March 31 2013, by Eric Danis
A Final Look at the WPT Venice Grand Prix
The WPT Champions Trophy will stay put, in Italy, for the time being as one of the country’s top poker pros, Rocco Palumbo (GPI#147) has won the WPT Venice Grand Prix, outlasting a total of 172 others to win the prestigious poker title.
With the victory, Palumbo – who collected $464,464 USD on his way to his first WSOP bracelet in a 1K buy-in event this past summer in Las Vegas – is now a EPT title away from becoming a member of poker’s Triple Crown Club. For now, Palumbo will have to be content with being a member of the WPT Champions Club and adding over 180K USD to his bankroll.
Mike Sexton (GPI#839) certainly made things very interesting in Venice. Sexton, a true ambassador for poker, usually spends his time at WPT Final Table in the broadcast booth with his partner Vince Van Patten. But, for the second time in the WPT’s history, Sexton will need to find a replacement in the booth as he final tabled the event. Sexton would end up finishing in third position, a fantastic showing for PartyPoker rep.
A few years ago, Sexton battled in out with the likes of Mike Matusow at the Bay 101 Shooting Star final table. Sexton would end up busting first at that final table.
WPT Grand Prix de Paris Champ Matt Salsberg (GPI#86) has certainly made things very interesting in the race for WPT Player of the Year. Coming into the event trailing the red-hot Paul Volpe (GPI#28) by 150 points, Salsberg bubbled the WPT Final Table here in Venice. But, as a consolation prize, Salsberg does move into a first-place tie with Volpe for WPT POY. Salsberg has already committed to playing WPT Barcelona next and all signs point towards him rushing back to America to play the WPT Seminole Hard Rock hours after the completion of Barcelona.
With only a few more events left on the WPT Season XI schedule, it will certainly be an interesting final few weeks on the World Poker Tour.
Martin Staszko (GPI#350), Ludovic Lacay (GPI#323) and Kara Scott (GPI#8237) were a few other players who made things very interesting late in the tournament.
Finally, white magic wasn’t enough to help Phil Hellmuth (GPI#16) pickup in his quest to win his first World Poker Tour title. The Poker Brat, who entered Casino di Venezia in grand fashion, was the talk of the tournament early in Venice, despite the Day 1 knockout.
The World Poker Tour now makes its way to Barcelona where the bwin WPT Barcelona will take place, at Casino Barcelon, starting on April 5th. The final table to WPT Barcelona is set for April 10th.
WPT VENICE GRAND PRIX FINAL TABLE RESULTS (USD)
| 1st | Rocco Palumbo | $180,097 |
| 2nd | Marcello Montagner | $108,316 |
| 3rd | Mike Sexton | $69,723 |
| 4th | Roberto Begni | $51,585 |
| 5th | Xia Lin | $38,721 |
| 6th | Erlon Islamay | $31,002 |
Other notable players who cashed in Venice include: Matt Salsberg 7th, Martin Staszko 10th, Ludovic Lacay 12th, Kara Scott 13th, Gianluca Speranza 14th, Lauri Pesonen 15th.
FANTASY FOCUS
Just a little under 1,900 managers earned at least 38 FPM Points for WPT Venice, a far better performance as a group than WPTN London – well done everyone! Those 1,891 managers were lead by Matej G. of Slovakia. Matej scored 465 FPM Points in Venice. His team included the final table trio of Palumbo, Sexton and Islamay.
A tip of the cap has to go to Kara Scott. Not only did Scott earn many managers valuable FPM Points in the event, she finished just a few points shy of the Top 10 managers for Venice. Like Matej, Scott’s team included the same final table trio lead by Rocco Palumbo. Oh, and in case you were wondering, Scott did draft herself for Venice – good call, Kara!
THE PERFECT TEAM
Another bargain for the perfect team this time around! You would have needed only 392,500 to field the Top 10 players at the Venice Grand Prix with Salsberg having the highest market price. That team of team would have accumulated a total of 556 FPM Points for you:
1st Rocco Palumbo (GPI#147) 101,370
3rd Mike Sexton (GPI#839) 10,000
6th Erion Islamay (GPI#1348) 10,000
7th Matt Salsberg (GPI#86) 204,890
10th Martin Staszko (GPI#350) 10,390
12th Ludovic Lacay (GPI#323) 14,850
13th Kara Scott (GPI#8237) 10,500
14th Gianluca Speranza (GPI#1328) 10,000
15th Lauri Pesonen (GPI#793) 10,500
18th Angelo Recchia (GPI#506) 10,000
*Perfect team based on 10-player team and 1,000,000 cap
ERIC’S TEAM
Not bad, not bad at all! A pretty good performance for my team at the WPT Venice Grand Prix, much better performance than my WPTN London fiasco:
TEAM DANIS (354 FPM Points)
Ludovic Lacay: 46 FPM Points
Lauri Pesonen: 44 FPM Points
Mike Sexton: 73 FPM Points >>>
Fernando Camilla: Eliminated on Day 3
<<< Marvin Rettenmaier: Eliminated on Day 3
Kara Scott: 46 FPM Points
Massimo Mosele: Eliminated on Day 4
Giacomo Fundaro: Eliminated on Day 3
Rocco Palumbo: 92 FPM Points
Martin Staszko: 51 FPM Points
Artem Litvinov: Eliminated on Day 2
WPT Barcelona is right around the corner, best of luck to everyone!
Head on over to Facebook and signup to play the GPI Fantasy Poker Manager – you still have plenty of time to make your selections for the WPT Venice Grand Prix … FPM is the OFFICIAL Fantasy Poker Game of the World Poker Tour!
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About the author
Eric Danis’ passion for poker came at a very early age but it’s when writing about and covering the game he loves that Danis is most in his element. Danis is better known for creating www.PTPRpoker.com where he spent a few years covering poker events. Danis is also known for having worked on the poker shows Poker Eh! and The Pulse on the Quad Jacks Network.
