The partypoker LIVE MILLIONS South America played down to a champion at the Copacabana Palace Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Bruno Volkmann headed into the final table with the chip lead. The other finalists also included Matas Cimbolas, Sam Gagnon, Ciao Hey, Martin Mathis, and Vlada Stojanovic. The final three made a deal and Martin Mathis emerged as the champion after defeating Bruno Volkmann in a lengthy heads-up battle. Mathis banked R$3,494,800 for his victory, or approximately $900K.

Vamooooooooos! Brazil is always a fun place to visit for work or pleasure. Copacabana Palace Hotel in Rio de Janeiro hosted the latest stop on the global poker circuit. The partypoker LIVE Millions played out in Rio with a $10K event. The MILLIONS South America had a $5 million guarantee with $1 million (or R$4 million) set aside for first place.
The Millions South America attracted 439 total runners. The top 55 were paid out, but the top few places were awarded most of the cheesecake. A cool million was initially set aside for first place. Alas, the final three arranged a deal between Martin Mathis, Matas Cimbolas, and Bruno Volkmann. When the dust settled, Mathis picked off Volkmann heads-up to win the title, trophy, and pile of cash.
Brazil's Bruno Volkmann headed into Day 4 with the chip lead and he bagged up the lead at the end of the day. He headed into the final table with the chip lead with 146M or over 54M more than Canada's Sam Gagnon in second with 92M. Mata Cimbolas was third overall with 83M and Vlada Stojanovic fourth with 67M. Caio Hey (aka Hey Carlos De Lima) started the final table as the short stack with Martin Robert Mathis also nursing a short stack.
Caio Hey became the first player to exit the final table when he made a final stand with pocket deuces versus Sam Gagnon's pocket sevens. Mathis' Big Slick flushed out Vlada Stojanovic in fifth place. Sam Gagnon hit the bricks when Bruno turned a set of fours. Canada's Gagnon banked nearly R$1.5 million for fourth place.
The final three cut a deal and at that juncture, Bruno Volkmann held the lead with 207M, followed by Mathis 163K and Cimbolas' shorty with 66M. Cimbolas locked up R$2.2M, Mathis picked up R$2.65M, and Volkmann's share was worth R$2.75 million, or approximately $687K USD. They also left R$848K on the table to the champ.
The Matas Cimbolas Show came to an abrupt halt when his Ace-five was no good against Mathis' . The American flopped a pair of tens and the Lithuanian failed to improve. Cimbolas hit the road in third place.
With two to go, Mathis found himself heads up against Bruno. It was America vs. Brasil in the finale.
Mathis sniffed out a bluff with to snag the lead. He couldn't put away Bruno right away. The Brazilian was not about to go quietly into the night. After a couple of hours of a heads-up slog, Mathis finally pulled away.
The American landed the fatal blow with the classic hand: Queen-deuce versus Queen-eight. Neither player improved when the board ran out, but Bruno's hand could not come from behind to win.
Bruno Volkmann settled on a runner-up up finish, which was worth R$2,750,000 per terms of the deal. He banked approximately $687K USD for second place. Not too shabby, eh?
Martin Mathis won the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS South America for R$3,494,800 or approximately $900K.
Mike Skelenicka bubbled off the final table in seventh place. Among the notables who cashed in the MILLIONS South America included... Pat Leonard, Ming Loeser, Alexanros Kolonias, Mike Restrepo, Billy Blais, Bryan Piccioli, Tom Middleton, Pat Mahoney, Marcel Kuhn, Sam Grafton, Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Robin Xavier Hegele, Guillermo Gordo Cifuentes, Richie Trigg, Oscar Alache, Janibaal El Saneh, Renato Nomura, Andrew Teng, Andres Korn, and Jack Sinclair.
partypoker LIVE MILLIONS South America
Buy-in: $10,300
Prize Pool: $5 million
Entrants: 439
Payouts: 55
Final Table Results:
1. Martin Mathis (USA) R$3,494,800 ***
2. Bruno Volkmann (Brazil) R$2,750,000 ***
3. Matas Cimbolas (Lithuiana) R$2,232,000 ***
4. Sam Gagnon (Canada) B$1,480,000
5. Vlada Stojanovic (Serbia) B$1,200,000
6. Caio Hey (Brazil) B$1,000,000
*** 3-way deal