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The PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC) was a crazy idea.
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A $25,000 buy-in tournament, with a field swelled by 320 players on a total free-roll, had never been tried before. But as we sit surrounded by ticker tape in the Imperial Ballroom at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, we can tell you this: the PSPC was a crazy idea that worked.
Moments ago, Ramon Colillas, a 30-year-old former fitness trainer from Barcelona, Spain, won $5.1 million after he outlasted 1,039 players to win the biggest tournament of this kind ever played. But that's not even the most remarkable thing. Colillas was one of those players who earned passage to the Caribbean for free, clasping what has become the most coveted trinkets in poker.
Over the past year and a bit, every poker player of any ability has been seeking a Platinum Pass, a sliver of metal the size of a credit card that booked flights, accommodation and a seat in this enormous game. Colillas got his by winning a poker leader board in his native Spain, picking up points for his performances in €500 buy-in tournaments across the country.
As a direct result of a passion and a commitment to the game, playing low buy-in events from Alicante to San Sebastian, Barcelona to Madrid, Colillas is now the most celebrated man across the whole of the poker world. He played a fine game this afternoon in the Bahamas, watching patiently as Julien Martini, his beaten heads-up opponent, made most of the early running, but then pouncing when the cards fell in his favour.
One huge hand -- a flush versus a full house -- put Colillas in the lead when it was just the two of them left, and Colillas could not then be denied.
"A lot of players were saying this was the most important tournament in history, so now it's only about happiness and enjoying the moment," Collilas said.
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PSPC Final Table Results
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