History may be in the works at the final table of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Festa al Lago, as Freddy Deeb vies for his record-tying third WPT title. Deeb holds a slight chip lead over Shawn Cunix entering the six-handed televised table.
Deeb’s first title came during Season IV, when he took down the Aruba Poker Classic for $1 million. He defeated Josh Schlein heads-up in a final table that also featured Johan Storakers, Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter, Robert Border, and Stacy Matuson. A total of 647 players turned out, far more than the 275 who entered this year’s Main Event in Aruba. Deeb’s other title came in Season VII at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, the site of the annual WPT Celebrity Invitational.
If successful, Deeb will join Full Tilt Poker pro Gus Hansen as the only players to win three WPT titles. Hansen is fifth on the WPT’s all-time money list with just over $4 million, but hasn’t won a title since Season II.
Deeb picked off a bluff by Richard Sciuto during play on Sunday at the Bellagio, as Sciuto raised pre-flop and Deeb made the call to see the board come K-J-10. Both players checked to see a five on the turn. Deeb check-raised all-in and Sciuto folded, pushing the poker pro’s stack to 2.5 million. He ended play with 3.8 million to pace the field.
Cunix holds the second largest stack heading into the final table of the Festa al Lago with 3.7 million. He sent Kido Pham packing in eighth place on Sunday to help his cause. Pham moved over the top of a pre-flop raise by Cunix holding A-10 and his opponent made the call with A-Q. The board ran out 6-4-3-4-K and Cunix’s queen kicker played, sending Pham out the door in eighth for $89,000. Cunix finished 28th in last year’s Festa al Lago Main Event for $31,000.
Tommy Vedes, who has received a bundle of face time during ESPN’s coverage of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, proved that his deep run in that tournament was no fluke, making the final table of the Festa al Lago. Vedes eliminated Chris Bjorin in tenth place after coming out on the winning end of a race with pocket queens against A-K. Bjorin added a flush draw by the river, but the final card bricked out to send him out of the event $47,000 richer for his wear. Vedes holds the third largest stack at the Bellagio with nearly three million.
Craig Crivello sits in fourth place with 2.6 million chips. He was the executioner of online poker pro Aaron “aejones” Jones, who was featured heavily in the G4 reality series “2 Months, $2 Million.” Jones shoved with K-8 pre-flop, but ran into Crivello’s pocket jacks. Crivello added a third jack on the turn and Jones earned $129,000 for his seventh place showing along with the title of Final Table Bubble Boy.
Jason “StatusUp” Lavallee, the chip leader entering the play down day, wound up in fifth entering the final table with a stack of two million. He bounced Sciuto in ninth place with pocket kings against pocket nines after the board ran out J-5-4-10-8. Lavallee’s only other WPT cash came in the Season V PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, a tournament he finished 40th in for $17,000. Rounding out the Festa al Lago final table is Jason Burt, who will be the short stack on Monday when play resumes with 1.4 million chips.
Here’s how the final table stacks up:
1. Freddy Deeb – 3,840,000
2. Shawn Cunix – 3,670,000
3. Tommy Vedes – 2,990,000
4. Craig Crivello – 2,570,000
5. Jason Lavallee – 2,045,000
6. Jason Burt – 1,375,000
Each player remaining is assured at least $168,000, with a top prize of $1.2 million up for grabs. We’ll have full results on Tuesday right here on Poker News Daily.
