final table with previous WSOP main event winner Peter Eastgate together with other highly respected poker pros like Will Failla, Sam Holden and David Borg was already a success.

However, the young Czech played a consistently good game, seeing other opponents leave the final table one by one and ending the event triumphantly after beating Borg in the heads up.

This is the list of WSOP Event 56 final table payouts:

Tomas Junek $661,022

David Borg $410,517

Donald Vogel $289,530

Peter Eastgate $209,111

Eliyahu Levy $152,867

Andrew Taylor $113,092

Steven Goldberg $84,649

Tomas Trampota $64,101

Bassel Moussa $49,105

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