Matthew Waxman Wins World Poker Tour Paris

Thursday September 15,2011 : MATTHEW WAXES WORLD POKER TOUR PARIS
 
Florida pro takes the title and a check for Euro 518,750
 
Matthew Waxman, the Parkland, Florida ace who has been playing professionally for just 3 years, bested a field of 312 to win the World Poker Tour Paris main event over the weekend.
 
The Florida Atlantic psychology grad landed the largest single score of his career with a main prize worth Euro 518,750, driving his live tourney career winnings up to over $1.7 million.
 
It took Waxman only two hands of heads up action to dispatch his final opponent, Frenchman Hugo Lemaire, in the Euro 7,500 buy-in event at the Aviation Club de France at the conclusion of the six-day tournament.
 
The two had earlier faced a final table that included Fred Magen, Byron Kaverman and Mikko Sundell, all of whom took home six-figure prize money, and Martin Jacobson, who was first to the rail but still won Euro 88,900.
 
Early in the event, Waxman held the chip lead but fell behind, entering the final table as the second lowest chip stack.
 
Following the departure of the first final table casualty, the young Florida pro was able to kick-start his game at hand 32 with a huge pot against Finnish pro Mikko Sundell, boosting Waxman's chip stack by 3.7 million and providing him with a firm foundation to start dominating the game.
 
That ultimately led to his 7 to 1 heads up lead, and quick and clean victory at hand 102 over heads up opponent Lemaire, who's runner-up prize was a Euro 311,100 payday.
 
The win brings Waxman's cashes in major live tournaments to over 30.