World Series of Poker Europe: Jonathan Aguiar Wins First Bracelet

After multiple arguments, floor rulings, an unscheduled extension and plenty of dramatic tension, Jonathan Aguiar emerged victorious in the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe €10,450 buy-in mix-max no-limit hold’em event. For winning his first-ever WSOP gold bracelet, the outspoken pro was awarded €258,047 and 540 Card Player Player of the Year points.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Aguiar. “You play this game for a long time, and this is all you want. And now to win an event like this and to play for so long… it’s such a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be heads-up for a gold bracelet. Winning this is a dream come true.”

The road to gold was not easy, as Aguiar not only had to outlast a tough 96-entrant field, but also had to deal with the aforementioned difficulties. The tournament was originally scheduled as a three-day event, but final-four play stretched on much longer than expected.

Runner-up Brandon Cantu played an arduous semi-final against recent bracelet winner Roger Hairabedian that lasted roughly eight hours. During the taxing battle, the two became embroiled in a number of arguments, with floor staff being involved in a number of instances.

When Cantu finally came out on top, he still had to face down Aguiar in the final. The two played for five hours before play was halted due to the closing of the casino. At that point, Cantu had been playing for roughly 16 hours.

The decision was made to postpone the resumption of play to allow both finalists to participate in the WSOP Europe main event that overlapped with this event.

Play resumed two days later, once both had been eliminated from the main event. Cantu held a slight lead to start, but Aguiar wrested the chip advantage and then won a race with AK outrunning Cantu’s 22 to end the battle.

Cantu has since taken to twitter to vent his frustration with the conclusion of the event, feeling that the forced stoppage of the event days ago prevented him from taking advantage of a tired Aguiar, who he contends was able to rest up and study for the match.

@wsoptd I guess it was just to much to ask for to play the tourney in a timely manner… I’m glad we let the tourney sit in limbo for 24

— Brandon Cantu (@brandoncantu) October 1, 2012

In addition to being a great source of drama, this event also proved to be a good source of Player of the Year points for a number of top POY contenders. Semi-finalist Faraz Jaka scored $110,667 and 360 POY points for his deep run, catapulting him into seventh in the overall standings. This was Jaka’s sixth final table of the 2012, and brought his year-to-date earnings to $1,009,964.

Quarterfinalist Marvin Rettenmaier earned $54,064 and 225 POY points as well, maintaining his third-place spot in the rankings and increasing his earnings to $1,926,855 for the year with three titles and seven final tables.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded to the final eight in this event: