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Local Businessman Bags European Poker Tour Vilamoura Bling

by PokerPages.com
Sun, Nov 22nd, 2009 @ 12:00am

The European Poker Tour rolled into the Casino Vilamoura last week, instantly generating the richest poker prize pool in the nation of Portugal's history.

The EPT Vilamoura prize pool topped out at 1,561,700 EUR, with 322 players forking over 5,300 EUR each. The grand prize, a cool 404,793 EUR, somehow managed to stay within the borders, as local travel agency owner Antonio Matias was the last man standing.

Matias, 54, entered the final table with an overwhelming chip lead. He would ride that chip stack, along with some cheers from the hometown crowd, all the way to a heads-up confrontation with 67-year-old Pierre Neuville of Belgium, in what has to be the most experienced one-on-one pairing in the history of the EPT. In the final hand, it was Neuville's top pair running into Matias' bottom two. After Matias filled up on the river, it was all over.

Of the big win at home, Matias called it "very satisfying." He continued, "I wasn't intimidated by the competition because I play a lot of very good players in cash games. I just decided to play the way I play and hope that luck didn't turn its back on me."

Final table results (all prizes EUR):

  • 1 - Antonio Matias (Portugal) - 404,793
  • 2 - Pierre Neuville (Belgium) - 257,681
  • 3 - Jeff Sarwer (Canada) - 156,170
  • 4 - Jan Skampa (Czech Rep.) - 117,128
  • 5 - Joao Silva (Portugal) - 78,085
  • 6 - Michel Abecassis (France) - 62,468
  • 7 - Ryan Franklin (USA) - 46,851
  • 8 - Andrei Vlasenko (Russia) - 31,234
  • Click here to find all 48 payouts.

    Next up on the EPT Season 6 schedule is a stop in the Czech Republic. EPT Prague will run from December 1st thru 6th.

     

     
     

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