Jul 26 2008
Better late than never - 75-year old sets new poker record
Cayetano Garcia set a remarkable European record at the Spanish Poker tournament in Valencia this past weekend by becoming the oldest person ever to win a major poker tournament in Europe.
On Sunday, July 20, Garcia, aged 75, wrote another page in poker history by taking the crown at the final table of the Spanish Poker Tour in Valencia. The event was sponsored by the online European poker room, Everest Poker.
It seems like experience defeated youth as old-aged Cayetano served his younger rivals a poker lesson over a very entertaining weekend of poker. 1,000 players from all over Europe tried to reach the final of the Spanish Poker Tour in Valencia last weekend. Countries represented in this European poker competition included Sweden, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
After playing for about 30 minutes heads up, Cayetano Garcia and Lautaro Curi both went all-in before the flop. Cayetano Garcia showed A-7 and Lautaro Curi had 6-7. The board was 293-J-10 and because Cayetano covered Lautaro it was the last hand of the tournament.
The other two finalists, Lautaro Curi, 26, also from Spain, and Alain Char, 28, from France, were delighted to see the 75-year-old take the cup. Lautaro even knew Cayetano before the weekend as they are both from Alicante.
French Alain Char, also known as “lynoo”, qualified in a satellite tournament for the Spanish Poker Tour on EverestPoker for only $9. He did great job throughout the whole weekend and finished finally in the third place. The final three players made an agreement to share the second and third places, so he won a total prize of 19,500 EURO.
The old card shark Cayetano Garcia ended up taking 26,500 back to his home in Alicante.
Cayetano Garcia additionally qualified for the SPT final in Las Palmas (Canary Island) in December.
Congratulations to all these three meritorious poker finalists!
