Leon Tsoukernik (born 7 November 1973) is a Czech entrepreneur, casino owner and art collector of European Jewish origin. He is the CEO of Vestar Group. For a period of time he was the CEO of King's Casino. He has since stepped down and currently, Michal Hanzík, has taken over this role. Leon Tsoukernik is still the owner and a member of the

supervisory board In corporate governance, a governance board also known as council of delegates are chosen by the stockholders of a company to promote their interests through the governance of the company and to hire and fire the board of directors. In civil s ...

in King's Casino. Tsoukernik lives near King's Casino Rozvadov in Western Bohemia. He has two children, son Leonel and a daughter Isabelle. Tsoukernik is the main sponsor of local hockey team, HC Škoda Plzeň. He loves art,

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s and classical music.

Career

Antiquities

Tsoukernik's career began in 1991 in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada, where he worked as an assistant for an

antique An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...

business. In 1993 he left Canada as an independent antiquity businessman, and he relocated to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, Czech Republic. As a prominent salesman of

Biedermeier The ''Biedermeier'' period was an era in Central Europe between 1815 and 1848 during which the middle class grew in number and the arts appealed to common sensibilities. It began with the Congress of Vienna at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in ...

furniture at the time, he met Adam Brown and Andrea Zemel. This meeting eventually led to the foundation of an international antiquity company
ILIAD Antik New York
in 1999. By 1993, Tsoukernik opened two antique stores in

and another two stores in

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

and New York City. He has attended international exhibitions in Palm Beach,

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

and New York City. Celebrities have used his services as an antiquity salesman, they include,

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and former dissident. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 and then as ...

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Ronald Lauder Ronald (Ron) Steven Lauder (born February 26, 1944) is an American businessman, billionaire, philanthropist, art collector, and political activist. He is the president of the World Jewish Congress since 2007. He and his brother, Leonard Lauder, ...

Paloma Picasso Paloma Picasso (born Anne Paloma Ruiz-Picasso y Gilot on 19 April 1949) is a French and Spanish fashion designer and businesswoman, best known for her jewelry designs for Tiffany & Co, and her signature perfumes. She is the daughter of artist P ...

and

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

Casino business

In 2002, as a well-known

player, Tsoukernik decided to buy land in

Rozvadov Rozvadov (german: Roßhaupt) is a municipality and village in Tachov District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 700 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages of Diana, Milíře, Nové Domky, Rozcestí and Svatá Kateřina ...

, a border crossing between

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and build his own casino. On 26 June 2003, King's Casino Rozvadov was officially opened. In 2009 it was transformed into a poker-oriented

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

. Tsoukernik was presented with the Industry Person of the Year award by European Poker Awards in 2014. Since 2002 Tsoukernik has further extended the King's brand by building several casinos – in 2010 the King's Admiral Rozvadov, in 2011 King's Casino Prague and in 2014 the Casino Bellevue Marienbad. 4-star hotels were also built for casino players. In 2016 construction on a new casino officially began, accompanied by a construction of a 5-star hotel for players. The new casino area and hotel construction was finished in 2017 and King's Casino was renamed into King's Resort. The World Series of Poker Europe ( WSOPE) is taking place at King's Resort annually since 2017. In 2019, Leon Tsoukernik acquired the Atrium Casino at the Hilton Prague Hotel in the Czech Republic. It was renamed to King's Casino Prague and hosts the

European Poker Tour The European Poker Tour (EPT) is a series of poker tournaments similar to those in the World Poker Tour (WPT), created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Tex ...

Prague. He won the slot jackpot of €1,372,500 (~$1,530,500) at the Casino Seefeld in January 2020. In 2020, King's Resort announced a partnership with GGPoker.

Poker

Tsoukernik regularly participates in global high-roller tournaments and high stakes cash games. His results included a victory at the 2016 EPT Super High Roller tournament in Prague, winning €741,100 and a 4th-place finish in the 2017 Super High Roller Bowl tournament in Las Vegas, winning $1.8 million. Tsoukernik also won the European Masters Series of Pot Limit Omaha, Rozvadov in 2014, winning €27,442 and he came 3rd at the same series event in 2014 winning €13,340 and 2nd at the CAPT Innsbruck 2011, winning €33,020. He won the €100,000 Short Deck, winning €1,102,000 during the 2019 WSOP Europe, defeating Phil Ivey in Heads-up. In 2016 and 2017, poker players

Elton Tsang Elton Tsang Ka-wai (born 1980) is a Chinese Canadian poker player currently residing in Hong Kong. Considered as one of the five best Asian poker players, Tsang has achieved icon status in the international poker scene with his involvement in sev ...

and Matt Kirk accused Tsoukernik of refusing to pay gambling debts. In the spring of 2018 Leon Tsoukernik participated in one of the biggest cash games in Montreal, Canada, winning a record pot against Matt Kirk. The two have not been on good terms recently, but apparently their differences have been settled, and Leon and Matt are friends again. Tsoukernik played on partypoker LIVE’s streams multiple times, where he plays under the screen name “KingsOfLeon”. As of November 2020, Tsoukernik has won $4.936 million in live tournament earnings, over the course of 8 years.

Personal life

Leon Tsoukernik professes Judaism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsoukernik, Leon 1973 births Living people