WPT Venice Live Updates: Final Table

22:36

Edoardo Alescio Wins WPT Venice Main Event (€175,000)

Two hundred and thirteen players started and now only one of them has chips in front of them, a young Italian by the name of Edoardo Alescio, the newly crowned World Poker Tour Venice Main Event Champion.

He started the day having no cashes in major live events, in fact we do not believe this may have been his first major lie event so his Return on Investment is now immense! At times throughout the tournament he made some quite questionable plays but he always did so with a big smile on his face and with a little celebratory dance, his earphones seemingly glued to the insides of his ears all day everyday.

Along with €175,000 in cash, Alescio takes with him a replica of the Champions Cup, a solid silver card protector and a seat to the $25,500 WPT World Championship to be held in Las Vegas during 2012.

22:19

Steve O’Dwyer Eliminated in 2nd Place (€95,550)

Steve O’Dwyer has been eliminated and the World Poker Tour Venice Main Event has been completed.

O’Dwyer found himself down to 10 big blinds and these found their way into the middle holding . Edoardo Alescio makes the call with and the race is on.

It does not last very long though as the flop comes down and when the hits the turn it is all over. The meaningless lands on the river and with that O’Dwyer is eliminated and Alescio is swamped by an army of fans!

22:05

A Short Break

The players were due a dinner break but have opted to take just a short breather. We will be back shortly.

22:01

Alescio Extends Lead, O’Dwyer Really On The Rocks

Edoardo Alescio checks to Steve O’Dwyer on a flop reading . O’Dwyer fires a bet of 130,000 at his Italian opponent and is quickly called.

The turn is the and Alescio checks again, then calls when O’Dwyer bets 225,000. Our river card is the but now Alescio leads into O’Dwyer with a small 275,000 bet and the American makes the call.

O’Dwyer: – for a pair of nines
Alescio: – for a straight.

Alescio now leads by a massive 5,565,000 to 809,000 margin.

21:34

Alescio Flops Trips

Steve O’Dwyer raises to 100,000 with and Edoardo Alescio calls with . The flop comes down and Alescio check-calls a 100,000 O’Dwyer continuation bet. The turn is the and Alescio checks, O’Dwyer bets 150,000 and Alescio calls. On the river we have the and Alescio checks for a third time and O’Dwyer gives up and checks also.

O’Dwyer now trails by 1,854,000 to 4,520,000 chips.

21:20

Alescio Storms Into The Lead!

Edoardo Alescio has just doubled up and now had a two-to-one chip lead here in the Main Event.

On a board reading Alescio checked to Steve O’Dwyer and the American bet then quickly called when Alescio moved all in for 1,810,000.

Alescio:
O’Dwyer:

O’Dwyer needs to dodge a diamond, seven or six and he will become the WPT Venice champion!

The dealer burns a card and puts out the on the river much to the delight of the Italian’s in the crowd and O’Dwyer looks visibly shaken.

Alescio now leads 4,020,000 to 2,354,000 chips.

21:09

Alescio Back In Contention

Edoardo Alescio has been clawing his way back into this match after catching a few cards and coming out betting and raising and he is certainly the player with the momentum right now.

He also seems to be running well too, just now he the board contained a straight eight to queen and O’Dwyer held jack-ten but Alescio held a king and scooped the pot.

20:58

Alescio Gets Shoving Again

Holding Steve O’Dwyer raises to 100,000 but quickly folds when Edoardo Alescio moves all in holding .

20:49

Queens No Good For Alescio

Steve O’Dwyer makes it 100,000 to play from the button whilst holding and Edoardo Alescio decided to simply flat-call with .

The flop comes down and both players opt to check. The turn is the and Alescio checks then calls a 125,000 bet from his American opponent. Our river card is the and Alescio checks again. O’Dwyer pauses before making it 275,000 to play and Alescio makes a crying call but loses the pot.

O’Dwyer: 4,989,000
Alescio: 1,385,000

20:32

Heads Up Has Begun

The one-on-one battle to decide the winner of the WPT Venice Main Event is under way!

20:11

Michele Caroli is Eliminated in 3rd Place (€66,090)

It has been a fantastic achievement for Michele Caroli to run so deep at WPT Venice, and his journey ends in 3rd place. We said that sooner or later one of Edoardo Alescio’s all-in’s would be called and when it was, he would be behind. Oh how wrong we were!

