Romance at the WSOP: "Bluffin With My Muffin" Erika Moutinho Goes All In With "Joran"

They are being described as the 2011 WSOP “Super Couple”.  Montana-born Joran van der Sloot look-a-like David Sands and poker coach Erika Moutinho were, with only 32 players left in the Main Event, holding onto dear life.  After the break, both bowed out at 30th and 29th place, respectively. 

The two were pretty much at the bottom of the chip count prior to the evening break.  As a couple, they were guaranteed to take home at least $500,000 total.

Erika Moutinho (Easton, CT) remained as the only female still sitting in the Main Event.  Her goal would be to become only the second female in history to make it to the Main Event final table.  Barbara Enright, who finished fifth in the 1995 world championship is the only woman in history currently with that distinction.  Enright will continue to carry the torch until next year's WSOP. 

Gary Wise of ESPN.com called Sands and Moutinho the World Series of Poker’s “First Couple”.

Wise could not resist all the gooey sentiment and love references.

You came here looking for blood, sweat and tears, and you're getting this mushiness instead. The thing is, love is responsible for every step of Moutinho's poker evolution leading to Sunday night's ESPN2 telecast. It saved her boyfriend's poker career, too. Bear with me, tough guys.

"I knew the table was about to break, and I was hoping for it," Sands recalled in a joint interview afterward. "The word that comes to mind is 'legendary.' It's really awesome because [both of us making it to Day 7] is both an individual and a collective accomplishment coming together in such an extraordinary way. It was on TV, she was the last woman standing … it was just incredible."

Everyone here at Gambling911.com was hoping for either Sands or Moutinho to end up in the final table.  Comparisons between Sands and van der Sloot would be inevitable.  Van der Sloot himself is accused of murdering a Peruvian woman while attending the Latin American Poker Tour last year. 

Moutinho making the final table would have been a coup for ESPN and the WSOP, especially since she’s not hard on the eye.

Having both at the final table….that would have been amazing!

- Ace King, Gambling911.com