Matija Dobrić creates Croatian poker history with 5th place at WSOP in Las Vegas 

Matija Dobrić (middle) celebrates

Matija Dobrić from Croatia has finished in fifth place at the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas. 

Matija, who hails from the town of Slatina in Slavonia, was the first Croatian to make the final table at a WSOP Main Event and his 5th place finish is the best result in Croatian poker history. 

Matija exited the tournament overnight on hand number 168 when he raised to 6,000,000 as the first player to act. In the small blind, Espen Jorstad then three-betted to 21,000,000. 

“The four-bet shove of Dobric came within a minute, and Jorstad asked for an exact count before he made the call. Both sides of the rail went on their feet as the cards were revealed,” Poker News reported.

Matija had a pair of 6s, whilst Jorstad held Ace, Queen. The King, Queen, 7 flop put Jorstad ahead and it did not change when a 10 came up on the turn. An 8 followed on the river and Dobrić’s run had ended. 

For his efforts, Matija took home 2.25 million USD.

The World Series of Poker has been held for 53 years and attracts the best poker players from around the world. This year almost 9,000 players took part, which shows how big an achievement Matija’s top 5 finish was. 

Matija told RTL that leading up to the final table he played 14 hours a day for six days straight before playing 17 hours on the seventh day of the tournament. 

“Fortunately, tomorrow is a rest day before the final table where we play for $10 million. I hope that the Croatian national anthem will finally be played in Vegas,” he said earlier. 

You can read Matija’s Main Event story HERE