Deciding on a pleasant vacation on the Mediterranean rather than slogging through the record setting field in Atlantic City, 2011 World Series of Poker November Niner Matt Giannetti made the most of his stay by winning the World Poker Tour stop at the Casino in Portomaso, Malta, early Sunday morning.
240 players stepped up to take on the challenge of this latest stop on the WPT European circuit, building a €720,000 prize pool from the €3000 buy ins. One of the upcoming superstars of the European poker community, Tristan Clemencon, was at the helm when the eight players returned to the Casino at Portomaso to determine the six handed final table (and the championship) and there were plenty of challenges awaiting the Frenchman. Giannetti was sitting with the second largest stack, while the lone female remaining in the tournament, Italy’s Cecilia Pescaglini, held down third place. Lurking as the short stacks, however, were noted English poker veteran Simon “Aces” Trumper and 2010 WPT Bratislava final tablist Chris Williamson.
It would take three hours to determine the six handed final table and it was achieved in stunning fashion. Williamson moved his final 200K in chips to the center of the table pre-flop and drew a call from Pescaglini. Pescaglini, whose chip stack saw more ups and downs than the stock market, made the call and tabled her 7-6 of diamonds, saying to Williamson, “You have Ace-King?” Indeed he did and, through the 5-3-3-10 rainbow flop and turn, Williamson held the lead. The river would bring a stunner, a four, giving Pescaglini her gut shot straight draw and eliminating Williamson from the event on the final table bubble.
That hand catapulted Pescaglini to the chip lead with 2.245 million in chips, with Giannetti the only other player over the one million chip mark (1.93 million). Within the first two hands, the final table was reduced by a player as Simon Trumper dumped Fabien Sartoris when Trumper’s pocket fives held up against the K-9 off suit of Sartoris. Within another ten hands, Pescaglini would once again pull some magic out to eliminate a player.
After an active Trumper opened the action and Tristan Clemencon made the call, Pescaglini three bet the pot to 230K. This was enough to get “Aces” to go away, but Tristan quickly pushed his remaining stack to the middle of the felt and Cecilia made the call. Holding pocket Kings, Clemencon held the lead over Pescaglini through the J-10-8-3 flop, but the river Ace turned the tables and eliminated Tristan Clemencon in fifth place.
With this hand, Pescaglini seemed poised to become the first woman to win an open WPT event in history, having built a substantial lead. Just a few hands after Clemencon’s elimination, Pescaglini would do it again, this time to Trumper. After a pre-flop all in from the English champion, Pescaglini decided to gamble, making the call. She was behind Simon’s pocket sevens with her A-8, but fortune would once again smile on her. A turn Ace gave her the lead and, although she had to fade the potential set and straight draw that would beat her, a blank river gave Pescaglini the hand and eliminated Simon Trumper in fourth place.
Once Simon left the final table, the rapid pace of eliminations began to subside as Pescaglini lost some of the mojo that had gotten her to this point. She lost a big pot to Giannetti, then doubled up a very quiet Filippo Bianchini to even out the stacks somewhat. It would take over six hours and 100 hands of play before heads up action was determined.
After Pescaglini decimated his stack, Bianchini found himself with his remaining chips at risk in a family pot. Bianchini was eliminated when Giannetti’s pocket sixes held up over his open ended straight draw on a 7-5-2-5-2 board (Pescaglini held A-10) and was eliminated in third place.
Pescaglini held the lead as heads up play began and pushed the action heavily, winning six of the first seven hands. The tide turned, however, when Matt was able to get Cecilia to come along with him on a J-4-5-10-9 board; once Giannetti revealed his pocket Aces, Pescaglini mucked her hand and the lead switched hands. Two hands later, the tournament was over.
After the twosome saw a 10-8-2 flop, Pescaglini pushed 550K over the line and Giannetti moved all in. Making the call, Cecilia tabled a Q-10 for top pair while Matt exposed 9-7 for an open ended straight draw. A Jack on the turn gave Giannetti the lead and, once he dodged a nine on the river that would have given Pescaglini a bigger straight, Matt Giannetti was crowned the champion of the WPT Malta.
1. Matt Giannetti – $273,200*
2. Cecilia Mescaline – $159,412
3. Filippo Bianchini – $104,936
4. Simon Trumper – $72,985
5. Tristan Clementon – $54,381
6. Fabien Sartoris – $41,977
* – Adjusted payout from Euro to U. S. Dollar
For Giannetti, it looks as though his poker game is in excellent shape when he returns to the Rio in Las Vegas for the “November Nine” festivities a short 44 days from now. He will be the third largest stack when the tournament resumes on November 5, behind only chip leader Martin Staszko and Eoghan O’Dea.
The European arm of the WPT will swing back into action in November with a stop at the Seven Casino d’Amneville in France from November 1-6. The American arm of the WPT will get back into play a little sooner, holding the World Poker Finals at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, from October 27 through November 1.
