World Tennis Number One Rafa Nadal Wins Live Poker Tournament in Prague

PRAGUE, December 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Tennis star beats Brazilian football legend Ronaldo and world number one poker player Daniel Negreanu to win €50,000 for charity

World tennis number one Rafa Nadal emerged as winner of the EPT Charity Challenge, beating Brazilian football legend Ronaldo and world number one poker player Daniel Negreanu.

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The tournament, played as part of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague poker festival has been dubbed the greatest gathering of sporting professionals at a poker table. Nadal, Ronaldo and Negreanu joined former Ukrainian footballer Andriy Shevchenko, Italian skier Alberto Tomba and Dutch Olympic field hockey gold medallist Fatima Moreira de Melo - competing for their share of a €100,000 charity prize pool.

This was Rafa's first live poker tournament since taking up the game 18 months ago, and the win adds to a spectacular list of 2013 on-court triumphs. "I played for the first time in a live poker tournament and it was a big honour to play against a lot of stars around me, some in sports and other ones in poker. I had fun and I enjoyed it, and I felt a little bit lucky that I finally won," said Rafa.

The turning point for Nadal was knocking out the world's number one poker player Daniel Negreanu. Daniel said: "Nadal played a solid game and he didn't make any mistakes. He knew when to make adjustments, to play more aggressively and he did. It was good fun, and the bottom line is that everybody wins, because all the prize money is going to good causes."

Rafa will be donating the €50,000 first prize to The Good Hand Project, a cause he has been supporting with other Spanish celebrities and the poker community to help young people back into work.

To watch all the live action from the EPT, visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/Pokerstars/new

About the European Poker Tour

The European Poker Tour (EPT) is the world's biggest and richest poker tour. Since 2004, the EPT has paid out over €550 million in tournament prize pools, and hosted successful festivals all over Europe. The EPT also operates the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), which takes place every January in the Bahamas and is the largest poker festival outside of Las Vegas.  

Season 10 of the EPT builds on the success of a decade of world-class live poker events, and major poker festivals will be held in Barcelona, London, Prague, Deauville, Vienna and Sanremo, with the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final to be held in Monaco.  

Further information on the EPT is available online at http://www.europeanpokertour.com

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SOURCE PokerStars