As the final few players finished up at the European Poker Tour (EPT) grand final last night, Madrid was readying itself for the handing out of season 7’s awards. It included the long awaited coronation of Fernando Brito as Player of the Year after he led the standings from almost start to finish.
When the 52-year-old achieved sixth place in October’s London leg of the tour, he could proclaim himself number one for the remainder of the tour. The truth about it is no one even got close to the native of Portugal.
Talinn and Berlin were the only two stops that he didn’t cash and his deep run in the grand final was worth €30,000 and a valuable 100 ranking points. In total, Brito achieved 4135 points, the closest challenger Martin Jacobsen only able to manage just over half that with 2635.
After he was presented with the trophy at last night’s star-studded ceremony at Madrid’s Pacha nightclub, Brito commented, “We can only sing victory when it’s achieved, so I didn’t believe I had won until yesterday when I cashed in the Grand Final Main Event. I am very thankful to my family and friends – I couldn’t have done this without them. Now I’m going to try to do it again next season!”
Liv Boeree and Joe Hachem handed out the awards, the remainder of which was as follows:
EPT Omaha Player of the Year: Italian Dario Alioto.
EPT Mixed Game Player of the Year: British player Matthew Ashton.
EPT Heads-Up Player of the Year: Portuguese player Diogo Veiga.
EPT Country of the Year: Ireland.
EPT Online Qualifier of the Year: Swedish pro Martin Jacobson.
The EPT Achievement of the Year: German pro Max Heinzelmann as back-to-back runner-up at Berlin and San Remo.
EPT Players’ Choice Award: Max Heinzelmann
