WPT Venice Title Stays in Italy; PKR Live Result

Palumbo Clinches WPT Venice Title

A weekend of tournament action in Venice culminated with Italian poker pro Rocco Palumbo becoming the latest WPT Champion. Having made his way past 172 players, Palumbo stood as the victor after beating fellow Italian Marcello Montagner heads-up.

Throughout the final table it looked as though Montagner would walk away with the title after striking first against Erion Islamay. After watching Islamay lose the bulk of his chips to Mike Sexton, Montagner was able to make an easy call with pocket tens after Islamay moved all-in with A-6.

That pot not only broke the stalemate at the final table but sent Montagner into the chip lead. However, as Xia Lin, Roberto Begni and Sexton hit the rail it was Palumbo who rose to prominence. After skipping to a healthy lead, Palumbo finally brought the hammer down on his opponent with [Jc] [8s].

Raising from the button, Palumbo was able to call the three-bet from Montagner and watch the dealer spread a [Jd] [Ts] [8c] flop. A brief betting exchange took place before the [4d] on the turn prompted a cascade of chips to flood into the middle of the table.

With pocket nines Montagner was far from dead; however, as the [3s] fell on the river, the chips and the $180,087 top prize was pushed towards the new WPT Venice Champion: Rocco Palumbo.

PKR Live’s Conclusion

In a bumper weekend of Easter tournament action PKR welcomed its largest ever live tournament field.

Taking place inside London’s Aspers Casino, PKR Live attracted 291 hopefuls, including the likes of Scott Shelly and Vladimir Geshkenbein, but only one could walk away with the trophy.

After grinding for three days the final battle came down to two French players: Yann Pelletier and Emmanuel Arokodave.

Shooting for the lion’s share of the $130,000 prizepool, the two players engaged in a tense battle before Arokodave finally relented.

Having given the last of his chips to Pelletier, Arokodave left the table with a consolation prize of $19,245, while Pelletier lifted the winner’s trophy and a giant cheque for $27,620.