October 11 2012, Donnie Peters, Chad Holloway
One week ago, the European Poker Tour Sanremo, the second stop on the Season 9 schedule, kicked off with 797 players each putting up “5,300 to battle it out for poker supremacy at the Main Event. It was a long seven days of play, but in the end Ludovic Lacay captured the title, the “744,910 first-place prize, and a brand-new Shamballa Jewels bracelet.
On Thursday, the final eight players returned to the Casino Sanremo to play down to a winner. The stacks were fairly deep, so there was plenty of play to be had, and it took more than three and a half hours for the first elimination to occur. It happened when Jason Lavallee called Ismael Bojang’s three-bet shove for 1,500,000.
Showdown
Lavallee: 
Bojang: 
It was a flip, but Bojang needed to improve. Unfortunately for him, the board ran out 
and the German was sent home in eighth place for “65,450. A couple of hours later, Adrian Piasecki joined him on the rail in seventh place when his 
failed to improve against the 
of Lacay when the board ran out 
.
The next to go was the sole American at the table, Micah Raskin, who opened from under the gun and called when Angelo Recchia three-bet from the cut-off. The flop fell 
and Raskin check-raised Recchia’s 250,000 continuation bet up to 500,000. Recchia then three-bet to 875,000, Raskin called, and the 
hit the turn. Raskin check-called a bet of 626,000, leaving himself just 330,000 behind, and the 
peeled off on the river. Raskin proceeded to check-call with 
for a full house, but it was no good as Recchia had rivered a bigger full house with 
. With that, Raskin took his leave in sixth place.
The Irishman Jason Tompkins was the next to go in fifth place after his 
couldn’t crack the 
of Artem Litvinov after the two got it all in preflop. A short time later, Lavalle opened to 250,000 from under the gun before Recchia moved all in for 3,495,000 from the button. Lacay was in the big blind and moved all-in over the top. The action was back on Lavallee and he made a quick and disciplined fold with ace-king.
Showdown
Recchia: 
Lacay: 
Jason Lavallee
The board ran out 
and the hope of having a home-grown champion came to an end as the last Italian in the field exited in fourth place for “225,000. After Litvinov was bounced in third place, Lacay and Lavallee, the two biggest stacks at the start of the day, engaged in heads-up play with the former holding a nearly 2-to-1 chip lead.
It was at that point the two struck a deal – Lacay locked up “644,910 while Lavallee guaranteed himself “538,089, which meant they were playing for “100,000 on the side. Once the numbers were settled, Lacay got to working chipping away at his opponent. In what would be the last hand, Lacay bet 175,000 on a 
flop, and Lavallee raised that up to 400,000. Lacay three-bet to 750,000, Lavallee called, and turn came the 
. Lacay came out firing with a big 1,400,000 bet, and Lavallee took his time before shoving for 4,905,000 chips. Lacay called very quickly and the cards were tabled:
Lacay: 
for top two pair.
Lavallee: 
for a flush draw.
The river brought the 
and Lacay became the EPT9 Sanremo champion!
EPT9 Sanremo Final Table Results
| 1st | Ludovic Lacay | France | “744,910* |
| 2nd | Jason Lavallee | Canada | “538,089* |
| 3rd | Artem Litvinov | Russia | “283,000 |
| 4th | Angelo Recchia | Italy | “225,000 |
| 5th | Jason Tompkins | Ireland | “171,000 |
| 6th | Micah Raskin | United States | “132,000 |
| 7th | Adrian Piasecki | Poland | “96,000 |
| 8th | Ismael Bojang | Germany | “65,450 |
*Denotes a heads-up deal
EPT Sanremo “10,000 High Roller
The “10,000 High Roller also wrapped up on Thursday, and Benny Spindler collected another EPT trophy for his mantle.
