Local poker pro Raphael Francisquetti bested a field of 3,386 hopefuls in the inaugural World Poker Tour Brasil main event this week, claiming the main prize of $247,321.
With a buy-in of $475 the enthusiastic response from Brasilians ensured that the prize pool guarantee was doubled, finally disbursing around $1.2 million.
WPT Brasil was presented by Brasil Poker Live in partnership with Aconcagua Poker, and took place at Infinity Blue Resort & Spa in Camboriú, Brasil. Five starting flights were required to handle the large turnout and unlimited re-entries during the first six levels.
Francisquetti played a shrewd game to eventually lead the final table with a huge stack, and managed to retain his dominance into the heads up, where he held a small chip advantage over fellow finalist Fernando Konishi.
The two sparred briefly before Francisquetti caught his opponent in a big bluff which increased his advantage to 3 to 1. Not long after that Konishi was eliminated and headed to the cashier to collect his runner up prize of $148,637.
Other final table cashes included:
Alex Gelinski $97,404
Felipe Guimaraes $71,771
Valciz Mello $53,195
Kadu Rozzi $42,436
Faraz Jaka $33,196
Caio Maciel $27,151
Rhelton De Carvalho $21,139