Rinat Bogdanov is the latest name to be engraved onto the Champions Cup after he bested a tough final table that took more than 11 hours to complete in the historical Casino Di Venezia. For his efforts over the past week Bogdanov picks up €229,800, which includes a $25,000 seat to the WPT World Championship, a replica of the Champions Cup and a Murano glass replica of the Champions Cup.
Earlier in the week the Royal Flush Girls visited the Murano factory, here’s how they got on.
Back to the Final Table action! It took 90 minutes for the first player to be eliminated from the six-handed final table, that dubious honour going to Andrea Carini. He saw Andrea Dato open to 50,000 with blinds at 12,000/24,000/4,000a and decided to three-bet all in for 367,000 holding 
. Dato made the call and flipped over 
and when the board ran out 
it was all over for Carini.
Another 90 minutes went by before Gianluca Trebbi committed his entire stack preflop one too many times. Trebbi had been all in at least half a dozen times but when he did so with 
he ran straight into the pocket jacks of Alessandro Longobardi. Trebbi spiked a ten on the flop but could find another or a seven and he became the fifth place finisher.
The fourth place finisher was decided, yes you guessed it, 90-minutes after Trebbi’s demise. The highly aggressive Dane, Simon Ravnsbaek, had a very swingy day to say the least and it came to an abrupt end when he moved all in for 600,000 (around 15 big blinds) with a pair of red deuces. However, he did not bank on Bogdanov waking up with a pair of tens next to act. The board was void of any drama and Ravnsbaek exited the tournament area a few positions before we had predicted.
After Ravnsbaek’s exit play slowed down to a snail’s pace and it took close to four hours for the tournament to lose another player. During those four long hours the chip lead was passed to each of the three players on more than one occasion but Dato lost a couple of key pots and became the third place finisher. He found himself short stacked and moved all in from the small blind with 
and was instantly called by Bogdanov and his dominating 
. The board ran out 
and Dato was sent packing. Dato would have made a worthy champion as, along with Ravnsbaek, he was the only player who seemed willing to try and make things happen. We are sure his name will be gracing these pages again in the not too distant future.
After the four hour slog of three-handed play the media and railbirds hunkered down ready for a long, drawn out one-on-one battle but it was literally all over within two hands. With blinds at 40,000/80,000/10,000a, Bogdanov opened to 200,000 holding and Longobardi made the call with . Both players hit the 
flop and decided to check but the turn gave Bogdanov two pair and he bet it to the tune of 200,000 when Longobardi checked to him. The Italian quickly called but he check-folded to the 360,000 river bet when the fell.
The very next hand was the final hand of the tournament. Longobardi opened to 200,000 with his 
and Bogdanov decided to gamble and see a flop with his 
. Again both players caught a piece of the flop and Bogdanov check-called a 60,000 bet from his Italian opponent. The turn brought the 
into play and Bogdanov checked again then called an increased size bet of 240,000. The fifth and final community card was the and Bogdanov made a check that the best of pros would have been happy with. Then when Longobardi fired a bet of 300,000 Bogdanov sprung into action and moved all in. Longobardi re-checked his cards and made the call only to see his opponent had him crushed!
Shortly after being announced as the WPT Venice Grand Prix Champion Bogdanov spoke to Marianela Pereyra.
So that is it from Venice for another year, next on the WPT calendar is the WPT National Series in Denmark between Feb. 28 – Mar. 3 and then it jets off to Austria for WPT Vienna between Apr. 10-15. You can follow in Bogdanov’s footsteps and become a WPT champion by qualifying for one of these two fantastic events on PartyPoker. Download PartyPoker today and win yourself an exclusive package.
WPT Venice Grand Prix Final Table Payouts
- 1st: Rinat Bogdanov: €229,800
- 2nd: Alessandro Longobardi: €111,700
- 3rd: Andrea Dato: €72,275
- 4th: Simon Ravnsbaek: €52,565
- 5th: Gianluca Trebbi: €42,705
- 6th: Andrea Carini: €32,195
