Home / Poker News December 2008 / First ever Italian EPT champ crowned
First ever Italian EPT champ crowned
Posted by: James Carter. - Mon, 2008-12-15 05:09
Salvatore Bonevana began the
EPT Prague final table with the chip lead. When all was said and done and the dust settled over the final table, it was him who was still standing, even though he lost his chip lead twice during the final table tussles. The heads-up stage of the tournament was an all-Italian affair, as Bonevana defeated the challenge of Massimo Di Cicco. The EPT trophy and the €774,000 prize came with a plateful of national pride on the side as the winner posed for the cameras wrapped in the Italian flag.
Raul Mestre opened the trickle of eliminations doing what every poker player would have done, going all-in with his Ac,7c on his short-stack. He found a reluctant caller in Fredrik Nygard who had a pair of 9s in his pocket. The turn did land an A to put Mestre in the lead but the heart on the river filled up Nygard’s flush and Mestre headed to the rail.
Nasr el Nasr pushed all-in next on a Kd, Jd, and found a caller in Andrew Chen with 10,10. The coin-flip was decided on the flop when another 10 landed to give Chen a set. Nasr never caught up and he became the 7th taking home almost $100k.
Nygard was eliminated next by the same Andrew Chen when his A,8 failed to take home the advantage against Chen’s Q,2 which caught a low pair on the flop.
Francesco Cirianni was bounced next by Chen. His Ah, 8h ran into Chen’s A, Q, on aboard which brought along a bunch of low cards and failed to hit either of the hands involved.
Alexiou Konstantinos had been one of the loose cannons of the final table, keeping up the pressure as his stack went from micro to huge and then back again. He was eliminated in 4th by Bonavena when his 3,3 ran out of steam on the river against Bonavena’s K,Q.
Andrew Chen fell 3rd, and Bonavena kicked off the heads-up stage against Massimo Di Cicco, holding a huge chip lead. He did relinquish that lead briefly during the one-hour long heads-up play but eventually prevailed.
