Maria Lampropulos Makes History at 2018 PCA Main Event

Argentine-Greek poker pro Maria Lampropulos has become the first female player to take down the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event, after besting a field of 582 players over six days on her way to capturing the title, and a huge first place prize worth $1,081,100. Following her exceptional performance, Lampropulos stated:
“I am very proud. Every woman here–dealers, floors–every woman is very happy for me, and I’m grateful for that.. I am very, very happy.”
Despite the massive win, Lampropulos’s latest victory is only the second biggest of her professional career, with her biggest coming in 2017 after taking down the £5,300 partypoker MILLIONS Live for £1,000,000 ($1,255,004). In total, Lampropulos has now amassed $2,798,141 in winnings since her first live cash back in 2014, placing her at number 8 on the women’s ‘All Time Money List’, just ahead of Jennifer Harman ($2,739,645) in 9th.
The $10k PCA Main Event featured a prize pool worth $5,645,400, and amongst the recognizable pros seeing a return on their buy-ins was Leo Margets in 65th ($19,760), Harrison Gimbel in 56th ($19,760), Barry Greenstein in 47th ($22,020), Liv Boeree in 17th ($49,680), and David Peters in 11th ($75,640).
At the final table, Lampropulos (6-6) sent Christian Rudolph (A-8) to the rail in 6th, while Shawn Buchanan eliminated Daniel Coupal (5th), Adrian Mateos (4th), and Koray Aldemir (3rd) to take a 2-1 chip lead over Lampropulos into heads-up play.
Nevertheless, Lampropulos doubled up twice, including winning with A-8 versus 4-4, and A-10 versus 9-9, before the deciding hand was played with her 10-7 up against the K-5 of Buchanan. The dealer subsequently laid out a 10-9-5-2-9 board to bring the tournament to a close, and following her incredible win, Lampropulos took the opportunity to thank a number of people who have supported her, including her boyfriend Ivan Luca. As she then commented:
“I am extremely grateful for the people who believed in me, especially my boyfriend. Ivan always trusted me and helped me to improve and grow. Whenever I had doubts about how I’d played a hand, he helped me regain my confidence by telling me that I can get it.”
Final Table Results:
1: Maria Lampropulos $1,081,100
2: Shawn Buchanan $672,960
3: Koray Aldemir $481,560
4: Adrian Mateos $372,600
5: Daniel Coupal $293,560
6: Christian Rudolph $229,760