Alescio moves all-in with and Caroli calls with . The board runs out and we have a heads up confrontation between the highly experienced Steve O’Dwyer and the very inexperienced Edoardo Alescio.

19:42

Coffee Time

The players have been sent on a 15-minute break.

19:40

Alescio All In Like It is Going Out Of Fashion

Edoardo Alescio seems to have gone a little crazy over the past 15 minutes and has resorted to moving all in at every opportunity.

He picked up kings and three-bet shoved over Steve O’Dwyer’s open but the American folded.

Shortly afterwards he moved in with king-seven offsuit and then .

19:21

Slow Down

The play has really slowed down over the past half hour with the money really starting to become serious.

Alescio has started to three-bet all in from time to time but apart from that there is nothing much going on.

18:55

O’Dwyer Paid Off By Caroli

Michele Caroli raises from the button with his and only Steve O’Dwyer in the small blind makes the call.

The first three cards read and O’Dwyer, who has made top pair with , check calls a continuation bet from the Italian. The turn is the and both players check but there is no such action on the river because O’Dwyer bets 240,000 and Caroli calls very quickly.

18:25

Mistimed Bet From Alescio

Michele Caroli raises to 70,000 on the button with and Edoardo Alecsio calls in the small blind with The dealer puts out the and Alecsio check-calls a 75,000 Caroli bet, much to the astonishment of the commentary team. Alecsio the checks the on the turn. Caroli also checks and the river is the . Now Alecsio makes his move and it couldn’t have been at a more awful time. He bets 125,000 and Caroli is into his stack like lightening. He comes out with 500,000 bet and Alecsio folds.

18:16

O’Dwyer Hits River Boat

Michele Caroli open-limps in the small blind with then calls when Steve O’Dwyer raises to 90,000 with his .

The dealer puts out the flop and both players check. Caroli bets 100,000 in the dark and sees the peel off on the turn and O’Dwyer calls.

The river is the and both players check, O’Dwyer wins with his boat/

18:10

Caroli Opens Three-Bet Range

All tournament we have only seen Michele Caroli three-bet with strong hands but he seems to be enjoying a new lease of life and is betting at will with all sorts of hands.

Steve O’Dwyer raises to 90,000 with but he folds when Caroil three-bets to 180,000 with just , a hand he shows to the American.

18:05

Chips. Nom Nom Nom

Michele Caroli: 2,405,000
Steve O’Dwyer: 2,330,000
Edoardo Alescio: 1,640,000

18:00

Alescio Continues To Slide

On a board reading Edoardo Alescio checks to Michele Caroli who bets 400,000. Alescio, fresh from doubling up O’Dwyer, makes the call but he mucks his pocket fives when Caroli flips over a queen.

17:54

O’Dwyer Doubles Up

On a board reading Edoardo Alescio checked to Steve O’Dwyer who bets 230,000. Alescio then check-raises to 530,000 only to see O’Dwyer move all in and Alescio calls!

Alescio:
O’Dwyer:

The river blanks and O’Dwyer doubles up!

17:45

Schoolboy Error For Alescio

Edoardo Alescio has just made a complete amateurish error by mucking the best hand.

Alescio mucked his on a board, allowing O’Dwyer’s to take the 85,000 chip pot.

17:20

Break Time

The players are on a 15-minute break. Rejoin us in 15 minutes!

17:10

Alescio Makes Check-Raise Bluff

The match is heads up whilst Michele Caroli takes a break. Steve O’Dwyer raises with and Edoardo Alescio defends with . The flop comes down and O’Dwyer fires a bet of 64,000. Alescio check-raises and O’Dwyer doesn’t even count the amount of the bet before folding.

17:00

Andrea Dato Eliminated in 4th Place (€43,120)

Andrea Dato has finally been busted out of the WPT Venice Main Event. He has been card dead and short stacked for the majority of the past couple of days and when he looked down at he decided to move all in for his last 249,000. Steve O’Dwyer called with and Dato was at risk.

Flop: – The flop changes nothing and Dato is in really bad shape.

Turn: – The turn is no help either.

River: – It is game over for Dato and we are down to three in the Main Event.

16:42

Solid Fold By O’Dwyer

Michele Caroli opens with a raise holding from under the gun and Steve O’Dwyer calls in the small blind with and Edoardo Alescio calls in the big blind with .

Flop: – Caroli and O’Dwyer have both paired their queen but O’Dwyer has a second best hand that could become very expensive. He leads out for 95,000, which folds out Alescio but Caroli makes a massive overbet and moves all in for 1,421,000.

