WSOP Europe / Dave Allan / 18 September 2009 / Leave a comment

It was a dream start to the WSOPE for Greek amateur poker player Anestis Metsas yesterday. The Betfair Poker player took his seat, alongside 17 other hopefuls, in the Free Million Dollar tournament at Empire Casino in London's Leicester Square. Anestis walked away $1 million richer and with more dreams of further WSOPE success to come.

Anestis' journey to final started back in April this year. He qualified via a series of online freerolls on Betfair Poker and then via a live regional qualifier. Metsas had to defeat 17 other region qualifiers during a grueling 10 hours of play which featured some truly exciting poker.

Piergiorgio D' ancona from Italy and Kevin Michoud from France pushed Metsas all the way in the closing stages of the event. Eventually Michoud took on Metsas heads up and it wasn't long before the two talented players had all their chips in the middle. Michoud tabled K9 whilst Metsas held a strong looking AJ. Michoud's hopes were raised when a flush draw appeared on the board but it wasn't to be for the Frenchman and Metsas was crowned the winner, making WSOPE history in the process.

Metsas 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. 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. I'm now going to buy my way into the £1,000 No Limit Hold'em tomorrow and after that who knows!"

Metsas promised to treat family and friends with some of his winnings and he also looks forward to fulfilling another dream by visiting the Thailand island of Phuket - financed by his win.

The WSOPE continues today with the start of the £1000+£75 No Limit Hold'em event.