Panther Lurking: Sam Panzica Makes Third Straight Deep Run at bestbet

By Sean Chaffin

Two-time WPT Champions Club members Sam Panzica (pictured) is right at home here at bestbet Jacksonville. After taking down the WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble title in Season XV for $354,335, he finished runner-up last year for $210,783. As players moved late into Day 2 and reached the money, Panzica was once again making a deep run for a third straight year.

With three tables left to play, Panzica sits with 290,000. He’s near the bottom of the current chip counts but carries plenty of experience on his side.

Panzica, who is originally from Michigan and now lives in Fort Lauderdale, got to exact a bit of revenge on last year’s champion this weekend – eliminating Paul Petraglia and collecting a $2,500 bounty.

Year late but will take it and bagged 196.5k going into day 2 at 1.5k big blind pic.twitter.com/223O8bv4U0

— Sam Panzica (@bestindabiz51) October 20, 2018

“I’m just running hot in certain spots,” he says of his recent run of success at bestbet. As for this weekend, Panzica notes: “I’ve been winning a bunch of medium- to big-size pots, and haven’t lost any big pots – just kind of coasting.”

Along with his title at bestbet, Panzica won the Bay 101 Shooting Star in Season XV for $1.37 million. In a poker career dating back to 2011, he’s amassed $4.1 million in live tournament winnings. Along with his two WPT titles, Panzica has numerous other titles including four WSOP Circuit rings, an EPT championship, and the 2016 Florida State Poker Championship main event.

A regular at WPT stops, Panzica recently cashed in the WPT Vietnam and enjoyed his time on the trip through Asia with the tour.

“It was cool, I did the whole Asia swing for WPT – Tokyo, Korea, and Vietnam,” he says. “Tokyo’s always incredible. And then Vietnam, I was pleasantly surprised how awesome Ho Chi Minh City was like. There was so much stuff to do. We went to this really cool indoor flea market. There was also another indoor area with a bunch of little shops and it was all super cheap and incredibly good.”

When not playing cards, this poker shark enjoys playing basketball, hanging out with friends, and watching movies. He also has some real estate investments with his father. That may be his side business, but his main business is poker. And at bestbet, business is good.

Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas. His work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions.

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