Home / Poker News November 2009 / PokerStars EPT Vilamoura – Day 5: Title stays in Portugal
PokerStars EPT Vilamoura – Day 5: Title stays in Portugal
Posted by: James Carter. - Tue, 2009-11-24 10:21
After 5 days of hard hitting action which saw the initial starting field of 322 whittle down to one, the first ever
PokerStars EPT Vilamoura Main Event has entered the history books. 54 year old Antonio Matias, a local amateur is the newest PokerStars EPT champion, the proud owner of an
EPT trophy and a €404,793 check.
Matias has entered the final day holding a massive chip lead. He had over 3 million chips, while Jeff Sarwer, the second place man had under 2 million. That advantage would prove crucial for the Portuguese amateur, who made the best of it and never gave it up on his way to victory.
The first victim of the final table was Andrei Vlasenko. The Russian shoved all-in holding a pair of 9s in his pocket but he ran into Ryan Franklin who had a pair of 10s.
7th place and a €46,000 prize went to Ryan Franklin, who couldn’t really put Vlasenko’s chips to good use. He ran his pocket 8s into Jeff Sarwer’s pocket Js and promptly exited the theatre of operations.
Michael Abecassis was the next victim. After a rollercoaster-like day, he decided to attempt a huge chip up and shoved all in on his As, 7s. Matias called him holding Qd, Jd and hit a Q on the flop to further shrink the field and to increase his already impressive stack.
Joao Silva locked horns with Jan Skampa next, pitting his J,J against Skampa’s Q,Q. Both players made full houses but Skampa’s was the bigger one.
Again, the next to fall would be the winner of the previous all-in showdown. Skampa exited the event after his Kh, 9h was swept aside by Jeff Sarwer’s pocket Qs.
The three handed stage of the game was a lengthy one. Eventually, Sarwer shoved all-in against Matias, bringing nothing but a 5,9o (which made top pair on the flop) against his pocket 10s. That set the heads-up stage between Matias and Neuville. By then though, the Portuguese’s chip advantage had grown overwhelming.
Neuville didn’t throw the towel in, and even managed to double up once but eventually the flimsy dam had to break and let the tide past.
