The World Poker Tour sees contrasting numbers either side of the Atlantic Ocean as hardly anyone turns up in Prague and they can’t keep them out of the Bellagio.

It’s that time of the year again. Santa has to stop Rudolph and the gang shagging long enough to get the reins over their necks, and the poker community dons their hats and mittens and flocks to Prague. Only this year the opening salvo has drawn a bit of a blank.

The World Poker Tour (WPT) was the first tournament operator to step up to the freezing cold plate, and not many people joined them. The festival began on Nov 29 with a €750 Deepstack event and satellites into the Main Event, ending on Dec 6 with the final of the €3,300 Main Event and a one day €1,100 Pot-Limit Omaha event.

The Main Event only attracted the interest of 167 (144 unique and 23 rebuys) players, and Oleg Vasylchenko beat the lot to take the €132,200 first prize and book a place in the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions (TOC). It was the Ukrainians largest score by a short walk down the Las Vegas Strip. His previous best score was a 10th place finish in a €1,100 France Poker Series (FPS) Main Event where he finished 10th for €16,200.