Tommy Vedes Wins WPT Festa al Lago

The World Poker Tour’s (WPT) $15,000 buy-in Festa al Lago wrapped up on Monday with Tommy Vedes mounting a furious comeback heads-up against Jason “StatusUp” Lavallee. Vedes earned $1.2 million from the Bellagio poker tournament.

Vedes entered the 115th hand of final table play down 4:1 in chips and committed his remaining stack with A-10. Lavallee made the call with A-J and had him dominated. However, the flop came 10-high and Vedes never looked back, doubling up to nearly even with his opponent. Lavallee won the next two hands to widen the gap before Vedes doubled up once again, this time with pocket fives against pocket fours. When the smoke cleared, Vedes was a 6:1 chip leader.

Six hands after doubling up for the first time, Vedes took down the WPT Festa al Lago title. Lavallee shoved with 8-6 of hearts and Vedes called, turning over K-Q of diamonds. Lavallee held live cards, but watched as the board ran out A-9-5-Q-Q. Vedes picked up $1.2 million and a $25,000 seat to the end-of-season WPT Championship, which is also held at the Bellagio. All was not lost for Lavallee, who nabbed a $795,000 consolation prize.

Shawn Cunix was eliminated from the Festa al Lago in sixth place and was the first person sent packing from the final table. Cunix suffered a similar fate as Lavallee in his final hand, pushing with 8-6 and getting a call from Craig Crivello, who had A-Q, including the ace of diamonds. Cunix spiked a six on a K-10-6 (all diamonds) flop to take the lead and the turn was a three of hearts, which was no help to Crivello. Needing to stave off an ace, queen, or jack, or diamond on the river, Cunix watched as a diamond hit, giving Crivello a flush. Cunix earned $168,000 for his sixth place showing.

Jason Burt hit the exit in fifth place, banking $208,000. Burt shoved pre-flop with A-J, but ran into Freddy Deeb’s A-Q. Burt flopped a straight draw, but could never catch up. Deeb ultimately hit the rail in fourth place on the 62nd hand of final table play. He shoved pre-flop with A-4 and Vedes made the call with pocket sixes. The board came 8-7-2-10-Q and Deeb was eliminated in fourth place. He was seeking his record-tying third WPT title and would have become only the second player to accomplish the feat, joining Gus Hansen.

Crivello hit the skids in third place after pushing with K-J pre-flop and getting a call from Lavallee, who held pocket tens. The two were off to the races and the board bricked out for Crivello, eliminating him from contention. Vedes held a slight chip lead entering heads-up play against Lavallee, which lasted over 50 hands. Here’s how the final table shook out at the 2009 running of the WPT Festa al Lago:

1st Place: Tommy Vedes – $1,218,225
2nd Place: Jason Lavallee – $795,150
3rd Place: Craig Crivello – $477,090
4th Place: Freddy Deeb – $278,300
5th Place: Jason Burt – $208,725
6th Place: Shawn Cunix – $168,970

WPT tournament officials will now head to Foxwoods for the annual World Poker Finals. The $10,000 buy-in tournament kicks off on November 5th and concludes five days later. Last year, Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little took down the title in Connecticut for $1.1 million, defeating Jonathan Jaffe heads-up.

The “Battle of the Jonathans” at Foxwoods featured a final table that also included Charles Marchese, David “The Dragon” Pham, Jack Schanbacher, and Mike Matusow. A total of 412 entrants took to the felts last year in one of the largest casinos in the world, creating a prize pool of nearly $4 million. The top 50 players made the money.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the WPT circuit.

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Poker argot:

KICKER TROUBLE - Not having as high a kicker as an opponent.
BUTTON - A distinctive token held by the player sitting in the theoretical dealer's position, when a house dealer is used. The button rotates around the table so that every player has an opportunity to be the last to act. Also, "THE BUTTON" can refer to the player who currently has the button. ("I was the button and called the blind".) Synonyms: BUCK, PUCK.
GOOD GAME - A game with players worse than you so that you can expect to win a lot of money.
ROLLED UP - In seven-card stud, being dealt three of a kind in the first three cards.
SET - In Hold'em, three of a kind where two of the cards are hole cards.
IMPLIED ODDS - A refinement to POT ODDS which includes money not yet in the pot. Considers the potential extra bets and winnings made when a player forms a very good hand.

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