Home / Poker News October 2009 / WPT Festa al Lago – Tommy Vedes scores the win
WPT Festa al Lago – Tommy Vedes scores the win
Posted by: James Carter. - Wed, 2009-10-28 15:33
Tommy Vedes bested a starting field of 275 players to win the WPT’s Festa al Lago event at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The winner’s share of the prize-pool was a whooping $1,218,225. Vedes crossed swords with Jason Lavallee heads-up for that fortune, and eventually managed to emerge on top, scoring his first ever WPT win. A regular presence on the live circuit, Vedes had come close to winning various events, and made deep runs on some of the most prestigious tournaments, like the 2009
WSOP Main event where he finished in 19th place.
The six handed final table was everything but a stroll in the park for the eventual winner. The first victim of the final table was Shawn Cunix, who fell at Vedes’ hands, but it took well over an hour for Cunix to succumb. He busted in 6th place, and Vedes had to hit a four outer to finally break the ice. Cunix took home $168,970 for his efforts.
Freddy Deeb then swung into action and managed to eliminate Jason Burt in 5th place, hitting a pair with his A,Qo on the flop. Burt’s finish earned him a $208,725 prize.
Little did Deeb know that Burt’s chips would bear no luck for him. He became the very next victim, hitting the rail 4th, at the hands of Tommy Vedes. His Ace high proved to be no match for Vedes’ pocket 6s.
The following elimination was that of Craig Crivellio, who shoved all in on is K,Jo against Jason Lavallee’s pair of 10s. Crivellio failed to connect and was thus forced to head to the payout both to learn that he’d managed to turn his $15,000 buy-in into $477,090.
Going into the heads-up stage, Tommy Vedes held a chip lead which eventually proved to be impossible to overcome for his opponent. That didn’t mean Lavallee didn’t fight back, but in the end it was just too much for him. The final hand of the confrontation saw Lavallee’s 6h,8h fall apart in tatters at the sight of Vedes’ rivered set of Queens. Far from going home empty handed, Lavallee picked up $794,150 for his second place finish.
