Juan Gonzalez Triumphs at WPT Uruguay for $110k

Uruguay hosted its first-ever WPT Main Event at the Enjoy Conrad Resort & Casino in the resort city of Punta del Este, with 410 competitors entering the $1,500 buy-in tournament to create a prize pool of $536,895. Four days later, and it was Argentinian player Juan Gonzalez who would eventually best the field, including Brazil’s Kaue De Souza heads-up, to lift the coveted title, and a first place prize of $109,860.
Gonzalez finished Day 2 firmly atop of the leaderboard, and managed to maintain his lead heading into Day 3 when just 22 players remained. By the time the final table of six had been set, however, Gonzalez was the smallest stack at the table with the players lining up as follows:
Kaue Vinicius De Souza: 4.53m
Brian Kaufman: 3.04m
Laura Moreno: 1.63m
Miguel Brañas: 1.12m
Mario Bonanata: 1.015m
Juan Gonzalez: 940k
Brian Kaufman (Q-5) then eliminated a short-stacked Laura Moreno (A-10) in 6th, while Kaue Vinicius De Souza (A-K) took care of Mario Bonanata (A-J) in 5th, followed by Brian Kaufman in 4th.A few hours later, Gonzalez (Q-5) then sent Miguel Brañas (A-J) to the rail in 3rd, in the process setting up the heads-up phase of the competition between himself and De Souza for the title.
At this stage, Gonzalez held an almost 2:1 chip lead over his remaining opponent, and just four hands later the contest was decided when Gonzalez re-raised all-in preflop holding pocket jacks, and received a call from De Souza with a dominated pair of tens. There was to be no great escape, though, and after the dealer laid out an A-K-4-7-Q board, De Souza finished the runner-up for $76,960, whilst bringing his career earnings up to $250,951.
Meanwhile, Juan Gonzalez collected a WPT title, and his biggest score to date, which now represents the lion’s share of his $145,698 in lifetime winnings.
Following the tournament’s completion, WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage hailed the Uruguay leg of the tour as a great success, commenting: “Uruguay is one of the most amazing places I have ever been. The enthusiasm of the region’s poker community ranks up there with the best in the world.. I cannot wait to visit Punte Del Este again in the future.”
Final Table Results:
1st: Juan Gonzalez $109,860
2nd: Kaue Vinicius De Souza $76,960
3rd: Miguel Brañas $49,475
4th: Brian Kaufman $33,045
5th: Mario Bonanata $25,420
6th: Laura Moreno $21,075