Friday October 19, 2012 : CALIFORNIAN VICTORY AT PUNTA CANA POKER CLASSIC
Matthew Weber bests 380 entrants to take home $135,475
Californian poker player Matthew Weber broke the Punta Cana winning tradition of Canadians Thursday, sweeping up the main event first prize of $135,475 after besting an entry field of 380 players over four days.
The 2012 season was held at the Marvelous Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Punta Cana with Weber the first Punta Cana champion who has not come from the Great White North. Previous winners Demo Kiriopoulos and Peter Cross were both Canadians.
On the final day chip leader Weber faced a final table that comprised Kelly Kellner, Eric Grenier, Zack Cooke, Gabriel Zacalik, Bill Kontaratos, Fred Swart, Nicola Baseli and Tim Barany.
Weber and Kellner survived to the heads up, but the Californian was hard to stop and soon claimed the honours and the main prize, leaving Kellner with a well-earned runner up purse of $81,830.
Weber's $135,475 pay day was not quite his highest ever – in August this year he pulled off a second placing in the WPT Legends of Poker to collect $140,000.