Mathias Guimarães Wins SiGMA South America Poker Tour Main Event for R$205,000

How It Started

The sole foreigner led the field. Brian Ganon had bagged a solid chip lead over his Brazilian opponents. Eventual winner Guimarães was in third, and Helton Richard, who has been involved in some monster hands over the last few days, rounded out the podium places in second. Playing short stack duties were Julio Santista and Diego Coutinho. Marcos “Sketch” was the most well-known name coming into the final table play, and he was sitting in fourth place and still very much in contention.

Final Table Chip Counts

Early Double Up Cracks Aces

Munir Berno opened to 100,000 with the blinds at 25,000/50,000. Diego Coutinho moved all in for 425,000 from the cutoff, and Rodrigo Bueno moved all in over the top for 965,000 from the big blind. Berno called to go three-ways to a flop of 2 6 4 . Bueno announced all in, and Berno folded. Bueno had the rockets with A A and had Coutinho’s J J in bad shape. The 7 changed nothing, but the J gave Coutinho a valuable triple up early into the day. Bueno then became the first departure of the day shortly afterwards.

Berno was then the next to depart. He jammed 1,400,000 from the small blind with the blinds at 30,000/60,000 with K J and was called by Brian Ganon in the big blind with A J . Ace-high proved good across the 9 8 Q 8 2 runout. Santista then doubled his short-stack at the 40,000/80,000 level versus Guimarães. Santista moved all in from under the gun with A J for 475,000, and Guimarães called in the big blind with Q J . Again, ace-high was good across the runout of 8 5 K 7 4 .

Coutinho was on the decline after cracking aces. He opened to 225,000 with A J from the early position and was at risk to Guimarães, who woke up with Q Q in the big blind. Coutinho bet 250,000 on 8 2 J , Guimarães raised to 2,000,000, putting Coutinho all in. He called and was shown the bad news. The 9 turn and 8 river changed nothing other than Coutinho’s status in the tournament from playing to eliminated.

Santista Staying in, Sketch Erased

Santista moved all in from the small blind for 670,000 with the blinds at 50,000/100,000. Silvio Weyne made the call from the big blind. Santista rivered two pair with K 9 to beat Weyne’s A 5 across Q J Q 8 9 to stay in the tournament, albeit still short-stacked. Some chips are always better than none, and Sketch was scratched from the lineup shortly after. He moved all in from the cutoff for 835,000 at the same blind level with A 3 . Guimarães claimed his third scalp with 9 9 across the 6 7 6 Q Q runout.

The 50,000/100,000 level proved to be too much for some players, and Santista couldn’t continue his spin-up. Ganon opened to 240,000 on the button, and Santista defended the big blind. On 4 2 J Santista moved all in for 340,000 after Ganon checked to him. Ganon called with Q 6 , and Santista had 6 7 . Ultimately, queen-high was good across the 9 turn and 10 river.

The Final Four

With blinds up to 60,000/120,000, Weyne moved all in from the button for 1,180,000. After some time in the tank, Ganon flicked in the call. His Q J was behind Weyne’s K 10 . However, the latter was drawing dead on the turn across the 6 7 5 3 5 runout as Ganon made a flush. Just under 20 minutes later, Helton Richard was next to fall. Guimarães jammed his big stack into the short-stacked Richard with 2 2 , and Richard had A 2 . The ducks held across the 9 9 3 K 8 runout to end Richard’s run.

Heads-Up

Ganon was ahead in the counts over Guimarães, but his lead didn’t last long. Ganon opened to 425,000 with the blinds at 80,000/150,000. Guimarães called. Ganon bet 250,000 on 9 4 [3] and Guimarães called. Both players checked the 10 turn. Guimarães then bet 800,000 on the J river. Ganon went into the tank before making the call. He had kicker issues with J 5 as Guimarães had J 9 . Ganon tried to reclaim some chips, winning a decent pot without a showdown. He opened to 425,000 with blinds at 100,000/200,000 from the button. Guimarães called. Ganon bet 325,000 on 4 10 8 and Guimarães called. Ganon barrelled again on the 2 turn for 725,000; Guimarães called again. Ganon then moved all in for 3,275,000 on the J river. Guimarães deployed a timebank before folding.

Just half an hour later, it was all over. Guimarães limped, and Ganon called with the blinds at 100,000/250,000. Ganon check-called a bet of 250,000 on K 9 3 . He check-called again on the 4 turn, this time a wager of 750,000. The J river saw Guimarães take initiative and move all in. Ganon went into the tank before flicking in the call. He had 10 9 but was bested by the 10 7 for a flush to give Guimarães the title, the trophy and $R205,000.

Words From the Winner and Payouts

Here is what the winner had to say after emerging victorious in the Main Event: “The player in the heads-up match [Ganon] had a lot of chips from the start. I also managed to build a good stack, but he regained the lead and made a lot of chips right away. Then he became very big and started putting a lot of pressure on the table. The three very short stacks were holding back quite a bit. I had to wait a bit. The good thing was that he was to my right, so I waited for the right moments. On his few folds, I took advantage to play and at least maintain a healthy stack, thinking about being competitive in the heads-up match, without being short-stacked. I managed to win an important pot, I think even out of position, with a bluff against him, which ended up working out. That left me with a good stack, and we reached the heads-up match practically tied. We had to sweat a little there, but in the heads-up match, everything went well. I was playing hard, putting a lot of pressure on and taking advantage of the opportunities.”

Guimarães will be a regular at the Monte Carlo Club and will be following the SiGMA Poker Tour on their worldwide travels, adding, “I came here because Monte Carlo is a place I frequent a lot, so playing here is close and convenient for me. I used to live in Porto Alegre and moved here to São Paulo about eight months ago. Since I come here often, I decided to play, but I intend to compete in the other stages. I’m travelling a lot this year to play, so the idea is to follow the circuit and play a bigger round in the coming years.”

Payouts

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Mathias Guimarães		R$ 205.000
2	Brian Ganon		R$ 130.000
3	Helton Richard		R$ 90.000
4	Silvio Weyne		R$ 63.000
5	Julio Santista		R$ 46.000
6	Marcos Sketch		R$ 36.000
7	Diego Coutinho		R$ 27.000
8	Munir Berno		R$ 20.650
9	Rodrigo Bueno		R$ 17.500

What’s Next?

That concludes the SiGMA SPT for this year. The next running of the SiGMA Poker Tour will take place in Malta from May 27 to May 31 at the beautiful Portomaso Casino. In the meantime, the WSOP Europe rolls on, and there are plenty more live events coming up for players and readers to get stuck into. Stay tuned to pokerlistings.com for continued coverage and content from the world of poker.

That is all for now, folks. Until next time.