Poker News

A student travelling through Brazil on a gap year decided to enter the country's biggest poker tournament - and ended up winning it.

Austrian Matthias Habernig found himself in the coastal city of Florianopolis and fancied playing in a big money game.

So the 19-year-old, who claims he has "no natural talent", scraped together the $2,700 buy-in for the Brazilian stop of the Latin American Poker Tour...and promptly walked off with the £155,000 first prize.

But it's not all good news for the teenager from Klagenfurt. Despite his new-found riches he must now return home immediately to complete six months of national service in the Austrian army.

Habernig won the inaugural LAPT Brazil title ahead of local hero Dayan Vardanega from Ponta Grossa, who was unable to overhaul the youngster's enormous chip stack on the final table.

Former chip leader Rudy Blondeau was the first to be eliminated on a dramatic final day which also saw Rodrigo Scartezini and Andre Scaff bust within fifteen minutes. Soon after Robson Kozan, from the same town as Vardanega, also hit the rail.

When Miguel Velasco departed in third, it left Vardanega and Habernig heads-up, the longest period of play without an elimination during the entire final table. During that time though, Habernig had cemented his lead, passing the four million chip mark.

Vardanega had carried the hopes of a strong local crowd as the last of the five Brazilian finalists but when Habernig's two pair (aces and tens) got the better of Vardanega's (aces and sevens) - the sporting local crowd graciously applauded the new champion.

The next stop in the Latin American Poker Tour will be Rosario, in Argentina, for the season finale on September 22. All of the LAPT regional champions are expected to be there to play in the Main Event, except Habernig.