A poker player who shares the name of the American Civil War’s most famous photographer has won a Caribbean poker tournament.

Matthew Brady, 27, of Havertown, Pennsylvania, USA, on Saturday won the 2008 Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic, an offline poker tournament run by online poker room Ultimate Bet (www.ultimatebet.com) at the Radisson Hotel and Casino on the tiny Caribbean island nation of Aruba.

For the victory, Brady earned a cool $1 million.

The event was a no-limit Texas hold ‘em tourney that had 551 entrants, a $5,500 buy-in and a total prize pool of just over $3 million.

The runnerup in the tournament, Johan Storakers, earned a not too shabby $486,000 for his efforts.

Coming in third was Jeff Papola, who took home $250,000.

In fourth place was Allie Prescott, who pocketed $150,000.

Brandon Terry took fifth place and picked up $116,400.

Finishing sixth was Brian Malczewski, who snagged $83,120.

In seventh spot was Jason Pohl, who collected $58,500.

Previous winners of the event include Travis Rice last year, Devon Miller in 2006, Fred Deeb in 2005, Eric Brenes in 2004, Erick Lindgren in 2003 and Juha Helppi in 2002, the first year of the tournament.

Utlimate Bet’s decision to continue holding a poker tournament in Aruba that involves mostly American participants may seem curious, if not downright stupid, to some.

For the past few years, Aruba has been best known for being the scene of the murder of American college student Natalee Holloway.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)