O’Dwyer goes into the tank for close to three minutes, pondering all of his options before making a laydown! Caroli shows his ace-queen confirming O’Dwyer’s decision to fold.

16:35

Andrea Benelli Eliminated in 5th Place (€34,245)

Andrea Benelli moves all in for 76,000 with his and is called in two spots. O’Dwyer calls with and Michele Caroli with .

Both active players check the flop and the turn but when the lands on the river O’Dwyer bets 75,000, Caroli folds and O’Dwyer wins the pot.

Benelli stands from his seat and shakes the hands of his former opponents and heads to the cashier cage to pick up more than €34,000.

16:32

O’Dwyer Doubles, Cripples Benelli

Steve O’Dwyer has earned a big reprieve after doubling through Andrea Benelli, leaving the Italian desperately low on chips.

Benelli raises to 49,000 and when O’Dwyer moves all in for 525,000 Benelli snap-calls.

Benelli:
O’Dwyer:

Benelli is around 60/40 to win the pot but those odds increase as the flop comes down . The on the turn keeps the ace-queen in front but the on the river gifts O’Dwyer the win and leaves Benelli with just 80,000 chips.

16:00

Chip Counts At The Break

Edoardo Alescio: 3,192,000
Michele Caroli: 1,543,000
Andrea Benelli: 625,000
Andrea Dato: 565,000
Steve O’Dwyer: 453,000

15:50

Alescio All Flushed

On a board reading Andrea Benelli leads out and Steve O’Dwyer folds his but Alescio calls with his .

The dealer puts the out on the turn and when Benelli checks Alescio checks behind.

The river brings the into play and Benelli puts out a small bet of 101,000 but Alescio has made his flush and is not going anywhere, in fact he raises to 340,000.

Benelli has got himself in a real pickle and he stands from his seat before leaning over the table. After 90 seconds he makes the call but is not happy when he sees spade flush of Alescio.

15:36

Alescio Opens Up Chip Lead

On a flop reading Steve O’Dwyer checks with his [9h but Edoardo Alescio bets 51,000 with a dominating . O’Dwyer calls.

The turn brings the into the equation and again O’Dwyer checks but Alescio does not slow down, instead he increases his bet size to 105,000 and again O’Dwyer calls.

The river is the and O’Dwyer checks for a third time. Alescio keeps up his aggression and makes it just 176,000 to play, sending O’Dwyer into the tank. He stays there for close to two minutes before making the call.

Alescio picks up the pot and is now up to 2,740,000, almost 1,300,000 more chips than the rest of the field.

15:22

Fish And Chips

1st: Edoardo Alescio: 2,385,000
2nd: Michele Caroli: 1,298,000
3rd: Steve O’Dwyer: 1,031,000
4th: Andrea Benelli: 971,000
5th: Andrea Dato: 498,000

15:20

Alescio Aggression Helps To Scoop Pot

Andrea Benelli opens with a raise to 42,000 with just and he finds callers in the shape of Steve O’Dwyer, Edoardo Alescio and Michele Caroli.

Flop: – Caroli checks his , Benelli checks, O’Dwyer fires a 100,000 bet with his but everyone folds when Alescio raises to 500,000 with .

15:02

Dato Picks Up The Ladies

Andrea Dato opens to 40,000 with his pair of black queens and both Steve O’Dwyer and Michele Caroli call, the latter being in the big blind.

The flop comes down and despite only holding but he and O’Dwyer fold when Dato raises to 55,000.

14:53

Alexander Dovzhenko Eliminated in 6th Place (€27,035)

Alexander Dovzhenko opens to 32,000 from under the gun and the action folds all around to Steve O’Dwyer in the big blind. He checks his cards and moves all in for 567,000. Dovzhenko instantly calls and we could have an elimination here in Venice!

O’Dwyer:
Dovzhenko:

A typical coinflip scenario here in the Main Event, Dovzhenko holds a narrow advantage though he needs to avoid an ace or king to stay in the tournament.

Flop: – The flop contains a king and O’Dwyer takes the lead but it certainly is not over yet.

Turn: – A second king on the turn almost locks the hand up for O’Dwyer.

River: – Game over for Dozchenko and O’Dwyer almost doubles to past the 1,000,000 chip mark and is definitely back in this tournament.

14:46

No Action For Caroli’s Aces

Alexander Dovzhenko opens to 32,000 with and the action folds to Michele Caroli, who has been playing very passively post flop. He looks down and finds in the hole and he three-bets to 118,000. Dovzhenko does now want to play with his suited connectors and he gets out of the way.

