Diogo Veiga Wins 2018 World Series of Poker $3,000 Big Blind Ante No-Limit Hold'em Event

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Diogo Veiga has won the 2018 World Series of Poker $3,000 big blind ante no-limit hold’em event, overcoming a field of 1,020 entries to win his first WSOP gold bracelet and the top prize of $522,715.

“I feel amazing. I cannot believe it yet. The adrenaline is still too high,” Veiga told WSOP reporters after coming out on top. “I am super happy.”

The 29-year-old poker pro from Portugal become only the third player to win a bracelet from his home country. He had a sizable and vocal rail cheering for him as he played his way to the title.

“The atmosphere was amazing. Today the Portuguese won. They are a big part of my win,” Veiga offered when asked about his support.

In addition to the bracelet and the money, Veiga was also awarded 1,440 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion of this event. This was his second final table finish of the year, having finished sixth in the 2018 partypoker LIVE! MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona main event for $558,000 and 800 POY points. Now, with this latest win he has been catapulted into 31st place in the 2018 POY rankings.

Veiga came into the unofficial ten-handed final table in fifth place. He picked up pocket aces and beat David Yan’s pocket eights to double up with six players remaining, then knocked out Tom McCormick in fifth place ($118,552) to enter four-handed play as the chip leader. The event was scheduled to run three days, but the final four ended up having to come back for a fourth day to determine a champion.

2015 WSOP $1,500 no-limit hold’em shootout winner Barry Hutter had surpassed Veiga before play ended on day 3, and seemed to be taking control of this event when he knocked out both Jonathan Abdellatif (4th – $163,404) and Radoslav Stoyanov (3rd – $228,241). Hutter took a 3-to-2 chip lead into heads-up play with Veiga and was able to extend his advantage to more than a 4-to-1 disparity before Veiga began to mount a comeback. He got all-in with a flopped straight against Hutter’s flush draw and higher straight draw and held up. From there he won a few pots in a row to close the gap even more.

After 28 hands of heads-up action Veiga overtook the lead. By the time the final hand arose he had built more than a 3-to-1 advantage of his own. With blinds of 100,000-200,000 and a 200,000 big blind ante, Veiga opted to call from the button. Hutter moved all-in for 3,660,000. Veiga made the call with the K10 and was dominated by Hutter’s A10. The board came down K7287, pairing Veiga’s king to earn him the pot and the title. Hutter took home $323,019 as the runner-up finisher.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2018 WSOP landing page complete with a full schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.

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