Italy’s Rocco Palumbo wins WPT Venice

Posted by Steve Ruddock on Mar 30, 2013 Posted in Poker News | No Comments »

wpt logoIn recent years Italy has stated putting itself on the poker map with a contingent of very talented poker players like Dario Minieri, Luca Pagano, Filippo Candio, Max Martinez, Dario Alioto, and Alessio Isaia to name but a few of the Italian tournament players that having been prospering at major poker tournaments around the globe. Well, it may be time to add a new name to the list in the form of 2013 WPT Grand Prix de Venice Champion Rocco Palumbo.

This isn’t Palumbo’s first trip to victory lane; the young Italian picked-up a World Series of Poker bracelet at last year’s tournament series in Las Vegas, winning Event #44, a $1,000 buy-in No Limit Holdem event worth a cool $464,464, and now Palumbo has added the second leg of the poker Triple Crown to his resume, winning the WPT Venice Main Event –Rocco was a mere 6 players away from winning the 2011 EPT San Remo Main Event where he finished 7th.

Even with Palumbo at the final table in his home country, all eyes were firmly focused on WPT figurehead and Party Poker spokesman Mike Sexton who was sitting at the second WPT final table of his career, and found himself in excellent shape (starting the final table third in chips) to make a run at a WPT trophy. Unfortunately for Sexton he would finish the day in the same position he started, 3rd place, booking a decent $69,723 score.

All things being equal, Palumbo would have been a heavy favorite against the other five players at the final table, including poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton, but in poker things are definitely not equal, and Palumbo had to overcome a fairly short-stack at the outset of Saturday’s final table tilt on his path to victory. Here is a look at the final table seating assignments and chip-counts:

* Seat 1 – Xia Lin – 309,000

* Seat 2 – Rocco Palumbo – 406,000

* Seat 3 – Mike Sexton – 1,079,000

* Seat 4 – Erion Islamay – 406,000

* Seat 5 – Marcello Montagner – 1,805,000

* Seat 6 – Robert Begni – 1,203,000

And here is how the final table played-out on Saturday:

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

The World Poker Tour will now move on to Barcelona, Spain for the WPT bwin Barcelona before heading back stateside for the WPT Hard Rock Showdown at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

 



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