Justin Nuitjen(credit: Poker Stars Blog)
Justin Nuijten, a former Magic: The Gathering World Champion, is 19 years old. The youngster, who hails from Denmark, was on vacation in the Brazilian capital of Rio de Janeiro. The dark-haired fella was one of 314 entrants in the Latin American Poker Tour’s inaugural event which was held in Rio de Janeiro. He went into the final table as the chip leader and emerged victorious at the end of a fantastic, hour-long, heads-up contest with US player Vitaly Kovyazin to become the first LAPT winner.
Although the final table wasn’t filled with big-name players – the most well-known player before the last hand was dealt was Alex Brenes, Humberto’s brother and a fixture on the tournament circuit with more than $838,000 in lifetime earnings thus far, winning the event was no cakewalk for the talented young Dutchman.
The final nine represented a total of 8 nations. Brazil’s best hope for a champ was Eduardo Henriques. Henriques went all-in with a 7c,8s against the Ah,5c of Nuijten. The board gave the hometown crowd some hope with an 8h. However, the river dashed those hopes with an Ac. Henriques earned more than $47k for his fifth-place effort.
Brenes, who hails from Costa Rica, was the next to go. He was also the last Latin American finisher in the event. His fourth place finish netted him $62,800. About half an hour later, German player Nikolai Senninger hit the rail, leaving Nuijten and Kovyazin ready to battle it out for the title.
Kovyazin, a 47 year old recreational player from Brooklyn, NY who won his way to the LAPT on PokerStars, had a bit of a chip advantage with more than 1,740,000 to Nuijten’s 1,400,000 stack. Over the course of an hour, both players held the lead. On the final hand, Nuijten had the advantage and held it, becoming the first person to hoist the LAPT trophy and the $224,000 plus.
These are the final results:
1) Julien Nuijten - $222,940
2) Vitaly Kovyazin - $117,750
3) Nikolai Senninger - $86,350
4) Alex Brenes - $62,800
5) Eduardo Henriques - $47,100
6) Oliver Kugler - $31,400
7) Rafael Pardo - $23,550
8) Juan Carlos Burguillos - $15,700
9) Severin Walser - $11,775
Win your way to the LAPT in Costa Rica from May 22 – 24. Qualifiers are going on now at PokerStars.com!