Caroli Crushes at Day Four: WPT Venice

Level 22: 8,000-16,000, 2,000 ante

(Photo: Michele Caroli)

After eight hours of whizz-bam, smack-wallop World Poker Tour (WPT) Venice poker, we have reduced our field from 15 players to a final table of 6. Fittingly, the man at the helm is an Italian; Michele Caroli is the only player that has exceeded the 2 million-chip mark with 2,097,000 lying in a bag somewhere in the coffers of the Casino Di Venezia.

So where did it all begin?

Roberto Romanello started the day as one of the strong favourites to reach the final table. Over the past few years Romanello has turned his potential into a tangible truth as wins at the European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague and the World Poker Tour (WPT) Bratislava prove that this modest lad from the land of song and sheep can do it when it matters. So it surprised everyone when Romanello was eliminated in the first two hands of the day. The killer hand was an all-in confrontation against Michele Caroli and it took the river to cut our WPT Champions Club member loose from the field. Caroli shoving with A K, Romanello calling with 9 9 and the cruel A on the river doing the damage.


(Photo: Romanello Being Eliminated)

The second shortest stack in the competition was Steve O'Dwyer. He started the day with 186,000 and a reputation for being the man who could not lose an all-in confrontation. As it transpired O'Dwyer lived up to his reputation and he survived so many all-ins that we decided to call him the King of the Double Ups.


(Poker: Steve O'Dwyer)

Alex Dovzhenko is a man you do not want to see sitting next to you at a poker table. With total live winnings standing at $1.4 million and two recent major final tables on his resume (Partouche & WSOPE) he is one to be avoided. So when Wanny Piazza decided to gift wrap his whole stack and hand them to Dovzhenko the sneers on the faces of the rest of the table could be forgiven. Piazza moved all-in on a board of J 9 5 in a three-way pot holding just T 9. Dovzhenko looks down to see a set and we are sure a smile broke on the granite face of the man from Ukraine. Piazza was out in 14th and Dovzhenko had 1.5 million chips.


(Photo: Alex Dovzhenko)

As the level progressed Dovzhenko decided that playing the large stack was not really his modus operandi and decided to give 600,000 of them away to various opponents. The main benefactor was Andrea Benelli who was in scintillating form and one who looks a great bet for the title itself.


(Photo: Andrea Benelli)

Edoardo Alescio is not a household poker name but he proved how important rushes could be in poker. Alescio went on an amazing run in Level 21 and stormed into the chip lead. During an interview with us he admitted that he is not one of the best players here but the lad has gamble. His dubious call to eliminate Ronnie Bardah in 13th place (K T v K Q) after Bardah had shoved for 150,000 proof of the gamble of the inexperienced Alescio.


(Photo: Edoardo Alescio)

Another man on a fabulous streak, but with the skills and experience to boot was Arnaud Mattern. With a little bit of lady luck who knows what could have happened to Mattern in the WSOPE Main Event, WPT Amneville and WPT Marrakech. This time the Frenchman once again fell short and it was that man Caroli cutting his tournament short when his A K smashed into Mattern's dominated K J.


(Photo: Arnaud Mattern)

Dario Rusconi left the table in 10th spot after Andrea Dato and Michele Caroli helped themselves to his stack and the final nine players headed for a much-deserved tuna Carpaccio and a mushroom risotto. We are not sure what the Casino Di Venezia put in that risotto but when they came back players were being ejected from their seats quicker than villains who sit in James Bond's Aston Martin.

Christopher Creus was out in 9th, after losing a flip to Edouard Alescio, and then came the most intense hand of Day 4, which resulted in the elimination of Marvin Rettenmaier. Once again it was Caroli the Executioner and you couldn't have scripted a worse exit for the Mad One.

Caroli raised to 50,000 in the cutoff, Rettenmaier three-bet to 156,000 in the big blind and Caroli called. The flop was K Q 9 and Rettenmaier's 126,000 c-bet was quickly called by Caroli. The turns was the 6 and Rettenmaier bet 176,000 and Caroli once again called. The final card was the 7 and Rettenmaier moved all-in for 220,000 and Caroli called. Rettenmaier turned over A K for top pair but Caroli had T 8 for the straight.


(Photo: Marvin Rettenmaier)

After a stunned Rettenmaier eventually left his seat, the game re-started and two hands later our final table was set. Alejandro Sanchez was the final table bubble boy after running pocket eights into the pocket nines of the impressive Benelli and we had a final table.

Final Table

Seat 1: Edoardo Alescio - 1,714,000
Seat 2: Michele Caroli - 2,097,000
Seat 3: Andrea Dato - 461,000
Seat 4: Andrea Benelli - 1,143,000
Seat 5: Steve O'Dwyer - 501,000
Seat 6: Alex Dovzhenko - 480,000

The action from the final table will start at 13:00 (CET) Sunday and you can either catch the live updates or watch the live stream with a 30-minute delay. As usual the flavoursome commentary will be dripping from the mouth of pokers Jesse May and who knows who we will have helping him out this time around.


(Photo: The legend: Jesse May)

Ciao!