The city of Madrid was teeming with poker enthusiasts because of the 2011 European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final. A lot of people joined the prestigious tournament, all of them hoping to be the one to get their hands on the first place prize of €1.5 million, but only one would walk away with victory in his hands. Ivan Freitez, a poker player from Valenzuela, managed to defeat Torsten Brinkmann from Germany in heads up, becoming the first ever Latin American to win an EPT Title.
The Final Table
As is tradition with the EPT, eight players made it into the final table. However, they wouldn’t remain eight for long. Only an hour and thirty minutes into final table play, the first elimination was made. Andrew Li, one of the two Americans who managed to make it into the final eight, was the very first one to go. He took home €130,000 for his efforts. Alex Gomes from Brazil followed him soon afterwards, taking home €185,000. Next to go was the other player from the United States, Eugene Yanayt. Yanayt might have gained quite a number of chips by eliminating Li, but he soon lost those chips to Andrey Danilyuk. Yanayt took home €250,000 for winning sixth place. Next to go was Juan Maceiras from Spain, who took home €315,000. Andrey Danilyuk from Russia was eliminated by Freitez. Danilyuk took home €400,000. Next to go was Tamas Lendvai from Hungary, eliminated by Freitez as well. Lendvai took home a prize of €550,000. Finally, only two players were left to battle it out for the title, Torsten Brinkmann and Ivan Freitez.
Heads Up
Freitez, courtesy of his stellar performance in eliminating Lendvai and Danilyuk, had generated quite an impressive 4:1 lead against Brinkmann. Freitez played aggressively, having had the advantage of a wide gap in their stacks. Eventually, Brickmann was overwhelmed because his chip stack could not take it. Freitez had 10d-9d, while Brinkmann had Ah-Kd. Thinking that he had a pretty good hand, Brinkmann thought it wise to move all in. Frietez, with a big chip stack, did not hesitate to call. Then the board was revealed to be 9s-2s-5h-6d-8c. The EPT Grand Final was over just like that, with a pair of nines. Brinkmann took home €900,000 for his runner up finish, while Ivan Freitez took home his first EPT title and won the whopping grand prize of €1,500,000.
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