Home / Poker News February 2010 / PokerStars NAPT Main Event – Tom Marchese wins
PokerStars NAPT Main Event – Tom Marchese wins
Posted by: Randy Williams - Fri, 2010-02-26 05:35
The final day of the
PokerStars North American Poker Tour saw an epic heads-up battle between eventual winner Tom Marchese and Sam Stein, the player who had dominated the previous day as well as the preceding final table hostilities.
Stein began the day with the largest stack, and he’d never relinquish his vantage-position. He plowed through the final table eliminating and crippling players left and right, even when the odds were stacked against him.
He got it all-in against John Cernuto, on a middle pair against Cernuto’s top pair. He then proceeded to hit a two pair to send Cernuto to the rail.
Against Daniel Clemente, he had top pair, but the latter had an over-pair and Stein was in trouble again. He hit a runner-runner straight to get out of that tight spot.
Not much later, his pocket Js were up against David Parades’ pocket rockets. The flop gave him a third J to send Parades packing.
These were some of the events that lead up to the heads-up confrontation between Stein and Marchese. Having knocked out so many players, Stein Enjoyed an obvious chip advantage: he had 16.38 million chips against Marchese’s 9.6 million, and the battle looked like a lock from the get go. Stein wasted no time putting his large stack to work, and he soon had his opponent on the ropes. Just when it looked like the bell had tolled for Marchese, a crucial hand unfolded. The flop fell 6,K,5 rainbow and Marchese put in a bet. He got called on every street, right up to the river (10c – the turn was a 4), when he shoved all-in. Stein triumphantly made the call and tabled a Jd, 5d, against Marchese’s K,9o. That move gave Marchese the chip lead.
The final hand of the confrontation came only 10 minutes later. The money went all-in on a board of 9,5,4,3,10, following a few called bets on the flop and the turn. Marchese had 10,10 for the rivered set against Stein’s pair of 4s.
Marchese collected $827,949 for the win, and Stein picked up more than half a million dollars for his second place.
Daniel Celemente finished 3rd for $309,366.
