The WSOP Europe festival begins today for thousands of poker players. Travelling from all over the world, they will descend on the Czech Republic’s capital city of Prague, as 15 WSOP gold bracelet events will create poker history.  Last week, we previewed the festival from a staking perspective, with over a dozen PokerStake greats selling action to the bracelet events during a frantic fortnight.

Then we spoke to one man who has decided to fire late into the greatest European voyage of all – Govert Metaal. In 2025, we spoke to the Dutch poker legend about his incredible recovery from COVID after five months in intensive care. At the time, we christened it his second life. We caught up with him on the cusp of the WSOP Europe series as he told us why poker means more to him than ever before this time around.

Heading to Prague

With the WSOP Europe series moving from an Autumn spot on the poker calendar to Spring, as well as moving location from King’s Casino in Rozvadov to the Prague Hilton, 2026 is a year of change for the WSOPE brand. Govert cannot wait for the series to begin.

“Everyone wants to win [a bracelet]. I also do… but it’s difficult,” Govert laughs. “I like poker, so I play this series… and I hope for good results!”

Govert is selling to the @5,300-entry Main Event, €20,000 Super High Roller and €8,400 GGMillion$ LIVE event via our official WSOP Europe staking page. He has one of those events in particular earmarked for a deep run.

“The Main Event is very big field,” says Govert. “So the best chance is the Super High Roller is a small field as is the GGMillion$. I’ll start with the Main Event and then I’ll see.”

The Main Event is Event #5 of the 15 scheduled and Govert thinks that the organisers have timed it perfectly in terms of welcoming as many players as possible.

“That’s good because there are four starting days, and it is a long tournament. I think it’s well scheduled. I’ll start on April 4 with the Main Event and then see what comes next.”

When it comes to the WSOP’s move from King’s Casino in Rozvadov to Prague, Govert thinks Prague is “much better for everyone” than its previous location. Last year in Rozvadov on the Czech-German border, he came 76^th in the Main Event for over $20,000.

The Road to Recovery

Last time we spoke to Govert, we discussed his near-death scare in 2020 when COVID put him in hospital for several months, during which time he was given a 1% shot at recovery. It took a lot of work to recover physically from that ordeal but Govert was recently given another health challenge to face head-on.

“I was diagnosed with prostate cancer,” he tells us. “It was early, so I had radiation and now it looks very good,”

The relief is palpable and Govert says that the numbers made for shocking reading. He has turned them around and feels like a new man. His initial Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) test, which can detect prostate cancer early and is traditionally offered to men over 50, was pessimistic.

“My PSA was 10 and now [after treatment] it is 0.2. In six months they will check it again but right now it looks good.

Planning for the Future

Govert’s physical recovery has left him wanting to get to the poker felt, starting with the WSOP Europe in Prague.

“I will play more poker from now on,” Govert says. “First WSOPE, then EPT Monte Carlo, where I lived for 25 years, so it will be nice to be back there. Then WSOP in Las Vegas and maybe some small Triton events after that.”

It’s quite possible that Govert will play some Triton ONE events, given how popular they have been Jeju this month, including a massive $8,000-entry Main Event which was won by Wenjie Zhao in South Korea for a top prize of $1.16 million. As ever, Govert will travel with his wife who is his rock in life.

“We now live now in Dubai – I was there when the war started.” Says Govert. “My wife travels with me to all the tournaments in the world. I hope that there are tournaments in Dubai Wynn in the near future.”

Govert has cashed in two events this year, both of which were in his native Netherlands. One was a superb run to the runner-up position in Utrecht in the Monsterstack event. Playing poker means more to Govert than ever before in his life and his ultimate poker dream is a simple one – to keep playing the game he loves for as long as he can.

“I am 67 now and hope that I can play poker the rest of my life in good health, travelling with my wife to enjoy it together.”

As poker players go, it’s hard not to root for Govert Metaal to win big. In Prague, the man with the giant heart and smile as wide as his winnings will look to land gold at the tables.

You can be a part of his journey by investing in his WSOP Europe package right here on PokerStake.