Marty Mathis came out on top of a 439-strong field in the $5 million guaranteed partypoker LIVE MILLIONS South America Main Event and secured a prize worth $873,700 after a three-handed deal. Turning $10,300 into $873,700 created an envious Return On Investment (ROI) for Mathis, but that only tells part of the story because Mathis bought into the MILLIONS South America Main Event with PP LIVE Dollars he had won online at partypoker.
PP LIVE Dollars launched in April 2018 revolutionising poker satellites. Players win PP LIVE Dollars online at partypoker and can then spend them on partypoker LIVE tournament buy-ins, exchange them for hotel accommodation at live events, or buy flights with them.
partypoker LIVE created a $1 million PP LIVE Dollars Leaderboard that runs until April 15th, 2019 and pays out $1 million worth of PP LIVE Dollars to the top 100 earners of PP LIVE Dollars during the leaderboard promotion. The eventual winner walks away with $100,000 worth of the partypoker LIVE currency.
Mathis is one of many players who have embraced the idea of the PP LIVE Dollars and has been busy grinding the satellites that award them. With less than a month to go until the PP LIVE Dollars Leaderboard pays out, Mathis has a legitimate chance of adding $100,000 worth of PP LIVE Dollars to those that he has already won from satellites thanks to occupying first-place with $365,350 worth of the currency won.
Our champion has taken full advantage of an ongoing promotion by buying into all MILLIONS Main Events during 2019, using his PP LIVE Dollars of course, meaning he now receives a free £10,300 seat in the MILLIONS UK Main Event in early 2020!
This victory in the MILLIONS South America Main Event mirrors Taylor Black’s story from the MILLIONS North America Main Event during Season 1 of the partypoker LIVE tour. Like Mathis, Taylor used PP LIVE Dollars to buy into the Main Event before outlasting all of his opponents to pad his bankroll with a cool CAD$1,400,000.
Mathis secured an $873,700 payout for his outright win in Rio de Janeiro, a sum that could have been more had he and his final two opponents not struck a deal late on the fifth and final day’s play. Lithuanian star Matas Cimbolas agreed to take $559,200, Bruno Volkmann of Brazil locked up $687,100 and Mathis guaranteed himself $661,300, which left $212,000 for the eventual champion.
That champion was Mathis after he defeated Volkmann following an epic heads-up match watched by thousands of viewers on the partypoker Twitch channel.
2019 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS South America Main Event Final Table Results
Place | Player | Country | Prize (R$) | Prize (USD) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Marty Mathis | United States | R$3,494,800* | 873,700* |
2 | Bruno Volkmann | Brazil | R$2,748,400* | $687,100* |
3 | Matas Cimbolas | Lithuania | R$2,236,800* | $559,200* |
4 | Samuel Gagnon | Canada | R$1,480,000 | $370,000 |
5 | Vlada Stojanovic | Serbia | R$1,200,000 | $300,000 |
6 | Caio Hey | Brazil | R$1,000,000 | $250,000 |
7 | Michael Sklenicka | Czech Republic | R$800,000 | $200,000 |
8 | Andre de Oliveira | Brazil | R$600,000 | $150,000 |
*reflects a three-handed deal
Team partypoker’s Patrick Leonard Gets That Winning Feeling
Our very own Patrick Leonard is returning home with a partypoker LIVE trophy and a bagful of cash thanks to winning the $5,300 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max Turbo at the MILLIONS South America festival. Leonard ran deep in the $5 million guaranteed, busting in 10th place for $60,000 (R$240,000), and made amends for not shipping that tournament by triumphing over 12-opponents in this 6-max turbo event.
The top three finishers received prize money with third-place and $12,500 (R$50,000) going to Argentina’s Osvaldo Lewis. His exit left Leonard and Portugal’s Joao Vieira to lock horns heads-up for the title of champion and the $31,800 (R$127,200) top prize.
Leonard was the man who emerged from this battle unscathed, resigning Vieira to the $18,750 ($R75,000) consolation prize.
Who Were the Other MILLIONS South America Champions?
Nine other players basked in the glory of becoming a partypoker LIVE MILLIONS South America champion during the festival, each receiving a MILLIONS trophy, plenty of cash and a Brazilian flag on their Hendon Mob profile. Those nine champions were:
Event | Player | Country | Prize (R$) | Prize (USD) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Rio Open | Enio Bozzano | Brazil | R$720,000 | $180,000 |
8-Max | Ariel Bahia | Brazil | R$88,000 | $22,000 |
High Roller | Guillaume Nolet | Canada | R$1,200,000 | $300,000 |
Bounty Hunter | Drasko Boskovic | United States | R$74,000 | $18,500 |
6-Max | Rafael Barcia | Brazil | R$168,000 | $42,000 |
Ladies | Katharina Soehren | Germany | R$8,000 | $2,000 |
Win the Button | Vladas Tamasauskas | Lithuania | R$60,000 | $15,000 |
Mix Max | Almir Reis | Brazil | R$55,000 | $13,750 |
$25K 1 Day | Joaquin Melogno | Uruguay | R$720,000 | $180,000 |
Super High Roller | Jonahan Depa | United States | R$1,600,000 | $400,000 |
Another great story emerging from the MILLIONS South America festival came in the Super High Roller event. Sponsored by the Uruguayan casino Enjoy Punta del Este, who added $500,000 worth of promotional casino chips to the prize pool, the $25,500 (R$102,000) buy-in Super High Roller saw 41-entries processed, among them Jonathan Depa, reigning World Series of Poker Main Event champion John Cynn and high stakes grinder Ben Lamb.
Lamb spoke to Cynn and Depa before the tournament started and agreed to a swap deal for the promotional chips and Lamb didn’t want to travel to Uruguay on his own should he have secured some of this bonus.
Although Lamb busted before the top five finishing places, Cynn went on to finish in fourth-place and locked up $75,000 worth of promotional casino chips, while Depa went all the way and scooped $150,000 worth! The trio then hired a private jet, along with Marty Mathis, flew to the Enjoy Punta del Este casino in Uruguay and are now attempting to turn a profit with the $225,000 worth of casino chips in their possession!
As Lamb wrote on his Twitter account, “So we split a jet from Rio to Uruguay and are now at this beautiful casino in Uruguay forced to degen $225K over the next day or two. Can’t wait to own this casino.”
Subsequent tweets from Lamb show them playing high stakes baccarat, but there have been no updates as yet to if any of the lucky friends have managed to turn a profit from their promotional chips.
Next up on the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Tour
Your next chance to play at a MILLIONS festival is in May when partypoker LIVE heads to the Playground Poker Club in Montreal for the MILLIONS North America festival. Running from May 17-26th, MILLIONS North America features 12 scheduled events, including the CAD$10,300 buy-in Main Event that has CAD$5 million guaranteed to be won.
There are 11 more partypoker LIVE events taking place before MILLIONS North America, however, including WSOP-C Rozvadov, WSOP-C UK, The Big Wrap PLO, the Irish Open, WSOP-C Cannes, and the Sochi Poker Festival Spring Edition.
Check out the full partypoker LIVE event listings and PP LIVE Dollars promotions here.
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