Congratulations to Amer Sulaiman, your 2009 PokerStars.net LAPT Playa Conchal Main Event Champion!

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Amer Sulaiman poses with Team PokerStars Costa Rica pro Humberto Brenes

What started as a casual holiday in Costa Rica for Iraqi-born Amer Sulaiman turned into the trip of a lifetime. Sulaiman only heard about the tournament after he'd arrived in Costa Rica and decided to play on a whim. The decision proved to be a wise one. After four gruelling days of poker, Amer Sulaiman is your first LAPT Season 3 champion!

Sulaimon will take home $172,095 in prize money for his first place finish -- the largest win of his poker-playing career.

Runner-up Sol Bergren was deeply disappointed after the match:

"I got run over once again," he told PokerNews. "I don't feel very good right now... third time in a major spot where I got second place again," said Bergren.

While second place is often bittersweet, Bergren will no doubt be able to use the $100,000+ he earned for second place to fund additional world travels. Bergren's finish here today was the second largest score of his young career.

Here's a quick look back at the rest of the final table results (and no, this tournament was not held in Canada):

1st: Amer Sulaiman (Canada) - $172,095
2nd: Sol Bergren (Canada) - $100,492
3rd: Rogelio Pardo (Costa Rica) - $61,551
4th: Eric Levesque (Canada) - $45,221
5th: Francis-Nicolas Bouchard (Canada) - $32,660
6th: Darren Keyes (Canada) - $26,380
7th: Carlos Giron (Guatemala) - $20,098
8th: Patrick De Koster (Netherlands) - $13,818

That concludes our coverage of the 2009 PokerStars.net APPT Playa Conchal Main Event. Next week, the PokerNews live reporting team will be in two places at once, covering the PokerStars.com EPT Prague Main Event in the Czech Republic and the PokerStars.net APPT Sydney Grand Final in Australia.

Until then, from the Paradisus Playa Conchal Resort and Casino in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, good night and good luck!

Tags: Amer Sulaiman Humberto Brenes