Matthew Weber Wins Punta Cana Poker Classic

Matthew Weber has won the $1,650 buy-in Punta Cana Poker Classic Main Event, after defeating a field of 380 players over four days to lift the title, and collect the $135,475 first place prize. Weber has now taken his live tournament earnings to an impressive $372,988 over just three years, with his biggest cash coming 2 months ago when he finished 2nd at the $125 NL Mega Millions V Re-Entry at the Bicycle Casino, Los Angeles for $140,000.
The US pro dominated play throughout the Dominican Republic based tournament and wielded a big stack on Day 1B and Day 2 before pressing home his advantage on the final day of play. As the finalists began to fall at the Casino Punta Cana, Weber would eventually go heads-up against Kelly Kellner, with both players virtually even in chips.
After just 30 minutes of heads-up, though, the defining hand was played with both players all-in preflop and Kellner holding Ac-2c to Weber’s pocket fives. The flop subsequently fell 3s-6d-5h making Weber a set, whilst leaving Kellner four outs to a possible straight. Unfortunately for him, the turn and river drew blanks and so Kelly Kellner finished the runner-up for  $81,830, while Matthew Weber was crowned the 3rd Punta Cana Poker Classic champion.
Past winners of the tournament include Canadians Peter Cross (2010) and Demo Kiriopoulos (2011) and so Matthew Weber has the honour of becoming the first non-Canadian to win the competition.
Once the tournament series drew to a close, Punta Cana Poker Classic’s Spokesperson Michael Harris commented:  “The third annual PCPC has been a huge success and has proved to be our biggest tournament to date. Word is getting out that this is a “must play” event for any poker player looking to play some poker in the ultimate beach location.”