Congratulations to Victorino Torres, 2010 APPT Macau Champion (3,246,200 HKD)!
Victorino Torres has been crowned champion of the PokerStars.net APPT Macau Main Event. After four days of poker at the glamorous Grand Lisboa hotel and casino, Torres outlasted 341 other players to take home 3,246,200 HKD, equivalent to around $416,046. Torres started the day seventh in chips. In interviews before the final table started, he said that was exactly the position he wanted. Clearly, he's dangerous with a short stack. He'd come back from just 2,500 chips on Day 1 and was forced to rebuild again after being knocked back to seven big blinds on Day 3. But he never counted himself out, and after raking in a few big pots, proved he could be just as dangerous with the chip lead.
Torres brought the win home for the Northern Mariana Islands, defeating two players from Denmark and one each from Hong Kong, Norway, Costa Rica, the United States, and the United Kingdom. This is by far the amateur's biggest score, and now perhaps he'll have to reconsider his day job as an attorney to become more of a fixture on the tournament scene.
Torres had to wade through a tough field to earn his title. Pros Kai Paulsen and Albert Kim finished seventh and eighth at the final table. Binh Ngyyen, who won APPT Manila less than two months ago, finished 13th, and Team PokerStars Pro Marcel Luske earned his first cash in Asia with his 27th-place finish.
Want to be the next APPT champion? APPT Auckland will take place in New Zealand in September. As for us, we'll see you right here on PokerNews for the World Series of Poker in less than a week!