There is so much activity going on right now for the World Poker Tour, it is difficult for the average poker fan to keep up with the hectic pace. For a Thursday, however, one of the events has closed for the day: the WPT Gioco Digitale Venice has wrapped up in Italy for the night, with Alessio Isaia heading the final 18 players left in the field.
It was an intimate crowd that came out for the Venice stop on the Season XII schedule, with only 144 players staking their claim for a WPT title. 47 of those players were still around at the start of play on Thursday, with Andrea Dato holding a slim lead over Sam Trickett when the cards hit the air. Other notables still in the mix at the start of the day included Sotirios Koutoupas, Kara Scott, former WPT champion Giacomo Fundaro and Jan Olav Sjavik.
Sjavik scored one of the first eliminations of the day when he went to battle against Christian Nuvola. On a J-8-4 flop, Nuvola check raised Sjavik and Sjavik moved his stack to the center, presenting Nuvola with a dilemma. After some thought, Nuvola called and was correct in his action, turning up J-8 for top two pair against Sjavik’s pocket Kings. The turn was devastating, however, coming with a King that improved Sjavik to a set and left Nuvola drawing dead as the meaningless river was dealt and Sjavik improved to 250,000 in chips.
Dato, meanwhile, was looking to keep ahold of his position as the leader. He would be responsible for knocking out Scott, who pushed her final chips in by calling a Dato five bet all in. Scott turned up an excellent pair of pocket Jacks, but it was no match for Dato’s pocket Aces. After the board failed to bring either of Scott’s remaining Jacks or any straight, she headed to the exits of the Casino di Venezia.
Isaia would start to make his move as the sun set on the canals of Venice. IN a battle against Trickett, Isaia opened the betting in late position and, with no action in between them, Trickett decided to defend his blind. An A-J-9 flop brought checks from both players but, once another Ace hit on the turn, Trickett mucked his hand after a small bet from Isaia. The pot pushed Isaia up to 200K in chips and it would only get better for him from there.
Although he would stumble a bit following the dinner break in doubling up a player, Isaia caught fire late in the night. He used a set of eights against Steve Watts to get over 300,000 in chips and would add just enough to that stack to keep him ahead of Koutoupas once the money bubble burst with the elimination of Marko Mikovic (by Koutoupas) to end the night:
1. Alessio Isaia, 461,500
2. Sotirios Koutoupas, 431,500
3. Michele Sigoli, 379,500
4. Diego Zeiter, 377,500
5. Sam Trickett, 350,000
6. Sveva Libralesso, 316,000
7. Antonio Bernaudo, 273,500
8. Steve Watts, 252,000
9. Ivan Gabrielli, 244,500
10. Jan Olav Sjavik, 243,500
11. Mario Vojvoda, 227,500
12. Lasse Frost, 190,000
13. Andrea Dato, 127,500
14. Max Pescatori, 127,000
15. Ferdinando Lo Cascio, 120,500
16. Victor Niklaevich Ilyukhin, 118,000
17. Eros Mossali, 110,500
18. Maurizio Saleva, 54,000
All 18 of the remaining players are guaranteed a $6947 (U. S.) payday, but they all have their eyes on the $145,859 first place prize as the final goal.
After starting out with a less than stunning number of players for the tournament, the WPT Venice has actually turned out a pretty good cast of characters for the final 18. Isaia is a past WPT champion (winning the Venice stop in 2011 for a $518,382 payday), while Koutoupas is coming off his first ever major championship victory at the European Poker Tour Deauville in January. Trickett and Sjavik are both dangerous players and, if you’re looking down the leaderboard for a “dark horse,” Dato and Pescatori both have skills.
Action resumes in Venice at approximately 9:30AM (East Coast Time) on Friday, at which time the final 18 will carve themselves down to the final six who will vie for the WPT Venice championship on Saturday.
