Spanish poker player wins PartyPoker tournament | IXGAMES
PartyPoker.com crowned its second Late Night Poker Ace in their search for the worlds best amateur. Raul Mestre, 24 years old, banked $50,000 as the tournament final was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK. 
Mestre hails from Valencia, Spain, fended off several of the top amateur poker players to take the title and qualified for the PartyPoker.com Late Night Poker Masters tournament, where he locked horns with some of the strongest professionals in the game. ‘There were two times when I went all-in with just a 50% chance of winning and luckily I won both times, said Mestre. ‘This is the way poker works, it is a game of skill but sometimes you cannot avoid taking risks. Avoiding too many unnecessary risks is the key. Like the first Late Night Poker Ace, the tournament is open to amateurs only and to qualify for the televised games, players had to battle it out in a series of online qualification tournaments on PartyPoker.com. During the final heat, Raul trailed second behind the Swede Simon Ehne but pipped him to the post in a tight final. Raul added, ‘I mainly play cash games, usually with small stakes, with my biggest win to date being around $16,000 in an online tournament. I do intend to play in some more big poker tournaments in the coming months but will have to see how it goes. ‘Raul played an excellent game throughout and also had some interesting duels with Simon Ehne, who he eventually beat into second place, said a PartyPoker.com spokesperson. ‘The standard of poker we saw in the tournament was incredibly high and again emphasises the ever decreasing gap between the professional and amateur game.