Rafa Nadal Wins EPT Prague Poker Event For €50k

World tennis number one Rafael Nadal has won the €100k EPT Prague charity poker event, after besting five other celebrity opponents over four hours to win his first live tournament, and collect the €50,000 first-prize cash, which was then donated to charity.
Competing in the tournament was football legends Ronaldo and Andriy Shevchenko, alpine ski racer Alberto Tomba and Dutch field hockey player Fatima Moreira de Melo, as well as poker superstar Daniel Negreanu. Following Nadal’s victory, the Canadian poker pro with $19.4 million in tournament earnings heaped praise on the Spanish tennis ace, commenting:
“He came in really solid and he didn’t make any mistakes. And then he knew when to make adjustments, to play more aggressively, and he did.”
In addition, Negreanu was equally as complimentary as to the competitive spirit of the other players in the charity event, explaining: “I’ve played a lot of charity things, with like Hollywood celebs..but I notice with these guys, the athletes, ..They were prepared. They had much more of a killer instinct. Anytime you get to the top of a craft, you just have that winning instinct. I felt like, on average, they all exceeded my expectations on how they were going to play.”
Following three hours of play, Alberto Tomba became the first player to exit the tournament after shoving with pocket sixes on a 2-10-J flop, only to be called by Negreanu with top pair. Next, Fatima Moreira de Melo eliminated Ronaldo, and after Negreanu then Shevchenko followed suit, Rafa Nadal and Fatima Moreira de Melo went heads-up for the honours.
Unfortunately, the Dutch hockey field hockey champion started off the final battle at a severe 10-to-1 chip disadvantage and before long she, too, hit the rail to hand Rafael the title. Talking of his EPT victory, Nadal, said: “I had fun. I had a great experience here playing with friends, playing for a good cause, for charity..The next thing I know is that tomorrow morning I will be on court at 9am practicing tennis.”
Rafael Nadal is considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time, and throughout his illustrious career has won 13 Grand Slam singles titles and 14 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments, earning $64 million in prize  money along the way.