24 August 2009 - Twenty three year-old PKR.com player Adrien ‘zlatan35’ Allain from Rennes, France, has won the 2009 Asian Poker Tour Macau Festival Main Event.
After winning his way into the Main Event through a $5 satellite on PKR.com, three days of high octane poker culminated in a final hand that saw Allain’s A-3 outdraw Inwook Choi’s A-Q for first place honours and a big $391,556 payday. Allain, who recently turned pro, said of his first win in a major, “I’m overwhelmed, this is so wonderful. I qualified for this tournament through a $5 lottery tournament on PKR and end up beating all these top players. Vive La France!”
The APT Macau boasted a number of world class players among its 326 strong field including ten time bracelet winner Johnny Chan, WSOPE champion John Juanda, November Niners past and present Chino Rheem and James Akenhead, Liz Lieu, Liv Boeree, Karl Mahrenholz, and all round poker superstar JC Tran.
Marketing Director Simon Prodger said, “We are obviously delighted with the result for Adrien, especially as this also marks the first major win from one of our qualifying players. Adrien has recently become a big name in the PKR community following a final table at PKR Live II, and online successes in the Saturday Big Shot, Daily $17k, and Sunday $30k tournaments. His feat continues our players’ solid run of form after our impressive WSOP showing.”
Allain now plans to use the winnings as a bankroll to push forward his poker career. And there isn’t a much better start than a win at a major event and a ringing endorsement from poker legend and 3rd place finisher JC Tran who said of Allain, “Congratulations to Adrien, he played good poker and is a deserving champion. To take down such a major tournament for just $5 is quite something – there’s no doubt he has great potential.”