Juan Gonzalez Wins $109K in First-Ever WPT Uruguay Main Event

A 410-player field in the $1,500 buy-in World Poker Tour Uruguay Main Event created a $536,895 prize pool that saw Argentinian Juan Gonzalez capture all the chips and first place prize money of $109,860.

Brasil Poker Live teamed up with the WPT for almost a dozen tournaments in the series that was hosted by the Conrad Punta del Este Resort & Casino. The WPT Main Event was televised - another first for Uruguay - and provided locals with exciting poker action that included three Uruguayans at the six-player final table.

The short-stacked Gonzalez, who was trailing in chips to begin Day 4 and had only two live tournament cashes to his credit before this one, played his cards exceptionally well to emerge as the champ. His chip stack grew in spurts during final table action and got much bigger with three players remaining when Miguel Brañas went all in from the small blind for almost 1.5 million.

A call from Gonzalez was looking favorable for Brañas when his A-J suited connected with a jack on the flop. Gonzalez' had an overcard with his Q-5 of diamonds and needed help on the remaining streets.

That help would arrive with a five on the turn and a queen on the river, giving Gonzalez two pair and ending Brañas' deep run at third place, collecting $49,475 for his efforts. That left Brazil's Kaue Vinicius De Souza and Gonzalez to battle heads-up.

Gonzalez' lead in chips was 7.55 million to the 4.2 million of De Souza. Both players, plus more than 200 others, were at the WPT in Uruguay compliments of online qualifiers from the Aconcagua Poker Network, an official WPT partner.

It took only four hands of heads-up action for the Argentinian to dispose of De Souza. The final hand saw both players dealt pocket pairs, with Gonzalez' J-J better than the two tens that the Brazilian flipped over.

De Souza began the day as the chipleader, but had to settle for runner-up prize money of $76,960, the largest cash of his career. All told, seven Aconcagua Poker players finished within the top 14 positions of the payout field, a quite impressive showing.

WPT Uruguay $1,500 Main Event - Final Table Results