2010 NAPT Venetian
2010 NAPT Venetian Main Event
Day: 5
Three-bet by Stein
Stein Shows Down the Winner
With that pot, Stein's lead grows slightly bigger.
One-sided Affair
The turn was the and Marchese bet 325,000. Stein took his time studying the situation and then raised Marchese to 1,050,000. Marchese folded and Stein picked up some more chips. This really has been a one-sided match so far.
Stein in Control
Marchese Fighting Back
Marchese Marches On
Reversal of Fortune
The turn looked like a blank, the . Again Stein checked. Marchese fired a second bullet, and it was a big one -- 1,450,000. Stein called again.
On the river , Stein checked a third time. Marchese opted to put his whole stack on the line. Stein stood up from his chair, eyeballed Marchese's stack, and then said "I call."
Marchese couldn't have felt good about turning over for a pair of kings. But it turned out that was the best hand -- Stein showed for just a pair of fives. With that huge swing, Marchese is now the chip leader in this heads-up match.
Sam Stein Eliminated in 2nd Place ($522,306)
The turn brought the . Stein checked again and Marchese fired 1.825 million. Stein tanked and then made the call.
The river completed the board with the . Stein checked again and Marchese moved all in, having Stein covered thanks to the last big pot the two played where Marchese doubled to take the chip lead. After five long minutes in the tank, Stein made the call.
Marchese immediately sprung from his seat with his fist in the air as he tabled the for a rivered set of tens. Stein held just a pair of fours with the .
Stein took home $522,306 for his second-place finish while Marchese hoisted the trophy as the 2010 PokerStars.net NAPT Venetian champion!
Congratulations to Tom Marchese, Champion of 2010 NAPT Venetian Main Event! ($827,648)
But one thing we noticed about Stein was that he just doesn't like to fold. Marchese used that tendency to his advantage to get maximum value for strong but vulnerable hands during the heads-up portion of the final table. It was Marchese's willingness to put all of his chips in the pot that proved Stein's undoing. Stein tried to make two massive hero calls against Marchese but each time Marchese showed up with the goods.
It was that ability to divine his opponents' tendencies and weaknesses -- and exploit them -- that propelled Marchese to victory. A long, difficult road from "Shuffle up and deal!" on Saturday afternoon to lifting the trophy here tonight made it all worthwhile.
When asked how he intended to celebrate tonight, Marchese gave the true poker degenerate's answer: "I may just head to L.A. to play the L.A. Poker Classic Main Event on Friday."
However you choose to celebrate, Tom, congratulations on your hard-earned victory.
That wraps up our coverage of the 2010 PokerStars.net North American Poker Tour Venetian Main Event, but we're not finished here in Las Vegas just yet. Tomorrow we'll have live updates of the final table of the $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout. Join us at 2pm local time to see which of Scott Seiver, Hoyt Corkins, Faraz Jaka, Joe Cassidy, Brett Richey, Peter Eastgate and Ashton Griffin will take down that tournament.
Until then, you can find us at the bar.