Robert Soogea Wins WPT Amsterdam High Roller (€150,000)

The World Poker Tour Amsterdam High Roller came to an epic conclusion on the third day of play when Dutchman Robert Soogea took care of business. The self-proclaimed ‘fun player’ took home €150,000 for the biggest result of his life at the felt, and was extremely happy with being able take an event of this magnitude down.

“There are so many good players here in Amsterdam, and in this tournament. Poker is tough and to be really good you need to practice all the time,” Soogea said, “I don’t do any of that!”

“I’m a businessman, I play poker only for fun. I’ve never read any books, I play only for relaxation so I enjoyed it a lot.”

Soogea’s enjoyment was clearly visible throughout the tournament, as he was playing in his home casino here in Amsterdam. The event had a total of 97 entries creating a prize pool of €531,084 and 12 places got paid.

Leading up to the final table Soogea was in great shape, and he held the chip lead for most of the day. However, it was Fatih Aydin who did most of the work at the final table. The Dutchman busted Diego Zeiter late last night in fifth place to take a commanding lead, and he didn’t let go of it until the second hand of three-handed play today.

On the second hand of the day today, it was Atanas Kavrakov who doubled with pocket jacks through Aydin’s nines, and that levelled the playing field. Aydin struggled at the rear for many hours before he ultimately busted in third place to Soogea.

Aydin moved all in on his final hand from the small blind, and Soogea called from the big blind with queen-ten of spades. Aydin turned over ace-king of diamonds, but that was no good when Soogea made a flush on the river. Aydin collected €66,667 for his third place finish, the second biggest result of his career.

The heads up started with 60 big blinds in play, but it still took well over two hours before there was a winner. On the first all-in showdown of the heads up it was Kavrakov who held king-eight offsuit against Soogea’s sixes, and the board brought nothing to help the Bulgarian.

Soogea celebrated with all his friends, while Kavrakov consoled himself with €104,917. Soogea collected €150,000 for winning the event, and he was relieved and excited to take home the trophy.

“It has been a long game, and I have a flight to catch to go home to Barcelona, where I live as well as in Holland. But I’m really happy.”