Anestis Metsas wins Betfair Million Dollar Game

Anestis Metsas wins Betfair Million Dollar Game

Friday, 18 September 2009

The opening day of the WSOPE was marked in style as Betfair made one happy man a millionaire. Beginning the day as one of 18 amateur online qualifiers competing in Betfair’s Free Million Dollar game Anestis walked away from the Casino at the Empire a millionaire!

After eight grueling hours of play at the Empire Casino, Anestis Metsas from Greece was left heads up with France’s Kevin Michoud after eliminating third place finisher Piergiorgio D’Ancona from Italy. The two took to the feature table, where a million dollars of fake money was sat plump in the middle.


Crowds gathered around the table and Denmark’s Kenneth Knudsen, who had been knocked out earlier in the day, was rooting loud and not-so-clear for his friend and business interest Michoud. Knocking back his umpteenth pint of Guiness and barely able to walk, Kenneth then challenged Bluff columnist and Poker Academy instructor Alex ‘Pickleman’ Rousso to a heads-up game on the electronic machine - an offer that was too good to turn down for the scheming Pickleman.


Whilst good old Kenneth sat slurring and folding unraised pots it seemed he had forgotten that his friend Michoud was involved in the game of his life next door. As the heads-up came to a brief but unsurprising end, Kenneth stumbled back to the game to see his good friend Michoud involved in a back and forth battle with Metsas. Neither were going down easy and the chip lead refused to find a rightful refuge.


Eventually, after almost 2 hours of heads-up play, both players got it all in after the flop brought top pair for Metsas’ AJ against the King high flush draw of Michoud. Michoud failed to improve his hand and Metsas had finally overcome his tough opponent. Both players stood up, and for the first time since heads up began, were able to see each other over the mountain of fake dollar bills in front of them.


Speaking after the event Anestis said “Coming into the final table I knew I was up against 18 tough players and was hoping I could stay with the British and Scandinavian guys. The early stages were frustrating every time I had good cards, people didn’t want to go in and when I had bad cards everyone wanted to get involved in the big stacks.


He added: “It’s unbelievable to have won, this amazing win has given me the confidence to believe I can compete against the best players in Europe and the rest of the World. Having won I’m now going to buy my way into the £1,000 No Limit Hold’em tomorrow and after that who knows.”


Kenneth, on the other hand, said that he was done with London after eight days in the capital. Pity really as i was looking forward to hanging out with him a bit more...



Tags: Poker News, Anestis, Metsas, wins, Betfair, Million, Dollar, Game