Nadal Aces His First Poker Tournament

Nadal Aces His First Poker Tournament

Friday, 13 December 2013

Whilst the final stages of this year's Eureka Prague Main Event were coming to a conclusion, a selection of poker and sporting stars were sitting down for a 100,000 charity match.

Headlined by Rafa Nadal - who was making his first appearance at the live felt - the tournament attracted much of the media's attention yesterday and by the time things came to a close it was the tennis star who served up an ace.

At the start of the play the table looked like a who's who of sporting greats and Daniel Negreanu was certainly a diminutive figure in amongst the likes of Nadal, Ronaldo and Andriy Shevchenko. Indeed, as the action unfolded it seemed Negreanu was somewhat overawed by the competition and, despite outlasting Alberto 'la Bomba' Tomba and Ronaldo, he eventually hit the rail in 4th place. Kid Poker's demise came after he called a shove from Nadal with Ad 7d. Joining the action was Shevchenko with pocket eights, but as the board developed it was Nadal's pocket fives that were able to come from behind and clinch the three-way pot and huge chip lead.
Indeed, with momentum on his side (as well as a 10:1 chip lead), Nadal was able to oust Fatima Moreira de Melo to clinch his first ever poker title and €50,000 which he quickly pledged to charity.

The EPT Charity Challenge Final Result:


1. Rafa Nadal - €50,000
2. Fatima Moreira de Melo - €25,000
3. Andriy Shevchenko - €10,000
4. Daniel Negreanu - €5,000
5. Ronaldo - €5,000
6. Alberto Tomba - €5,000


*All winnings are being donated to charity. Image courtesy of Neil Stoddart at PokerStars.

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Tags: Rafa Nadal, Fatima de Melo, Andriy Shevchenko, Daniel Negreanu, Ronaldo, Alberto Tomba