Travel agency owner Antonio Matias took down the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) Vilamoura Main Event in the roving tournament series’ first ever trip to Portugal. Matias took home a €404,793 top prize.
The EPT Vilamoura stop had a buy-in of €5,300 and marked the richest tournament ever held in Portugal, according to PokerStars officials. Matias, a Portuguese businessman, was playing in his backyard and became the first native to take down an EPT tournament since Sandra Naujoks tasted victory in Dortmund last season. On his accomplishment, Matias told tournament staff following his win, “I like to think of myself as a citizen of the world, but it is very satisfying to win an EPT in my home country. 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. When I got the chip lead yesterday, the only thing I had on my mind was winning.”
In the final hand of EPT Vilamoura, Pierre Neuville raised pre-flop holding J-10. Matias called with 8-7 and watched the action flop come J-8-7. Matias checked bottom two pair, Neuville bet with top pair, Matias put in a raise, and Neuville shoved. Matias called, having his opponent covered. Another seven on the turn gave Matias a full house, which held to scoop the EPT title. Neuville earned €257,681 for his runner-up showing.
Jeff Sarwer, a Canadian, called all-in for his tournament life with 9-5 on a flop of 9-7-3. Holding top pair, Sarwer watched as Matias flipped up pocket tens for an overpair. However, the turn came a five and, in a massive change of fate, gave Sarwer two pair, nines and fives, against Matias’ pair of tens. In heartbreaking fashion, the river came a three, shattering Sarwer’s EPT hopes and giving Matias a better two pair. The roller coaster of a hand ended with Sarwer seeking solace from Shaun Deeb, Jim “Mr_BigQueso” Collopy, and Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar, who were on the rail to support him.
Jan Skampa was eliminated in fourth place from the Portuguese tournament. He ran K-9 into Sarwer’s pocket queens in a pre-flop raising war to cripple his stack, departing a few hands later and earning €117,000. Skampa was one of four players to claim a six-figure payday.
Here were the final results from EPT Vilamoura. A total of 322 players turned out, creating a €1.5 million prize pool:
1. Antonio Matias (Portugal) – €404,793
2. Pierre Neuville (Belgium) – €257,681
3. Jeff Sarwer (Canada) – €156,170
4. Jan Skampa (Czech Republic) – €117,128
5. João Silva (Portugal) – €78,085
6. Michel Abecassis (France) – €62,468
7. Ryan Franklin (United States) – €46,851
8. Andrei Vlasenko (Russia) – €31,234
Next up for the EPT is a trip to Prague from December 1st to 6th. The €5,250 buy-in tournament saw Salvatore Bonavena claim a massive €774,000 payday last time out. The marathon Season 5 EPT Prague final table lasted 264 hands and spanned 12 hours. A bevy of Team PokerStars Pro personalities are expected, as last year, Noah Boeken, Dario Minieri, Marcin Horecki, Luca Pagano, William Thorson, Alex Kravchenko, and Katja Thater all threw their hats into the ring.
EPT Prague will be held at the Hilton Prague Hotel and will include a variety of side tournaments. In addition, cash games will kick off at Noon each day. The Main Event features two starting days (December 1st and 2nd) and registration opened today on PokerStars for interested players.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest live tournament news.
