Valtteri Merikallio Wins Eureka Poker Tour Latvia

Finland’s Valtteri Merikallio has won the Eureka Poker Tour Latvia, after defeating a field of 278 players over four days on his way to claiming the title, and collecting the €68,800 ($88,439) first place prize.
The 34-year-old office worker was in Latvia’s capital Riga for what he described as ‘beer-poker-sleep-beer-poker.’ This was also the first time he had entered a Eureka event, but unlikely to be his last after scoring the biggest win of his poker career.
As the final table of eight got underway at the €1,000 buy-in tournament, Merikallio was lying in 4th position with notable UK pro Sam Macdonald, 24, in second spot. The dynamic duo were then able to eliminate every other player from the final table before entering heads-up after less than three hours of play.
Macdonald’s list of scalps included Normunds Rumba (8th), Zvonimir Zoric (7th), Gary Clarke (5th) and Joni Nenonen (4th), while Merikallio took out local player Vitalijs Tarhanovs in 6th and Poland’s Dariusz Paszkiewicz in 3rd to get the heads-up phase of the competition underway.
At this stage, although the players were fairly even in chips Merikallio had high hopes of making his flight back to Finland in time. However, he hadn’t banked on a four-hour epic battle in which both players carved out a lead before Merikallio pulled away to a 4 to 1 advantage. The final hand then saw Macdonald (A-3) limp the button before pushing his remaining 20 big blinds to the centre after Merikallio raised holding A-Q. With a queen falling on the flop Sam Macdonald was consigned to a runner-up finish worth €43,700, while Valtteri Merikallio was crowned the 2012 Eureka Poker Tour Latvia champion
The final table results were as follows:
1. Valtteri Merikallio (Finland) €68,800
2. Sam Macdonald (UK) €43,700
3. Dariusz Paszkiewicz (Poland) €24,300
4. Joni Nenonen (Finland) €18,880
5. Gary Clarke (Ireland) €15,770
6. Vitalijs Tarhanovs (Latvia) €12,950.00
7. Zvonimir Zoric (Bosnia and Herzegovina) €10,250
8. Normunds Rumba (Latvia) €8,090