Andrea Dato Wins Gioco Digitale WPT Venice Carnival for €105,000

“He might be the ‘Final Boss’ but I don’t care…I run good,” Said Andrea Dato after defeating the most successful European in the history of the game here at the Casino Di Venezia.

It was a case of third time lucky as Dato defeated Sam Trickett to make up for the fourth and third place finishes back in Season X. Trickett will be absolutely gutted as he once again came so close to winning a title. It’s not about the money for Trickett, it’s about the winning and he will be distraught to have come so close in his first live event since picking up his new sponsorship deal.

Here is how the final table panned out…

Sotirios Koutoupas was the first player eliminated and it was Dato who took that particular scalp. Koutoupas moved all-in on a board of [Jh] [7d] [5h] [Qd] holding [Ts] [9h] for the straight draw, and Dato had called with [Qh] [3h] for top pair. The [6s] hit the river and Dato increased his lead at the top.

The next player eliminated was the former champion Alessio Isaia. ‘The Rock’ Maurizio Saieva crippling him after calling his shove (and [Js] [8s]) with pocket sixes, and Sam Trickett was on hand to finish off the job just two hands later when his [Qd] [9c] flopped a boat to end any hopes of a repeat performance for Isaia.

Trickett went on a bit of an elimination roll after that. The first player to feel his pain was Mario Vojvoda and what a dramatic hand it was as Trickett was left hoping for a river miracle that arrived just on cue; then he eliminated Maurizio Saieva to take the tournament to heads-up after his [6d] [4h] out flopped the short stacks Saieva and his [Ah] [Jd].

Trickett would start the heads up action with a 3:1 chip lead but Dato would soon pull level with some inspirational play. Then a moment that Trickett will be remembering in his nightmares tonight. He was just five cards away from victory when his [Ac] [8d] was all-in against the [Kc] [Qh] of Dato only for the Italian to flop a King to escape elimination.

The tables would soon be turned as Dato carved out a lead, and had Trickett all in with [Ah] [3c] v [Qd] [Th] only for Trickett to river a straight to escape elimination and retake the lead.

Then the pivotal hand of the tournament.

Both players played for stacks on a eight hand rainbow flop, but it was Dato who had the bigger kicker when his [Jd] [8c] dominated the [8d] [5s] of Trickett. That hand crippled Trickett and he was eliminated just a few hands later.

Congratulations to Andrea Dato who now heads to the WPT Championships, and commiserations to Sam Trickett who played so well throughout the tournament.