German poker pro Marvin Rettenmaier had a very good week at the WPT Championship. Not only was Rettenmaier announced as the latest sponsored pro of Party Poker (the company that just happens to own the World Poker Tour) but the young poker pro managed to dominate during the WPT Championship and coast to a victory, with just a few hiccups along the way.

Rettenmaier’s win added nearly $1.2 million to his career tournament earnings and earned him his first major tournament victory –with the WPT $25k Championship considered one of the Top 5 most prestigious tournaments in poker this is a good event to choose as your first victory. So, it’s pretty safe to say that Party Poker has already been paid in full for Rettenmaier’s sponsorship deal!

Despite coming into Saturday’s final table with a massive chip-lead (more than double his nearest opponent) Rettenamier had to battle a tough final table, that included two former WPT Champions in Mike Mizrachi and Nick Schulman, as well as Trevor Pope, Steve O’Dwyer, and Frenchman Phillipe Ktorza who has been quietly building up an impressive poker resume in Europe.

In the end it came down to a battle between Rettenmaier and Ktorza, and the two battled it out for nearly 80 hands before Rettenmaier managed to eliminate Ktorza. Several times during the heads-up duel Ktorza took a commanding chip-lead (the two started heads-up play with Rettenmaier holding a slim lead) only to see “Mad Marvin” battle back and double-up.

After a terrific heads-up battle it seems the poker gods decided to intervene on hand #194 of the final table: With Rettenmaier holding a slight chip-lead he was dealt Pocket Kings, and Ktorza had the bad luck of peeking down at Pocket Jacks, a hand that is near-impossible to fold in heads-up play. The chips went in the middle and the board ran out A-9-3-T-A to give Rettenmaier the WPT Championship.

Even though he was unable to put Rettenmaier away, don’t sleep on Ktorza, the Frenchmen has proven his poker acumen over the past few years and could very well have a breakout WSOP; with his 2012 WSOP schedule likely increasing thanks to the $88k in prize-money he just picked up!

Here is a look at how the final table played out on Saturday:

* 1st place: Marvin Rettenmaier – $1,196,858

* 2nd place: Philippe Ktorza – $805,310

* 3rd place: Michael Mizrachi – $424,618

* 4th place: Nick Schulman – $256,235

* 5th place: Steve O’Dwyer – $192,176

* 6th place: Trevor Pope – $155,571

With the tournament coming to close, this also closes the book on Season X of the World Poker Tour. Now the poker world’s attention will shift focus to the World Series of Poker before the WPT Season XI schedule kicks off after the conclusion of the WSOP –the first event of the Season XI WPT schedule will be in Cyprus.

Results and hand histories are courtesy of the WorldPokerTour.com website

Tags: 25k, Bad Luck, Champ, Dwyer, First Victory, Fren, Frenchman, Hiccups, Mike Mizrachi, Nick Schulman, Opponent, Party Poker, Prestigious Tournaments, Rettenmaier, S Marvin, Sponsorship Deal, Steve O, Tournament Victory, World Poker Tour, WPT Championship

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