Ondrej Vinklarek

Czech poker talent Ondrej Vinklarek has had a knack for strategy games for most of his life. Before getting into poker, he was an extremely competitive chess player and became a Candidate Master before he withdrew from the game in 2008. It was at this point that full-time cards took over, and Vinklarek soon became known for his skills on the tournament scene.

In terms of his live achievements, Ondrej’s best year came between 2011 and 2012 when he earned the EPT Season 8 Player of the Year award for his consistent performances on the live European circuit. He kicked off the series with a win at a €1,000 side event in Barcelona that saw him pick up $71,688 and a number of points to put him on the POTY leaderboard. Before the end of 2011, Ondrej acquired another EPT title when he won the €1,00 No Limit Hold’em Turbo Bounty event in Prague. This was in addition to three other final tables he made – two of which came in Prague in a string of performances that put him firmly in contention for the trophy. Before the end of the season, Vinklarek made four more final tables at EPT events which was enough to clinch the Player of the Year trophy along with a free entry to the EPT Barcelona Main Event for Season 9.

In addition to his prolific reputation on the live European scene, the Czech Republic native has achieved numerous impressive scores in the online world under the screenname ‘Vinkyy’ on PokerStars. He became a WCOOP champion in 2011 after he won Event #53 $530+R which banked him $160,558. On October 23rd 2013, Ondrej enjoyed a stint as the #1 tournament player on the PocketFives leaderboard after a string of big MTT results.