Julien Nuijten Wins First Latin American Poker Tour Event in Rio

Lance Bradley | May 6, 2008 at 4:24 pm

The inaugural stop on the PokerStars Latin American Poker Tour attracted a field of 314 players including 137 who qualified via the online poker site. After three days of play 19-year old Julien Nuijten emerged as the winner taking home $222,940 in the process.

The runner-up was the lone American player to make the final table, Vitaly Kovyazin. The 47-year old earned $117,750 after winning his way into the event using his PokerStars Frequent Player Points.

The player the Brazilian crowd was loudest for was hometown hero Eduardo Henriques, who finished 5th for $47,100.

Nuijten, a former Magic the Gathering World Champion, entered the final table with the chip lead and eliminated four of the final eight players.

“I was playing pretty aggressively heads-up and I knew I could break (Kovyazin). I’m feeling pretty good about it. I had some two horrible bad beats but in the end I got him on tilt,” said Nuijten.

The next stop on the LAPT is in San Jose, Costa Rica beginning May 22.

LAPT Rio Final Table Payouts

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