Reporting by Aaron McBride
Silma Macalou has been crowned the 888poker WPTDeepStacks Portugal €1,200 Main Event champion after he battled through a record 432 player-field at the Casino Vilamoura.
Macalou defeated Vasco Mesquita heads-up to win the €91,655 first-place prize + WPTDeepStacks European Championship Main Event package + 2020 888poker WPTDS package.
The Frenchman’s win comes after four days of intense poker action and a two-hour heads up match.
“I’m very happy!” said Macalou after his win.
“All the staff and dealers were very good, it’s a great location, so I want to thank all the team, and I look forward to coming back next year.
“I have big satisfaction in winning the WPT packages, and I will prepare myself for the battle and hope to be ready.”
888poker WPTDS Portugal Final Table Results:
1st – Silma Macalou €91,655
2nd – Vasco Mesquita €61,050
3rd – Paul Cukierman €45,030
4th – Alexandre Dolle €33,520
5th – Jorge Lopez €25,220
6th – Pedro Guerreiro €19,190
7th – Rui Costa €14,770
8th – Luis Fernandes €11,540
9th – Nuno Chiou €9,110
The Day 3 action started when 17 players returned, and although the pace of play got off to a slow start, it soon picked up remarkably.
Maria Assuncao Nascimento, Yimin Yang, Carlos Correia, Manuel Cazador, Cosmin-Aurel Rusu, Cristiano Oliveira, and Zhewen Hu all departed before Dwayne Sluis missed out on a place at the unofficial final table when he shoved his last eight big blinds from the cutoff with eight-six suited, only to run into ace-jack.
Nuno Chiou bubbled the official final table cruelly after Macalou hit top pair on the river – despite being dominated by Chiou’s nut flush draw.
Luis Fernandes, who had held both the Day 1b and Day 2 chip leads, failed to continue his momentum into the final table after getting it all in preflop with ace-queen. Macalou called with ace-king, and Fernandes faded the board to exit in eighth place.
Rui Costa, Pedro Guerreiro, and Jorge Lopez were next to make their way to the payout desk before Alexandre Dolle took fourth place after three-bet shoving from the small blind with ace-six, only to see Mesquita wake up with pocket queens in the big blind.
Macalou had a clear lead at this point and sat back and watched as Mesquita eliminated Paul Cukierman in third place to set up the heads-up match. Cukierman was all in with jack-ten suited but ultimately lost a vital race against Mesquita’s pocket fours to exit.
The final battle was a well-matched one, with both players chip stacks swinging from short stack to chip leader.
Mesquita took the first blood, but Macalou made a vital call holding third pair with his tournament life on the line to change the tides. Mesquita then found a double of his own before forging into the lead again.
But after Macalou changed gear the final hand saw both players hit two pair on the seven-seven-six flop. Macalou held ace-six, while Mesquita held queen-six. The four of clubs on the turn gave both players the flush draw, and after Macalou shoved, Mesquita called after 30 seconds of contemplation.
Mesquita had outs to survive, but the eight of clubs river saw Macalou improve to the nut flush, and sealed him the title. The two players embraced after their well-fought confrontation and Macalou was left to revel in his glory.
It was a fantastic event in Portugal, which included 888poker qualifiers battling against some the world’s best, including WPT Champions Club members Chris Moorman and Dominik Nitsche, Sofia Lovgren, Vivian Saliba, Ana Marquez, and Martin Jacobson.
That’s all from us here in Vilamoura! Next up on the WPTDS schedule in Europe is Marrakech, which kicks-off on Saturday, September 14. We look forward to seeing you there!
Check out all the WPTDS Portugal pictures at Flickr! Photography courtesy of Tomas Stacha
