Just a few weeks after the 2025 World Series of Poker Europe wrapped up at Kings Resort Rozvadov, the poker hotspot along the Czech-German border welcomed the WSOP International Circuit to award some more gold jewelry. The 12-event festival ran from Oct. 22 through Nov. 4, with 12 WSOPC rings handed out along the way. This completed a busy stretch for the venue, which may have hosted its final WSOPE this fall after hosting the festival since 2017. The 2026 WSOPE is slated to run in Prague from March 31 through April 12.
The centerpiece of the WSOP International Circuit stop was the €1 million guaranteed €1,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event. It attracted 544 entries across its four starting flights, but only one player would walk away with the hardware and the top prize of $189,750. That turned out to be Claudio Di Giacomo. This was by far the largest live score yet for the Italian player.
Di Giacomo overcame a tough final table that included bracelet winner Zdenek Zizka. The professional backgammon player from the Czech Republic ultimately finished fifth for $44,850. He ran A♦5♥ into the A♠J♥ of Di Giacomo, and was out-kicked after the board came down K♦10♠9♦K♣A♣. Zizka grew his career haul to more than $1.2 million with this latest deep run.
Di Giacomo then busted Volodymyr Kokoulin (4th – $61,525) and Taras Sopotnytskiy (3rd – $87,400) to take roughly a 3:2 chip lead into heads-up play with Stefano Aprile. They battled for a while before the final hand arose, with Aprile getting all-in with 9♦7♦ after the first four cards came out Q♦9♣6♠3♥. He was in trouble against the K♥K♦ of Di Giacomo, which held through the A♠ river. Aprile earned $127,650 as the runner-up, a career-high score for the German.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Claudio Di Giacomo | $189,750 | 840 |
| 2 | Stefano Aprile | $127,650 | 700 |
| 3 | Taras Sopotnytskiy | $87,400 | 560 |
| 4 | Volodymyr Kokoulin | $61,525 | 420 |
| 5 | Zdenek Zizka | $44,850 | 350 |
| 6 | Ondrej Mar | $33,350 | 280 |
| 7 | Fabian Wolf | $25,300 | 210 |
| 8 | Ivan Kolesnikov | $20,125 | 140 |
| 9 | Guido Presti | $16,330 | 70 |
Photo credit: Kings Resort Facebook page.
