Erik Lemarquand Wins his First WPTDeepStacks Title in Pittsburgh

Erik Lemarquand (pictured) topped a field of 316 entries to win the WPTDeepStacks Pittsburgh Main Event on Monday at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Lemarquand earned his first WPTDeepStacks title, and $66,593 in first-place prize money, which included a $3,000 championship prize package. This is one of the largest scores of his poker career, and his career tournament earnings now stand at $353,454.

When he was asked about his dominant run at the end of the final table, Lemarquand responded, “It was pretty crazy, I got some good cards obviously as you have to do when you win a tournament. I was supposed to put pressure on all the other stacks.”

Lemarquand also had an interesting backstory to what led him to play in this tournament. “When this event started my friend Geoffrey [McNeely] asked me to come down to Pittsburgh. I’d never been before so I thought it would be pretty cool. I wasn’t doing anything this week, actually I was going to go be in Sri Lanka. I was supposed to fly there with my wife the morning everything happened there, so we ended up having to cancel our flight. I felt really bad I couldn’t attend that, and it’s pretty crazy that my friend asked me to come here and play this and I win it somehow,” said Lemarquand.

WPTDeepStacks Pittsburgh Final Table Results

1st: Erik Lemarquand – $66,593*
2nd: Michele Iacovone – $46,704
3rd: David Santucci – $30,039
4th: Matt Vensko – $19,050
5th: James Anderson – $14,698
6th: Marty Keegan – $12,169
7th: William Patterson – $10,222
8th: Jonathan Love – $8,399
9th: John Cebula – $6,661

*: Includes the $3,000 championship prize package.

Play began slowly at the final table, and a player didn’t bust until John Cebula exited in ninth place after he paid out two double ups to other players. Jonathan Love was the next player to fall in eighth place, and William Patterson followed him to the rail in seventh place.

There was another slow period of play before the foot hit the accelerator again during Level 27. That was an active stretch where Erik Lemarquand ran away with the chip lead after taking out Marty Keegan (sixth place), James Anderson (fifth place), and Matt Vensko (fourth place) in quick order.

Lemarquand kept the hot streak going when he took out David Santucci in third place, and that gave him 7,150,000 heading into the final battle against Michele Iacovone. The two players got all of their chips into the middle each holding A-9 for a chop, but the second time the chips got in the tournament came to a close.

On the final hand, Iacovone was all in preflop on the button for a little more than a million, and Lemarquand had him covered. The two players then flipped over their cards.

Lemarquand: 
Iacaovone: 

Board: 

Iacavone was eliminated in second place, good for $46,704, and that made Lemarquand the winner of the tournament. He took home $66,593 in prize money, including the $3,000 championship prize package, and the trophy.

Congratulations to our new WPTDeepStacks champion – Erik Lemarquand!

That concludes our coverage from WPTDeepStacks Pittsburgh. Thanks to Rivers Casino for hosting another great stop on the tour.

Up Next for WPTDeepStacks in the United States

The next stop on the WPTDeepStacks schedule in the United States is WPTDeepStacks Black Hawk. The Main Event runs from May 9-13 at Golden Gates Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado.