The Poker room at Club Hotel Casino Loutraki was filled to capacity as the eight remaining hopefuls took their seats at the final table on Sunday 27 March 2011 in their quest to become the first Greek Poker Cup champion. This was major Poker tournament ever to be held on Greek soil and was hotly contested right from the very start. Initially capped at 200 players, interest in the 1,100 euro buy-in Main Event with a total prize pool of 271,000 euro was so great that the field was quickly extended to the maximum room capacity of 260 as contestants from 16 countries claimed their seats.
In February 2011, Club Hotel Casino Loutraki teamed up with PokerStars – the world’s largest online poker site – to bring major poker tournaments to Greece. As the largest casino in the country and the first to open a dedicated Poker Room, Club Hotel Casino Loutraki was always the venue of choice for the first such event.
The action at the tables was thrilling from Day 1. Poker is one of the fastest growing competitive games in Greece, and the country’s players are known for their aggressive style of play and Mediterranean flair. So with seven “home” players among the eight at the final table, fans and spectators were in for a real treat on Sunday. After around seven hours of suspense, stacks and bluffs, 23-year-old Georgios Grigoropoulos from Athens emerged victorious in the heads up against Swedish professional Daniel Carlsson to take home the title and the first prize of 69,100 euro.