Edgars Augstkalns Wins European Masters of Poker Riga 2011

Edgars Augstkalns has won the European Masters of Poker (EMOP) Riga, after defeating a field of 175 players to lift the title, and collect the €57,491 ($77,871) first place prize.
The €1,650 buy in event took place at the Royal Casino Spa & Hotel in Latvia, and came to a conclusion Sunday night as the final table of nine got underway. The remaining hopefuls included 4 Swedes, 3 Latvians, and a player from Bulgaria and Finland.
Eventually, Latvian Edgars Augstkalns got heads-up against Sweden’s Joakim Fredriksson, with the home favourite trailing by a 5 to 1 deficit. However, Augstkalns was then able to put himself back in contention and even take the lead before the defining hand was played.
Edgars Augstkalns was dealt Kc-Js and after Fredriksson (Ah-Kd) raised pre-flop, the Latvian pushed all-in only to be snap called by his opponent. Augstkalns looked in terrible shape but the 5c-3h-2c-Jh-Ks came to his rescue completing his victory with two pair.
Edgars Augstkalns only cashed in at his first live tournament in October 2010 and now, with his latest win, takes his career earnings to $111,188.
The final payouts were as follows:
1: Edgars Augstkalns (Latvia) €57,491
2: Joakim Fredriksson (Sweden) €39,993
3: Maris Keiriss (Latvia) €29,994
4: Martin Dahlqvist (Sweden) €22,496
5: Eduards Rakuss (Latvia) €14,997
6: Simon Löfberg (Sweden) €11,872
7: Anton Astapau (Bulgaria) €9,373
8: Branko Stupar (Sweden) €7,498
9: Kimmo Kurko (Finland) €5,623
The EMOP is a European live poker tournament series with affordable buy-ins which gives recreational players the opportunity to play big international poker tournaments.
The latest tournament played in Riga, Latvia marked the sixth and final EMOP tournament of season 3, with this season’s winners including:
Anders Hagen of Norway
Soren Larsen of Denmark
Abdul Atila Seiar of Romania
Jukka Koskela of Finland 
Stefan Hansen of Norway
Edgars Augstkalns of Latvia
Season IV will resume in February 2012, with the EMOP schedule as follows:
Prague, Czech Republic — Feb 2-5
Lisbon, Portugal — Mar29 to 1st April
Bulgaria — June 5-12
Barcelona, Spain — Sept 13-16
Dublin, Ireland – November