14:43

Dato Opening Up His Game

Andrea Dato has really started to open his game and has actually raised the last four hands in a row.

The last saw him min-raise to 32,000 from the hijack with and Edouardo Alescio called in the big blind with . The flop came down and Alescio check-folded to a 35,000 continuation bet.

14:03

Welcome To The Final Table!

13:57

Alescio Takes The Chip Lead

Edoaurdo Alescio is the new chip leader after helping himself to a 1,200,000 pot right at the start of play.

Andrea Benelli opened to 35,000 and when the action was on Alescio he three-bet to 83,000 holding . Michele Caroli checked his holecards and found he had been dealt and he makes the call. Benelli folds his and it is heads up to the flop.

Both players check the flop and the dealer puts out the on the turn. Alescio checks again but Caroli takes a stab at the pot with a 200,000 bet, a bet that Caroli calls. The final card is the and Alescio checks again. Caroli takes another 200,000 stab and Alescio makes the call and wins the pot with his king-kicker.

10:57

Welcome back to the Casino Di Venezia Ca’noghera where at 1300 CET six men will sit down at the final table of the WPT Venice Main Event.

Two hundred and thirteen players exchanged €3,300 for 30,000 tournament chips and the chance to become a World Poker Tour champion. For the vast majority of them the dream is completely over but for the six who have managed to navigate their way to the final table the dream is very much alive. So who has made it the the final table (which will be streamed on the internet with a 30 minute delay,)? Keep reading to find out.

Seat 1: Edoardo Alescio: 1,714,000 chips

Edoardo Alescio has no major live cashes to speak of but that is all set to change today. He is guaranteed to walk away with no less than €27,035 and possibly as much as €175,000 and a seat to the $25,500 WPT World Championship.

Alescio has shown his inexperienced side on more than one occasion during this tournament but everything he has done has been with a smile on his face and he should be entertaining to watch on the live stream.

Seat 2: Michele Caroli: 2,097,000 chips

Michele Caroli is out chip leader going into the final table and is the man to catch. He usually plays tournaments with buy-ins ranging from €100-€500 and so far has just shy of €33,000 in live cashes.

He won a massive pot late on to bust Marvin Rettenmaier in eighth place that showed he has some real gamble in him. With blinds 8,000/16,000/1,000a he opened from the cutoff with a raise to 50,000 then called Rettenmaier’s 156,000 three-bet. He then called the German’s 126,000 continuation bet on a flop and his 176,000 bet on the turn. Finally he snapped off Rettenmaier’s push on a river after backing into a straight with his !

He has been sat with his headphones literally pushed onto the side of his head like the character in Something About Mary so it will be interesting how he copes without them at the final table.

Seat 3: Andrea Dato: 461,000

Andrea Dato has a long list of live cashes to his name totally just short of $295,000. Dato’s biggest score to date is for $138,044, which he picked up for finishing third in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Triple Chance at this year’s World Series of Poker, the tournament won by David Diaz.

He is the shortest stack at the table with less than half the average stack so expect him to be making moves sooner rather than later.

Seat 4: Andrea Benelli: 1,143,000

Andrea Benelli has gone about his business quietly and effectively and most who have seen him in action have been impressed with the Italian. He has some impressive results to his name including two final table appearances in European Poker Tour events, and outright wins in a number of €1,000 and €3,000 events in Italy and Slovenia. To date he has $738,000 in live tournament winnings.

Seat 5: Steve O’Dwyer: 501,000

Steve O’Dwyer is probably the most well-known player on the WPT Venice final table and also the one with the most winnings, which top the scales at $1,931,860. He is in great form this this year having finished second in the EPT London Main Event, winning the Bellagio Cup in Las Vegas and seemingly cashing for fun in various side events around Europe.

Although O’Dwyer is short stacked he knows he is one double up away from being back in contention and he certainly knows how to grind away in these major events.

Seat 6: Alexander Dovzhnko: 480,000

Alexander Dovzhenko is the most experienced player at the final table with cashes in live tournaments dating all the way back to 2001, though it is in the last couple of years that he has really started to hit the big time.

His largest cash to date, €220,000, was awarded for finishing second in the 2009 EPT Kiev Main Event though he has other six figures scores to his name including one for his final table appearance that the recent Partouche Poker Tour Main Event.

Here is what the guys are playing for: