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

*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

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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September 03 2012, Josh Bell

The 2012 PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Melbourne Main Event came to a close on Monday. In the end, Britain’s Sam Razavi took down the trophy, all the glory, and the $326,125 first-place prize.

2012 APPT Melbourne Results

Heading into the final day, Tom Grigg held the chip lead, but he had eight formidable foes ready to play poker. One of the players who was surely going to give Grigg a headache was Brendon Rubie, but in a surprising turn of events, Rubie was eliminated in ninth place.

Rubie began the day with the fourth-largest chip stack, but proved to be his own worst enemy. The beginning of the end saw Rubie move all in on the river of a board after calling bets from Wayne Bentley on the flop and turn. Bentley called Rubie’s shove and showed , enough to send Rubie’s cards into the muck, leaving Rubie as one of the short stacks. Shortly after the aforementioned hand, Rubie was all in holding against Kristian Lunardi’s and couldn’t catch up. Rubie was left with less than two big blinds. From there, it was a quick death for Rubie as Razavi dealt the final blow to his tournament life.

With Rubie out of the way, the short-stacked Nigel Andrews had managed a pay jump, but that was his only one. In his last hand, Andrews held and ran into Lunardi’s . No help came for Andrews and he was eliminated in eighth place.

Following Andrews’ elimination, the bust-outs were fast and fierce as Lunardi found the door in seventh place, followed by James Bills in sixth. Lunardi three-bet to 165,000 holding from the small blind, after Bentley opened the pot to 60,000 from the button. Back on Bentley, he moved all in holding . Lunardi made the call and then made his way to the rail when no help came on the board. On Bills’ last hand, he open shoved holding and he received the call from Bentley in the big blind, who held . A devastating flop all but sealed Bills’ fate and with bricks on the turn and river, Bills was sent out the door.

Within an hour, three players had already been eliminated and one joined Lunardi, Bills and Andrews on the rail. This time, Australian Poker Hall of Fame member Gary Benson made his way to the exit. Benson got all his chips in holding against Keith Walker’s on the river of a board. Walker had turned trips with and it was good enough to send Benson home in fifth place.

Eventually the action had to slow down and that happened during four-handed play. Grigg was still the table captain at this stage, managing to hold almost half the chips in play for a short period. Play continued to slow to crawl, but eventually, after more than two hours, another player hit the rail. The fourth-place elimination began when the action was folded to Bentley in the small blind and he raised it up to 120,000. Grigg called out of the big blind and both players checked the flop. On the turn, Bentley check-raised all in after Grigg bet 130,000. Grigg made the call and turned over , which was ahead of Bentley’s . The on the river wasn’t what Bentley was looking for and he was sent to the rail in fourth place.

The chips were relatively even during three-handed play, with all three players holding a slight chip lead at least once. Then, Grigg surged away, building his stack to well over half of the chips in play. However, it just wasn’t Grigg’s day because in two hands, Razavi dealt the fatal blow to Grigg. In the first hand, Grigg made a big river call when he ran into Razavi’s full house.

In Grigg’s last hand of the night, he was in the small blind and raised to 100,000. Razavi called out of the big blind and the dealer turned over a flop. Grigg led out for 105,000 and Razavi called. When the dealer flipped over the on turn, Grigg again bet, this time sliding out 215,000. Razavi made another call and the completed the board on the river. This time Grigg checked and Razavi, who had Grigg covered, announced he was all in. Grigg thought for a long time, before eventually making the call. Razavi gave a fist pump and turned over his , with another full house to send Grigg out the door.

Razavi held a more than 3-1 chip lead heading into the heads-up battle and it took under 10 minutes for him to eliminate Keith Walker in second place. The final hand of the tournament began with Razavi opening the button to 100,000. Walker then shoved all in and Razavi made a quick call, turning over . Walker was in front with his , but the board gave Razavi the flush and eliminate Walker in second place and crown Razavi as the victor.

Video: http://www.pokernews.com/video/appt6-melbourne-champion-sam-razavi-7138.htm

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