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Well well, just like that the fantastic event that was the WPT Venice is now complete. Sven Ragnar Åström might have taken home the biggest prize of the week as the proud new owner of a WPT Bracelet, but the bwin team did pretty damn well for themselves combining for a total of 285,300€ in tournament winnings.

Leading the way for the team was French player vincent582 who brought home a whopping 159,740€ for his 3rd place finish. It really was a fairytale story for vincent582, winning his $8,700 WPT Venice Package in a freeroll on bwin and now turning it into the experience of a lifetime.

vincent582's amazing WPT Venice journey

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When the dusts settles on the WPT Venice it will be remembered as a landmark tournament for a many reasons. From being the first WPT event in Italy, to being the first event sponsored by bwin, the WPT Venice certainly broke a lot of new ground. But possibly the most exciting thing to come out of the week was the unveiling of one of the biggest developments we’ve seen for a long time in the world of live poker; bwin’s ˜TourLive’ Tournament Information System.

Spearheaded by bwin’s Creative Director Kim Lund the ‘TourLive’ system really pushed the envelope in the tracking and broadcasting of live tournament information. The system allowed for hand histories, chip counts, photos, recent elimination, individual chip count trends and many other statistics to be communicated to the railers, media and players live via dedicated monitors found through out the poker room, casino and gardens, making sure that no-one missed a moment of the action.

Basically, for the first time ever everyone at the tournament could follow all the action across all the tables as easily as someone at home reading live updates on the internet.

The TourLive system tracking everything from big hands to player achievements and even individual player chip count trends

Kim and his team of technical gurus worked around the clock fine tuning their fantastic looking ˜TourLive’ system all week here at the WPT Venice and it really paid off all with all players, media and railers extremely impressed with the innovation. Even more impressive was the fact that this was just the Beta testing of the system and with all that was learned from its implementation at this tournament the system will be even bigger and better next time! Great work guys, keep on pushing the envelope!

Swedish player Sven Ragnar Åström has just taken down the WPT Venice by beating out fellow countryman Martin Jacobson in heads up play.

Sven Ragnar Åströmis WPT Venice Champion

With Åström still holding the chip lead and the board showing 7d7cJhAh4h he checked the action to Jacobson, who fired out a value bet. Åström ¶m then moved all in over the top and Jacobson insta-called showing Kh6h for the nut flush. Åström then showed his 4s4d for the rivered full house and the young Swede took down the 397,960€ first prize, a seat at the WPT World Championships and, of course, a prized WPT Bracelet.

Åström revealed in his post-win interview that this was actually his first major live tournament – a pretty amazing effort by anyones standards!

Åström in the spotlight after his win

Åström receiving his WPT Bracelet...

...and his cheque from bwin's Hendrik Knopp

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Play has just stopped for a 15 minute break at the Final Table of the WPT Venice and Sven Ragnar Åström has taken the advantage after the first hour of heads up play.

Åström and Jacobson in heads up

Jacobson took a lead of about 1 million into the heads up battle, and as the Swedes exchanged blows the chip lead changed hands on a number of occasions. Neither player really seemed able to keep the momentum for long however, and the respect between the two Swedes was evident.

Åström however was able to take down a big 1 million pot in the last hand before the break and is now holding a pretty sizable chip lead. When play resumes we will move to blind level 26 with 20k/40k and a 4k ante.

Åström has taken a nice chip lead

Jacobson is down but not out

Chip counts;

Sven Ragnar Åström – 4,420,000
Per Martin Jacobson – 1,535,000

vincent582’s incredible run at the WPT Venice has come to an end in 3rd place with an incredible 159,740€ for his efforts! vincent582 achievement is simply amazing considering he qualified for this tournament on bwin through a freeroll and this was his first live tournament!

It was just an amazing experience for vincent582 to be the Final Table in his first live tournament

Our French team member had just been sitting back and watching the action unfold on the final table, moving up the payout structure with every bust. He got involved in his first and last hand when he was on SB and pushed his 400k into in preflop after Jacobson folded the button. Åström looked him up from BB and turned over AsQh to dominate vincent582’s Qh5d. The board ran out Jh6h6d2hAs and vincent582’s amazing WPT Venice journey was over.

