Cristian Cirja Triumphs from Satellite to WSOP Circuit Ring

Romania’s Cristian Cirja etched his name into poker’s illustrious history by conquering the WSOP Circuit Main Event in King’s Resort, Rozvadov. Battling through a field that boasted a €1,000,000 guarantee, he emerged victorious, taking home €160,000 prize, gold Circuit Ring, and securing a ticket to the WSOP Europe Main Event. His journey to this grand achievement commenced with a modest €220 satellite buy-in.

At the outset, 183 players made it past the opening days, 1A and 1B. With late registrations flooding in, the event witnessed a total of 543 entries. Dennis Jung held the fort early on, boasting a towering stack of 452,900 chips. Timothy Friese and Nemanja Ristic trailed him with respectable stacks. Day 3 commenced with 61 hopefuls led by Adem Marjanovic, which was eventually whittled down to the final nine.

Dennis Jung

The starting chip leader, Jung, faced a rocky journey at the table. Conversely, the Romanian Cirja, despite starting the final table on the shorter end, began to gain momentum. The final table’s first casualty was Luka Bojovic, in a gut-wrenching hand against Vittorio Maugini.

While Jung made an impressive resurgence, his journey ended in 6th place, ironically followed by the player who defeated him, Romanian Pescaru. As the play narrowed down, Cirja found himself quite behind Martin Ilavsky. But fortunes flip rapidly in poker. A blind versus blind confrontation saw Cirja’s push with K8 conquer Ilavsky’s pocket JJ. This hand tilted the scales, and Cirja’s trajectory soared, leaving Ilavsky grappling with a diminished stack. A few hands later, the Romanian delivered the final blow, setting the stage for a heads-up showdown with the Bosnian player Babo.

“Babo”

€60,000 gap between the champion and the runner-up and the cherished gold WSOP Circuit ring. We expected a long battle, with Cirja holding 14,000,000 chips against Babo’s 13,150,000.

However, Bosnian had other plans, it seems. In just the second hand, Cirja’s pocket eights clashed with Babo’s K7o. A flop of 748 was followed by a lead bet from Babo and Cirja’s raise. After calling his raise, turn 9 hit the board.

Babo led again, and Cirja raised once more. Bosnian went into a short tank and pushed his remaining chips into the pot. Cristian snap called, and Babo was already drawing dead on the turn.

From the satellite tables to center stage, Cristian Cirja’s journey at the WSOP Circuit has been extraordinary. Beginning with a modest €220 satellite entry, he navigated his way through a fierce field of competitors, ultimately clinching the coveted WSOPC ring and a nice €160,000 prize. His victory also sets the stage for the upcoming WSOP Europe event. Hosted at King’s Resort in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, this anticipated festival will span from October 25th to November 15th, 2023, boasting €15,000,000 GTD and 15 bracelet events. With such momentum, we’ll see if Cirja can continue his remarkable streak.

Watch the replay of the final table down below.

2023 WSOP Circuit Rozvadov Main Event Final Table Results