SiGMA Poker Tour Crowns New Main Event Champion in Malta
After a marathon 12-hour final day, Davide Iannaco emerged triumphant in the €400 buy-in, €150,000 guaranteed SiGMA Poker Tour Malta Main Event at Portomaso Casino.
Iannaco earned his first recorded live tournament victory after coming from the middle of the pack during the final table. He battled back from a heads-up deficit against Tomasz Brzezinski, and takes home the sum of €28,500 and the trophy, after a back-and-forth encounter.
Everything went right for Iannaco heads-up, who repeatedly made the best hand against his Polish rival, who was full of confidence and fresh off a near €500,000 score in the EPT Barcelona Main Event.
SPT Malta Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Davide Iannaco | Italy | €28,500 |
| 2 | Tomasz Brzezinski | Poland | €19,000 |
| 3 | Romain Gachet | France | €12,800 |
| 4 | Joachim Vaesen | Belgium | €9,100 |
| 5 | Jon Persent | Norway | €7,500 |
| 6 | Guillaum Otto | Belgium | €5,600 |
| 7 | Christopher Convery | South Africa | €4,300 |
| 8 | Agostino Vitiello | Italy | €3,600 |
| 9 | Terje Bremseth | Norway | €3,000 |
Winner's Reaction
Iannaco was overjoyed with his first live tournament victory.
The Italian, now residing in Malta, said "I'm very happy, I'm not a pro, I don't study like they do, but I have a good group of friends who are professionals or coaches and I like to talk about the game with them.
This won't change much in terms of my poker plans, I'll play everything in Malta like I always do, and see where things take me. It was a fantastic tournament, I played well and ran well. Thank you to the organizers, it was a great event."
Final Day Action
The tournament attracted a total of 411 entries, just missing the €150,000 guarantee. A total of 60 players from 61 qualifiers returned for Day 2, after Ashley Scott bagged twice and secured two minimum cashes of €600.
The knockouts came thick and fast at the start of the day, including Remy Hordan busting in a brutal beat versus Massimo Rizzoglio. Sebastian Mortensen was the Day 2 chip leader, and he started strongly, but would ultimately fall in eleventh to Guillaum Otto.
Day 1e chip leader Romain Gachet came to the fore in the second session, taking the chip lead when he picked up rockets in a battle of the blinds, and fellow big stack Micaela Arcusin also woke up with a premium. Gachet remained at the front of the pack until the final table, helped by spiking the river to bust Salvatore Incardona in a crazy hand, but he would ultimately come to the end of the road in third, exiting to Iannaco.
Brzezinski claimed the scalp of WSOP Online bracelet winner Jonathan Therme, before the final table was set when Gachet won a flip against Fredrik Eggen.
At that point Gachet led from Brzezinski, and the Pole would claim the first knockout at the final table when he rivered Terje Bremseth to take over the lead. Gachet eliminated short-stack Agostino Vitiello in eighth.
Iannaco began his charge for the title when he woke up with cowboys to bust Christopher Convery. Iannaco now had momentum and busted Otto in sixth, while Brzezinski eliminated Jon Persent in fifth.
Iannaco then disposed of Joachim Vaesen and Gachet with rockets in quick succession after the third break to set up the heads-up match, where he would ultimately prevail after around two hours of dueling.
