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One of the most multi-national final tables ever assembled, the 2010 Punta Cana Poker Classic had a total of nine different nationalities represented among the top 10 finalists. Here were your last ten standing in no particular order.
Alberto Garcia: Spain
Fabrizio Mattiachi: Italy
Anton Bertelsson: Sweden
John Romero: Ecuador
Gino Guidi: Costa Rica
Jamie Harvey: Canada
Thomas Johanides: USA
Riku Anttonen: Finland
Peter Cross: Canada
Phil Nagy : USA
As of press time 9 pm EST, only five players remained. Phil Nagy was the chip leader, representing the USA and TruePoker.com. Nagy, who lists his favorite celebrity as Angelina Jolie and has an ambition to take over the world, has nearly $13,000 in live career tournament wins and five cashes. His expertise centers on Caribbean and Costa Rican-based tournaments, where he has finished 2nd place in four such events.
“We’re catering for players all over the globe,” 2010 Punta Cana Poker Classic organizer Ivonne Brath told Gambling911.com Saturday evening. Brath had previously worked for Ongame, the online poker network based out of Sweden, and brought a number of Swedish players to the resort. “This was our first event and we had 22 (Swedish) players but 60 are coming next year.”
Only Anton Bertelson remained standing of the ten players left. His biggest cashout was at the 2010 Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza III Event 39 - No-Limit Hold'em back in May, where he finished in 4th place and took home just shy of $63,000. 203 players took part in this first ever Punta Cana Poker Classic.
The venue is taking place at the fabulous Punta Cana Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Resort (formerly the Moon Palace Resort), an expansive 1950 room all-inclusive property with several pools and world-class restaurants. And “all-inclusive” in this case does not mean “cheap booze and limited food items”. The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Resort features top shelf alcohol, 24-hour room service, fine dining establishments, free phone service to the United States and most other countries (except Hawaii and Puerto Rico), fully equipped fitness center, all of which are absolutely FREE.
The best part of all: Rooms range from $213 to $250 per night. They feature a Jacuzzi in the center of the room, massive bathrooms and balconies. By next year, the resort is expected to have 2700 rooms.
A winner should be determined some time around midnight Eastern Time at the current rate of play.
- Jenny Woo, Gambling911.com Senior International Correspondent
