Entries 819/ Left 17
Judging by the final photo, with all four protagonists of the deal that crowned Claudio Piceci winner of the Warriors Main Event that has just ended at the GC Poker Room in Bendern, Liechtenstein, one might say that for once the "good guys" won.
In reality, we are neither on a battlefield nor a film set, yet the joy that spreads from their faces is contagious, to say the least, as is the smile of Claudio Piceci, capable of putting the seal on a tournament that has been elected him as the predestined.
Yes, because his ride has been a triumph since Day 1 as if the stars had chosen who should have the honor of raising the "EuroRounders Club" to the sky. And we're not just saying this to show off rhetoric, on the contrary, we'll prove it by telling you the three key steps that, from Day 1 to the Final Day, led him to success.
To review the streaming of the final table CLICK HERE.
The exploit on Day1
The last hands of Day1 D are being played, hands that are very important in the tournament's economy as the "Chipleader Bonuses" ranking is at stake, with €10,000 up for grabs for the best three stacks coming from Day1 C and D.
Considering the final payout, which gives CHF 4,720 to the eighth-place finisher, arriving first is equivalent to having hit the final table, albeit virtually.
When Claudio finds himself raising with K-Q against the Big Blind's 3-bet with about 60 blinds behind, he has no idea that from that moment on, the fate of his tournament is about to take an exact direction. Call.
On the flop comes A-J-x, his opponent makes a continuation bet for about 1/4 of the pot and Claudio calls. The turn is a 10 which gives him Flush. The Big Blind this time opts for a size of about 3/4 pot: "Just call".
The pot is already huge and as soon as another "blank" materializes on the board, the dealer places the All-in triangle in front of the player on the Big Blind. Claudio's call comes even before knowing the amount of the All-in (170,000), because he is sure to take home at least half the pot with his hand.
His opponent shows A-A, Set hit on the flop, and his entire stack ends up on the other side of the table, allowing our protagonist to overtake in one fell swoop the two most credited contenders to win the ranking up to that moment, namely "Emmella" and Rene Kistler.
"I had promised a slice of the prize to my partner before coming here," Claudio told us at the end of the day. A promise kept, although the best is yet to come.
The cinematic hand at Day2
Nicola Diaco closed Day 1 A with a monster stack of 1,392,000 at blinds 2,000/5,000, the equivalent of 278 big blinds. With such an advantage playing the bubble zone becomes a piece of cake and in fact, after the first three levels of play his stack is well over 2 million when the tournament average is just under 400,000 chips.
It would seem to be one of those tournaments where all you need to do to reach the final table is to go on autopilot. But in his way, at the redraw after the dinner break, is Claudio Piceci with just over a million.
The spot, which we recounted in detail in our LIVE BLOG, goes like this: the blinds are 6K/12K, ante 12K, and Symeon Alexandridis opens 25K from UTG with 6-7s, Nicola Diaco (who at that moment has about 2 and a half million) decides to flop with Q♦️ J♠️ from HJ, leaving Claudio the sweet task of adding a big blind and a half from the BB with A♣️ 9♣️.
The flop 6♣️ 8♣️ 3♦️ is quite inviting, Piceci and Alexandridis check, leaving the initiative to Diaco who bets 30K (about 20% of the pot). Piceci calls and Alexandridis folds.
The turn is a 2♣️ which gives Claudio the Nut Flush, who checks again, while Diaco bets 85K (about half the pot). Call.
On the river A❤️ falls, Piceci leads out for 180K and Diaco raises to 450K. At this point, Claudio doesn't have as many alternatives other than putting all the chips in the middle. And so it happens.
What in almost all cases should be an "easy fold" on Diaco's part, turns into a science fiction "hero-call" with Queen High, for a pot of 5 times the tournament average. And no, it's not a joke but it's all true.
The comeback on the Final Day
If there was a danger to be defused on the Final Day, it answered to the name, pardon, the nickname of 'Allegro', a German cash-gamer who was anything but afraid of putting chips in the middle. Nomen omen.
Starting from second place in the count, he, along with 'Emmella', was the number one suspect in taking home the trophy. In his way, however, was once again Claudio Piceci, in the space of two hands taking away 2/3 of his stack.
The way this happens is not as spectacular as in the other cases, but it does happen. Judging by his opponent's conduct over the previous days, it would almost seem that Fate has decided to take back what he had generously given him on Day 2.
At 80 left, in fact, "Allegro" was defending his Big Blind with 10♥️ 5♥️ on the opening of a player from Early Position which was followed by the Button's flat. At that precise moment of the tournament, he and "83-83" (this is the nickname of the Original Raiser) occupied the third and fourth position in the count, with a minimal difference in terms of chips.
On the flop 10♠️2♥️ 6♥️ "Allegro" checked-raised to 175K on the continuation-bet of "83-83", who with 2♦️ 2♠️ click-raised to 350K on the strength of his Set. "Allegro", being a good cash-gamer, must not have thought too long before playing his entire stack in Flush Draw hoping to leverage a Fold Equity which, given his opponent's hand, was close to zero. Snap-call and the two were at showdown.
The turn 9♦️ further reduced his chances of winning a 120BB monster pot, but an A♥️ on the river completely reversed the situation, and "83-83" was left with little more than a blind.
The epilogue and the 4-way deal
The survivors played for about an hour or so, until "Lalelileylo" and then Carlos Henningsen took their way to the cashier's desk to collect their final table prize money.
The mood at the table is pleasant, the differences in stacks are not that striking and the Fantastic 4 decide to agree on ICM, leaving a portion of the prize pool to the winner. Actually, during our chat at the end of the tournament, Claudio revealed that, in private, those money will also be divided, but for the sake of the record these are the final numbers.
🇨🇭 CLAUDIO PICECI CHF 50.000 (CHF 38.100 after deal)
🇨🇭 LOLI CHF 28.900 (CHF 22.910 after deal)
🇮🇹 EMMELLA CHF 20.700 (CHF 28.830 after deal)
🇦🇹 SANDRO ZARRIELLO CHF 15.650 (CHF 25.400 after deal)
🇵🇹 CARLOS HENNINGSEN CHF 12.500
🇩🇪 LALELILEYLO CHF 9.600
🇨🇭 CHRISTIAN KEMPF CHF 6.900
🇨🇭 GALA 09 CHF 4.720
🇨🇭 DG CHF 3.800
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