Here is an interview with vincent582 after his bust;

It’s now a battle of the Swedes with Jacobson taking a decent advantage in heads up.

Battle of Sweden - Åström vs Jacobson

Chip Counts:

Per Martin Jacobson – 3,333,000
Sven Ragnar Åström- 2,609,000

Wow! The action just keeps coming and coming!

Michael McDonald has just been busted in 4th place with Martin Jacobson claiming another scalp.
With the board showing 6s8KsQ McDonald led out with a small bet, Jacobson pushed all-in over the top and McDonald went to the tank before calling and turning over KdTh for top pair against Jacobson’s 6h7h for bottom pair and flush draw. McDonald looked pretty well set to double up and get some chips back from Jacobson, but when you’re hot, you’re hot and a 7s gave Jacobson two pair and sent McDonald to the rail in 4th.

Michael McDonald takes home 109,840€

vincent582 hasn’t played a hand yet but is now guaranteed at least 159,70€!! Incredible!

Italian player Michele Slama has just been eliminated in the 5th place, Martin Jacobson again the man doing the damage.

Slama was down to 453k and pushed pre-flop with 6h6d, but was looked up by Jacobson who was again holding the higher pocket pair with TcTd. Nothing of interest on the board and Slama was out in 5th with 86,720€.

Slama is out in 5th

Jacobson picked up another 500k in this pot, and also picked up another 500k off Michael McDonald when he rivered a higher flush. He is now up to an imposing 2.76million.

Jacobson is hot!

bwin team member vincent582 is now guaranteed a massive 109,840€!

vincent582 in up for at least 109,840€

Latest chip counts;

Seat 1 – Vincent Pasdeloup (bwin vincent582) – 671,000
Seat 3 – Sven Ragnar Åström – 2,182,000
Seat 4 – Michael McDonald – 425,000
Seat 5 – Michele Slama – 453,000
Seat 6 – Per Martin Jacobson – 2,211,000

OUT – Mario Adinolfi – 66,940 €

First hand, first bust!!

Play on the final table has just started and the first action was an all-in push from Mario Adinolfi. Adinolfi pushed from UTG with his 490k and was called by Martin Jacobson on the button. Adinolfi showed QQ and Jacobson showed KK in a massive first hand. The board blanked and Adinolfi was out in 6th with 66,940€.

Mario Adinolfi

Nice start to the day for Jacobson

Here we go ladies and gentlemen! The Final Table of the WPT Venice is just 30 minutes from getting started and the bwin team’s very own vincent582 is ready to embark on the most important day in his poker life.

vincent582 is ready for the biggest day of his poker life

vincent582 will start the day with a stack of 764k, well behind chip leader Sven Ragnar Åström(2,161 Million), but still with enough chips to throw around and make his presence felt. The 20 year-old Frenchman from Valence said this morning that he was feeling pretty relaxed and ready to play and after qualifying for this tournament in a freeroll on bwin vincent582 just can’t believe how far he has come.

Standing between vincent582 and WPT Bracelet today will be pretty damn good bunch of poker players, including chipleader Åströmand Canadian Pro Michael McDonald. Both players have been incredibly solid so far and if vincent582 is able to get past them and take home the 397,960€ first prize he will certainly earn every Euro!

Chipleader Sven Åström

Canadian Pro Michael McDonald

Here is another look at the chip counts;

Sven Ragnar Åström- 2,161,000
Per Martin Jacobsen – 1,049,000
Michael McDonald – 1,022,000
vincent582 – 764,000
Mario Adinolfi – 487,000
Michele Slama – 459,000

The WPT Venice Final Table

When play starts blinds are still 12k/24k/3k, there will be a live stream of the action on the bwin Pokerblog right down to the final hand so make sure you keep it tuned right here!