Francisco Da Costa Santos really got lucky recently and ended up the first Portuguese player to win a gold bracelet at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in its entire 43-year-old history.
Francisco Da Costa Santos won Event #6 of the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE), a 6-handed PL Omaha event that had an entry fee of €1,650. The 36-year-old Portuguese player had to defeat a field of 206 players to scoop up the first place prize of €83,275 along with 360 CardPlayer (POY) or Player of the Year points.
Speaking about the status of poker in his country, the Portuguese player said,
Poker is still very new in my country. We do not have so many players right now. But I think it’s going to catch on and be more popular. There are a lot of younger players now who are starting to get interested in the game.
The poker players who reached the final table were Andrew Lichtenberger, Ana Marquez, and Aku Joentausta. The runner-up of the event was Ana Marquez, who would have become the second woman poker player to win a WSOPE bracelet if only she had won.
Five players reached the final table of the 6-handed PL Omaha event, but Santos did not win easily. He had to fight it out against four tough opponents. Petteri Kalenius, who had a very short stack of chips, eliminated Andrew Lichtenberger from the final table. Half an hour later, Santos eliminated Joentausta and was so happy that he almost took a jig around the final table. Spanish poker player Ana Marquez was the one who eliminated Kalenius from the table
Ultimately, it ended up as a heads up match between Marquez and Santos, which lasted just a few minutes. When it turned out that Santos definitely had a better hand, he got very emotional indeed and burst into tears. He also hugged Mariana, his girlfriend, who was near him.
Here are the results. The winner was Portuguese player Francisco Da Costa Santos, who won €83,275 and 360 POY Points. The runner-up was Ana Marquez, who won €51,443 and 300 POY Points. The player that placed third was Aku Joentausta, who won €36,351 and 240 POY Points. The player that placed fourth was Petteri Kalenius was €25,831 and 180 POY Points. The player that placed fifth was Andrew Lichtenberger was €18,463 and 150 POY Points, and the player that placed sixth was Nikolay Volper who won €13,273 and 120 POY Points.
