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PETER VILANDOS WINS THIRD WSOP GOLD BRACELET
Jun 30 2012 06:08 PM EST
No Bailout for this Greek: Peter Vilandos Earns Third WSOP Gold Bracelet
Athens-Born Investor and Poker Player Wins $5,000 Buy-In Limit Hold’em (Event #50)
"Happy cards go to happy people. And, I'm happy."
-- Peter Vilandos (explaining how he won his third WSOP victory)Las Vegas, NV (July 1, 2012) – It may very well go down as the most exciting day in poker history.
2. The 2012 Ladies World Poker Championship.
3. Two 3,000-plus player fields.
4. And, the biggest buy-in poker tournament in the history of the world.
These were the headline stories coming out of the Rio Las Vegas, on Sunday.
If those were the headlines, then one of stars was clearly Panayote "Peter" Vilandos. The 72-year-old Greek-born retiree, now living in Houston, won the $5,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament, which was completed on an unscheduled fourth day of play. Indeed, the field was so big and so tough that three players returned from an impromptu finale, which lasted an additional four hours past the third day.
Vilandos defeated a brutally tough tournament lineup of 1,001 players, including many of the world's best No-Limit Hold'em players. He was well-compensated for his achievement. Vilandos pocketed the whopping sum of $952,694 in prize money. Vilandos was also presented with his third career WSOP gold bracelet.
Vilandos has been playing in WSOP events for twenty years. He previously won gold bracelets in 1995 (Pot-Limit Omaha), and 2009 (No-Limit Hold'em). This marked his 21st time to cash. His combined lifetime earnings at the WSOP now total more than $2.5 million.
The runner up was Kyle Julius, a 25-year-old poker pro from Naperville, IL. He accepted a nice consolation prize totaling $589,687.
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-- by Nolan Dalla
