EPT Grand Final 2011 Won By Ivan Freitez

Ivan Freitez has just triumphed at the EPT Grand Final, after overcoming a field of 686 players over six days to lift the title, and collect the €1.5 million ($2,226,345) first place prize.
With his latest win the Venezuelan pro who cashed in at his first tournament in 2007 now takes his life time earnings to $2,368,246. Commenting on his victory in Madrid, Freitez said:
“After some poor results, at last I’ve made it and won a big tournament. I met a lot of aggressive players along the way but I adapted my game and stayed calm and it paid off.”
The first player to leave the final table was Andrew Li in 8th (€130,000), after pushing with pocket threes into his opponent’s Ac-Qc, only to see his pair countered on a 9-9-4-7-4 board.
Alex Gomes then exited in 7th (€185,000) when his 8s-7s small blind shove was called by the big blind holding pocket tens.
Next, Eugene Yanayt hit the rail in 6th (€250,000) having three-bet all-in holding pocket fives only to be called by Freitez with pocket nines, followed by Juan Maceiras in 5th (€315,000).
Monster chip leader Ivan Freitez then proceeded to make short work of his remaining opponents. Freitez with A-9 in both hands eliminated Andrey Danilyuk (3-3) in 4th (€400,000) and then Tamas Lendvei (9-9) in 3rd (€550,000) to herald in the heads-up phase of the competition.
As play began, Freitez held 16 million in chips to Brinkmann’s 4.5 million and before long the two players were all-in with Freitez holding 10d-9d to his opponent’s A-K.
With the board then falling 9-5-2-6-8, Germany’s Torsten Brinkmann collected €900,000 for his runner-up finish, while Ivan Freitez was crowned the 2011 EPT Grand Final Champion and also became the first Venezuelan player in  history to win an EPT event.