Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that “doing well is the result of doing good. That’s what capitalism is all about.” I don’t know if Joao Vieira is a man who focuses on doing good, but thanks to capitalism, he has found something that he does well.
In the past 12-months, the Portuguese star has plagued the poker populace with outstanding displays, both online and live, and he rounded off the partypoker MILLIONS UK with another tick in the win column after sending 94-victims to the infirmary in the $10,300 buy-in, $1m GTD No-Limit Hold ’em (NLHE) High Roller.
The event landed partypoker with a $30,000 overlay. Still, Rob Yong’s democratic approach to running a poker company means the series ends with smiles on everyone’s faces, after another brilliantly organised event. He builds them, and people come.
Vieira’s win comes on the back of his best year in live tournament poker, earning $1.36m, 12-months after his previous best annual haul of $876,766. The Winamax pro’s crowning achievement in 2019 was winning his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet: taking down the ultra-competitive 815-entrant $5,000 NLHE 6-Handed for $758,011 (his personal best score).
The multi-faceted Vieira also grabbed most of the oxygen in the major online festivals during 2019, winning two titles at the PokerStars Spring Championships of Online Poker (SCOOP) and three at the World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP).
Dusk till Dawn (DTD) has been a decent venue for Vieira in the past 12-months. The last time he was in town he finished 7/105 in the same event and made money in the Main Event a feat he replicated this time around finishing a respectable 64th place.
Vieira currently tops the Portuguese All-Time Money List with $3.8m.
Vieira defeated the in-form Kahle Burns in heads-up action. The recently crowned 2019 Global Poker Index (GPI) Australian Player of the Year (PoY) banked the $165,000 consolation prize three days after winning the $25,500 NLHE Super High Roller for $350,000.
Burns overcame a heads-up deficit versus Igor Kurganov to win that $25,500 event, and the Raising for Effective Giving (REG) co-founder, also made money in this one, finishing in sixth place.
There was also a place on the podium for Alex Foxen. The GPI World #1, and 2019 GPI PoY winner, finished third, his seventh major final table in the past four weeks.
partypoker was also well represented at the final table with two members of Team partypoker puffing up pillows in Joni Jouhkimainen (4th) and Joao Simao (5th).
Here are the final table results.
$10k Final Table Results
- Joao Vieira – $250,000
- Kahle Burns – $165,000
- Alex Foxen – $115,000
- Joni Jouhkimainen – $90,000
- Joao Simao – $70,000
- Igor Kurganov – $55,000
- Michael Sklenička – $45,000
- Fahad Althani – $35,000
Anton Suarez Wins The $10,300 MILLIONS UK Main Event.
The $5m GTD Main Event attracted 530-entrants, clearing the guarantee by $141,000. Anton Suarez banked the $1m first prize after overcoming a final table housing the World Poker Tour (WPT) Champions Club member, James Romero (3rd), and the former MILLIONS Main Event winner, Maria Lampropulos (8th).
Suarez rarely contemplates live tournament poker, but he did win a €2,150 NLHE Hyper-Turbo Knockout event during the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Prague a few weeks ago. He finished 5/130 in a €10,300 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) event during EPT Barcelona in the summer.
High rollers who went deep in this one include Patrick Leonard (17th), Sam Grafton (31st) Niall Farrell (38th), and Adrian Mateos (40th).
MILLIONS Main Event Final Table Results
- Anton Suarez – $1,000,000
- Christian Rudolph – $620,000
- James Romero – $420,000
- James Clarke – $311,000
- Fredrick Andersson – $230,000
- Weijie Zheng – $170,000
- Jack Hardcastle – $130,000
- Maria Lampropulos – $100,000