The 2009 installment of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Festa al Lago began on Wednesday and ultimately sported a field of 275 runners after an extended registration period. Now, just 11 remain, led by Jason “StatusUp” Lavallee, who boasts a stack of nearly 4.1 million.
Taken out in 12th place and serving as the final elimination on Saturday was Steve Brecher, who won the Season VII Bay 101 Shooting Star event for just over $1 million. Brecher held pocket nines and rivered a set on a board of J-10-7-5-9. However, Jason Burt had K-Q and the same river card gave him a straight and the win in the hand. Burt owns the sixth largest stack in the room entering play on Sunday at 1.2 million and Brecher’s 12th place showing was worth $47,000.
Matt “All In At 420” Stout, a Lock Poker pro, was sent packing in 13th place on Saturday. Stout shoved on a board of J-8-3-4 with pocket tens, but ran into a set of threes belonging to Craig Crivello. Needing to hit one of the two remaining tens in the deck, Stout watched as the river came a king. Hitting the rails in 14th place was Rob Tepper, who pushed his nine big blind stack all-in pre-flop with K-2, but ran into the pocket tens of Aaron “aejones” Jones. The board came A-8-7-2-Q, which sent Tepper packing, $39,000 richer for his wear.
Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar hit the skids in 15th place. The accomplished poker pro, who won the Season VII WPT Borgata Poker Open for $1.4 million, was eliminated at the hands of Lavallee. The classic race situation featured Lavallee holding A-K of diamonds and Rajkumar boasting pocket queens. The flop came king-high and Rajkumar could not catch up, ensuring that he would not make his second WPT final table. Instead, Rajkumar banked a $39,000 consolation prize.
Here are the chip stacks of the 11 remaining players in the Festa al Lago, which emanates from the Bellagio in Las Vegas:
1. Jason Lavallee – 4,063,000
2. Freddy Deeb – 2,319,000
3. Shawn Cunix – 2,189,000
4. Kido Pham – 1,500,000
5. Tommy Vedes – 1,437,000
6. Jason Burt – 1,194,000
7. Larry Berg – 810,000
7. Chris Bjorin – 810,000
9. Richard Sciuto – 738,000
10. Aaron Jones – 679,000
11. Craig Crivello – 539,000
Jones was prominently featured on the G4 online poker reality show “2 Months, $2 Million,” which aired its season finale last week. Vedes, meanwhile, has received a bevy of face time during ESPN’s broadcast of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, a tournament he took 19th in for $352,000. Vedes made the final table of a $1,500 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better tournament at this year’s WSOP as well, taking fifth place for $47,000. He is fresh off an 18th place effort in the WPT’s Merit Cyprus Classic for $17,000.
The money bubble burst during play on Saturday, with the top 27 on the leaderboard walking away with cash. Here’s a list of those who made the money yesterday at the Bellagio:
12. Steve Brecher – $47,710
13. Matthew Stout – $39,760
14. Robert Tepper – $39,760
15. Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar – $39,760
16. Dutch Boyd – $31,805
17. Jeff Blenkarn – $31,805
18. Matt Glantz – $31,805
19. Terry Ryan – $23,855
20. Jonas Entin – $23,855
21. Corwin Cole – $23,855
22. Lee Markholt – $23,855
23. Chad “lilholdem954” Batista – $23,855
24. Mark Seif – $23,855
25. Chris Ferguson – $23,855
26. Prahlad Friedman – $23,855
27. Markus “LURPED” Gonsalves – $23,855
The tournament will play down to its six-handed final table today and then crown a champion on Monday.
