Full Tilt Poker Pro Erik Cajelais Wins 2009 WSOPE Event 2

- Cajelais Earns His First Bracelet and More Than US$169K in Prize Money

DUBLIN, Sept. 24 /CNW/ - Full Tilt Poker Pro Erik Cajelais wins the World Series of Poker Europe Event 2, claiming his first WSOP bracelet and more than US$169K in prize money.

This is a breakthrough victory for Cajelais, a 27-year-old professional poker player from Montreal who has come close to a major tournament win on several occasions. His best previous finish was second place in the US$5K Pot-Limit Omaha event at the 2007 WSOP.

WSOPE Event 2, a half Pot-Limit Hold 'em and half Pot-Limit Omaha tournament with a buy-in of GBP2,500, attracted 158 of the world's best players to the Empire Casino in London . Day one of the tournament was played at a rapid pace, especially during the action-packed Pot-Limit Omaha rounds. Cajelais dominated the early action, ending the day as the overall chip leader.

Day two continued at the same break-neck speed, culminating with an early start to the final table. Cajelais entered the final table seventh in chips after making his way through the tough day two field. The stacked final table featured four former WSOP bracelet winners, including Team Full Tilt's Howard "The Professor" Lederer, along with Men Nguyen and Hoyt Corkins . Lederer was the first player to bust out from the final table, heading to the rail after his pocket 3s did not hold up against his opponent's A-K.

The tournament was suspended for the night when five-handed play was reached, at which time Cajelais was the short stack and appeared headed for a fifth-place finish. This all changed when play resumed the next afternoon, as Cajelais won a series of big pots to reclaim the chip lead for the first time since the end of day one.

Cajelais dominated the final hour of play, completely taking over the table after busting Nguyen in fourth place. When heads-up play began, Cajelais held an almost 10-to-1 chip lead over Mats Gavatin, a professional poker player from Sweden .

Shortly into their heads-up battle, Cajelais made a full house in a Pot-Limit Omaha hand to eliminated Gavatin and claim his first WSOP bracelet. With this win, Cajelais has earned nearly US$1.7 million playing live tournaments throughout the world.

In celebration of his tremendous victory, Cajelais sprinted down the hall to claim his seat in WSOPE Event 3, the GBP5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha championship, which had started earlier in the afternoon.

To learn more about Erik Cajelais and all of the Full Tilt Poker pros, visit http://www.fulltiltpoker.com.

About Full Tilt Poker

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For further information: Michele Clayborne (on behalf of Team Full Tilt), Tel: [phone]