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Slovenian makes history, bags first WPT Title

Comment: 0 July 29th, 2011 by: admin

Marking a new chapter in the tournament’s history, the World Poker Tour’s first ever Slovenia stop has concluded, crowning the first WPT Slovenia champion.

After over four days and a field of 141 players, local man Miha Travnik emerged the winner, taking home £88,520 and a buy-in to the WPT Championship in Las Vegas, priced at £22,057.

Considered a local hero for bagging the first-ever WSOP Slovenia trophy and winning a major live poker event, an apprehensive Travnik was said to have shunned and eluded all interview attempts.

The final day began with Travnik, 20, trailing behind first-placer Johannes Korsar from Sweden, battling eight other competitors; unofficially, the table hosted nine players, until 90 minutes after when Austrian Manuel Blaschke was left in ninth place after playing his jacks against Travnik’s queens.

Next to exit were Johan Patrik Hirvonen and Hugh Cohen, who settle for the eighth and seventh spots respectively. Travnik’s pair of 10’s ejected Hirvonen who held As-Js; Cohen went all in with A-10, called by Italian Vincenzo Natale who held K-10.

The competition reached a point of only 6 players, and after seven gruelling hours of play, Travnik who held 1,204,000 in chips went head-to-head against Natale who held 3,150,000. The matchup stretched to the final hand with Natale, who had by the time lost three major pots in a row, going all-in pre-flop with K-8, and Travnik holding A-J.

With the board reading J-7-5-2-10 in Travnik’s favour, Natale settled for second place, coming away with £61,571.

The WPT Slovenia was held in the coastal resort of Portoroz, currently with a population of 2,849.

Aside from the WPT, Slovenia bears witness to the Poker Grand Prix, held at the Casino Perla in Nova Gorica, a town and municipality located in the country’s western area. The competition began July 21st and ended July 24.

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