Iranian Majid Alimoradpour has emerged victorious after a gruelling 3-hour heads up encounter with Marek Soukop from the Czech Republic. Tehran resident Majid has not only added a Cz flag to his THM profile, he’s actually going to be added to the database for the very first time, as this is his first cash in a live event. Very impressive flag hunting!
He scooped the first prize of €35,250, including a seat in the €10,350 WSOPE plus a €2,000 package to The Hendon Mob Championship in Cape Town. Runner up Marek Soukop also received the same prize, as the pair had done an equal chop after the first hour of heads up play. They played on for a further two hours for the trophy and the Cape Town package.
Although it ended up being an extremely long heads up battle, it could have been over on the very first hand, as they got it all in with Majid holding pocket tens versus Marek’s AQ. A queen on the flop enabled Marek to double up and take a narrow lead. From then on it became a more cagey affair, with the chip lead flip flopping a few times. But eventually Majid ground out a lead and after three hours of intense rivalry, it was eventually settled in Majid’s favour.
On the final hand, Marek raised from the button, Majid moved all-in and Marek made the call. Majid had another pocket pair, this time eights and he found himself up against K5. The board ran dry, the eights held and the rest as they say, is history.
Majid follows in the footsteps of many successful Iranian poker players, or those of Persian origin, such as Antonio Esfandiari, Amir Vahedi and no less than three former WSOP champions: Mansour Matloubi, Hamid Dastmalchi and most recently Hossein Ensan, the 2019 winner.
Part of his Majid’s prize includes a seat into the 2024 WSOPE event here at Kings Casino in Rozvadov, so he will soon have a chance to shoot for a bracelet.
Majid seemed genuinely delighted with his win, thanking both Kings Casino and The Hendon Mob for staging the event during his post-victory interview with Andreas ‘Wiseguy’ Hoglund.
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Majid Alimoradpour | Iran | € 35,250* + €2,000 Cape Town THMC Package |
| 2 | Marek Soukup | Czech Republic | € 35,250* |
| 3 | Tomas Svec | Czech Republic | € 23,850** |
| 4 | Matthias Steinberg | Germany | € 10,400 |
| 5 | Robert Palasz | Poland | € 8,200 |
| 6 | Martin Wolf | Germany | € 6,400 |
| 7 | Visa Kiviharju | Finland | € 4,700 |
| 8 | Rainer Sollfrank | Germany | € 3,200 |
| 9 | Ivica Malovan | Croatia | € 2,530 |
