Stunning the audience in attendance at the Casino di Venezi Ca Vendramin Calergi, Rocco Palumbo fought back from the bottom of the standings to win the World Poker Tour’s Venice Grand Prix Saturday night.
Although there were plenty of home country favorites for the Italians to cheer for (chip leader Marcello Montagner, Erion Islamay and World Series of Poker bracelet holder Palumbo), sentiment in the crowd seemed to favor Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton. Normally relegated to the broadcast booth at WPT events, this time around Sexton found himself in the midst of the action in third place at the start of the final table. Roberto Begni and Xia Lin filled out the final two seats as the cards hit the air on Saturday afternoon.
Montagner was able to extend his lead early in the day’s play when he went to battle against Islamay. After Islamay moved all in from the button, Montagner decided to look him up from the small blind and he had the goods. Montagner’s pocket tens were ahead of Islamay’s A-6 steal attempt and a ten on the flop virtually ended any discussion about who would win the hand. Although Islamay would pick up a gut shot straight draw on the turn, it didn’t come home on the river to send him out of the event in sixth place.
Palumbo was also making some moves to push his way up from the bottom of the table. Starting the day tied for fourth, Palumbo made judicious use of the all-in move to garner some much needed chips. He would give some of those over to Sexton, however, who patiently waited for the most opportune moment to strike his opponents on the felt. After doubling up through Begni’s A-Q with pocket Aces, however, Palumbo was in much healthier shape as well as being a contender for the championship.
The Italian pro would also be the beneficiary of the next knockout in the tournament. After opening up from early position, Begni called but Lin pushed his remaining stack to the center. Palumbo isolated with an all-in of his own, forcing Begni from the hand, and showed an A-J to crush Lin’s A-6. He would make an unnecessary straight on the turn to close out the hand and send Lin into the Venetian evening in fifth place.
After Lin’s departure, Sexton ramped up his action on the table. He would take three consecutive hands to keep himself in the mix, but Palumbo and Montagner were also quite aggressive. The brunt of that aggression was Begni, who would eventually fall to Montagner when his A-6 was cruelly defeated by Montagner when he hit a deuce on the river with his J-2.
Down to three handed, Montagner and Palumbo had been able to pull away from Sexton a bit and the veteran pro was unable to make much headway into rising any further. As Montagner and Palumbo passed chips back and forth, Sexton couldn’t find anything to get into the action with. The end of the tournament for the venerable ambassador of the game came in a three way pot that didn’t lack for drama.
After Sexton opened the betting, Montagner made the call and Palumbo came along for the ride also. The J-7-6 flop brought another bet from Sexton but only Montagner would join him to see the turn. On the Ace turn, Montagner checked his options and Sexton moved all in. Montagner nearly beat Sexton into the pot with his call, showing A-7 for a turned two pair. Sexton could only manage a J-9 for a pair of Jacks and, once he missed hitting trips on the river five, Sexton was out of the tournament in third place.
Even with the knockout of Sexton, Montagner was still behind Palumbo by about a million chips and the heads up match didn’t take long. Although Montagner would take the first hand of heads up play, Palumbo went on a tear that slowly saw Montagner’s stack cross over to his. The final hand was a stunner that would shock those around the table.
After Palumbo made a bet, Montagner three bet the action to 170K and Palumbo made the call to see the flop. The J-10-8 flop saw Montagner fire again on the arrangement, but this time Palumbo raised it up to 480K. Montagner made the call and an innocuous four appeared on the turn. Montagner pushed all in and Palumbo snapped off the call, showing J-8 for a flopped two pair. He still had to dodge a wealth of outs, as Montagner’s pocket nines held open-ended draws to the straight as well as the two other nines in the deck, but the river three wasn’t one of them, earning Rocco Palumbo the championship of the WPT Venice Grand Prix.
1. Rocco Palumbo, $180,097
2. Marcello Montagner, $108,316
3. Mike Sexton, $69,723
4. Roberto Begni, $51,585
5. Xia Lin, $38,721
6. Erion Islamay, $31,002
Not only did Palumbo earn the right to put his name on the WPT Champions’ Cup and a ticket to Las Vegas for the WPT Championship in May, but he also puts his name on the list of players who are striving for poker’s mythical Triple Crown (WPT, WSOP and European Poker Tour championships).
The WPT now moves on to Barcelona, Spain for their next tournament at the Casino Barcelona beginning on April 5. The field for that tournament may be a bit sparse, as the inaugural WSOP stop in Melbourne, Australia, begins on April 4, but for now Rocco Palumbo can celebrate being the latest champion of the WPT.