Benny Spindler
This victory marks Spindler’s second EPT High Roller title, and third EPT title. He won the EPT Tallinn High Roller in 2011, and he also won the EPT London Main Event that same year. To claim this title, Spindler had to defeat a very tough final table and endure a five-hour heads-up match with second-place finisher Keven Stammen.
Spindler began the day second in chips to Joel Nordkvist, but the Swede wound up finishing in third place. When the final duel began, Spindler held the chip lead with 3.409 million in chips to Stammen’s 791,000.
After some battling back from Stammen, followed by a double up, the two were much closer to even and talks of a deal surfaced. After some jockeying of the numbers, the two agreed to do a deal where Spindler would take “223,000, Stammen would take “200,000, and then there was “30,000 left for the winner. Well, that winner wound up being Spindler to give him a total score of “253,000.
On the final hand, Stammen moved all in with the 
– a very good hand for heads-up play – but Spindler had picked up the mother of all hands with the 
. He even had Stammen’s suits dominated. The board ran out 
to eliminate Stammen and give Spindler the title.
For his win, Spindler earned “253,000, the gorgeous trophy and the Shamballa Jewells bracelet.
Final Table Results
| 1 | Benny Spindler | “253,000 |
| 2 | Keven Stammen | “200,000 |
| 3 | Joel Nordkvist | “98,500 |
| 4 | Joseph Cheong | “74,100 |
| 5 | Kent Roed | “57,600 |
| 6 | Philipp Gruissem | “41,200 |
| 7 | Igor Kurganov | “32,900 |
| 8 | Igor Yaroshevskyy | “24,700 |
Here’s Spindler’s winner interview with PokerNews’ Sarah Grant:
Video: http://www.pokernews.com/video/ept9-sanremo-benny-spindler-wins-the-high-roller-7276.htm
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April 01 2012, Brett Collson
Did you miss any of the top poker news stories this week? Well you’ve come to the right place to get caught up. We’re covering news about the high stakes games running in Macau, the PartyPoker Premier League lineup, and much more.
Poker Players
Million Dollar Pots in Macau
It’s been a while since we heard rumblings of Gus Hansen mixing it up in Macau. We were excited to learn this week that Hansen has returned to the Star World Casino and is playing in high-stakes games with Sam Trickett, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, and several locals. The stakes are rumored to be an astronomical $1,300/$2,600 with a mandatory $5,200 straddle.
Things seemed to be going well for the “Great Dane” before he bluffed off a huge amount to Dwan on Wednesday. Gus explained the action to Pokernyhederne.com:
I had planned it from the beginning: a continuation bet on the flop, followed by another bet on the turn, and when he called both bets would I give up on the river.
Durrrr called, but on the river it was my considered opinion that he was on a [flush] draw, and since I could not beat ace-high, I decided to send yet another bet going. A HK $ 1.7 million river bluff, but a quick call from durrrr sent all the chips in the wrong direction.
The good news was that durrrr actually had the [flush draw], but the bad news was that he also had a top pair. Oops: (
Trickett tweeted earlier this week that he won the biggest pot of his life during the game at Star World. He didn’t post the details of the hand, but some reports believe the amount to be more than $2.5 million.
You can find more updates from the cash games in Macau over at Pokernyhederne.com.
PartyPoker Premier League V Lineup Set
The lineup is in place. The groups have been designated. Once the two winners emerge from this weekend’s qualifying rounds, the PartyPoker Premier League V will be ready to go!
The highly anticipated event kicks off at the Montesino Casino in Vienna on April 4 and runs through April 10 alongside the World Poker Tour Vienna festivities. Fourteen players – plus two qualifiers – will post the buy-in of $125,000 and compete for a massive prize pool at the final table. The winner will also receive a $25,000 seat to the World Poker Tour Championship at the Bellagio in May.
The top three point earners from each eight-player group will advance to the final table, and the fourth and fifth seeds in each group will square off in a series of heads-up matches for seats at the eight-handed finale.
Here’s a look at the groups, which were announced on Thursday:
