Casino Choice UK News Archive
23 year old Norwegian wins $1 million in Festa al Lago poker tournament
The WPT Festa al Lago seemed to be Joe Pelton’s for the taking. The stock market expert was coming off the back of winning the WPT Legends of Poker and took a massive chip lead to the final table. Within three hands it was almost all gone.
Pelton’s first mistake was to misread Steve Wong’s six-times-the-big-blind raise form the small blind as indicating weakness, and he moved all-in with ace nine of hearts. Wong immediately called with ace king and the board blanked out, taking an $800,000 chunk out of Pelton’s chip lead. That was the second hand of the final table.
On the third hand it got even worse. With an ace in his hand Pelton called a pre-flop raise from Andreas Walnum and got lucky when the flop came Ad-Q-s-8d. Rather than raising Pelton check called a $100,000 bet from Walnum, later saying in his blog that he planned on taking it away from Walnum on the turn. The problem was that the turn, the six of diamonds, was a great card for Walnum, whose hole cards were both sixes. When Pelton bet $250k Walnum called and was delighted to see an eight fall on the river to give him a full house. Pelton bet $350k, Walnum raised all-in and Pelton called. “Oops,” his own words. So three hands into the final table and Pelton had gone from $2.9 million to $800k, and in the process given the chip lead to Andreas Walnum, a lead he would never relinquish.
Whilst Pelton’s roller coaster ride continued (at one point he doubled up, then was doubled through, and then doubled up again in three consecutive hands) Andreas Walnum was steadily accumulating chips without ever putting too many of his own at risk.
He then got on a roll, eliminating Chris Loveland in fourth with AK v 77 and then putting an end to Joe Pelton’s ordeal with top pair on the flop versus Pelton’s gutshot straight draw.
That left Walnum with a massive $6.2 million to $2.6 million chip lead going into the heads-up battle with Steve Wong, and it took him just two hands to finish the job. On the second hand Walnum raised to $175k preflop with 2-2 and Wong called with K-4. The K-J-2 flop was a disaster for Wong, giving him top pair (very strong in heads-up) but giving Walnum a set. Wong just check called Walnum’s $200k bet on the flop, but led out with a $400k bet when the turn came a harmless looking eight. Walnum then put in a minimum re-raise to $800k and Wong called.
It was a strange play from Wong at this point, as it left him with just $1.4 million from his $2.6 million stack. Walnum’s mini-raise should have made him very suspicious, and he may have realised, subconsciously perhaps, that he would need to catch a king or a four on the river to have any chance of winning. An all-in re-raise or a fold at this point would probably have been the optimum play.
Nevertheless that wasn’t what Wong chose to do, and with $2.4 million in the pot he was pretty much committed to calling when Walnum went all-in on the river, which was a five of diamonds, no help to either player. He did so, and the WPT Festa al Lago title went to Andreas Walnum from Norway. Wong picked up $542,700 for second place.
Below are the payouts for the final table players:
1st Andreas Walnum $1,090,025
2nd Steve Wong $542,700
3rd Joe Pelton $292,220
4th Christopher Loveland $187,745
5th David Baker $125,240
6th Can Kim Hua $83,490
Pelton’s first mistake was to misread Steve Wong’s six-times-the-big-blind raise form the small blind as indicating weakness, and he moved all-in with ace nine of hearts. Wong immediately called with ace king and the board blanked out, taking an $800,000 chunk out of Pelton’s chip lead. That was the second hand of the final table.
On the third hand it got even worse. With an ace in his hand Pelton called a pre-flop raise from Andreas Walnum and got lucky when the flop came Ad-Q-s-8d. Rather than raising Pelton check called a $100,000 bet from Walnum, later saying in his blog that he planned on taking it away from Walnum on the turn. The problem was that the turn, the six of diamonds, was a great card for Walnum, whose hole cards were both sixes. When Pelton bet $250k Walnum called and was delighted to see an eight fall on the river to give him a full house. Pelton bet $350k, Walnum raised all-in and Pelton called. “Oops,” his own words. So three hands into the final table and Pelton had gone from $2.9 million to $800k, and in the process given the chip lead to Andreas Walnum, a lead he would never relinquish.
Whilst Pelton’s roller coaster ride continued (at one point he doubled up, then was doubled through, and then doubled up again in three consecutive hands) Andreas Walnum was steadily accumulating chips without ever putting too many of his own at risk.
He then got on a roll, eliminating Chris Loveland in fourth with AK v 77 and then putting an end to Joe Pelton’s ordeal with top pair on the flop versus Pelton’s gutshot straight draw.
That left Walnum with a massive $6.2 million to $2.6 million chip lead going into the heads-up battle with Steve Wong, and it took him just two hands to finish the job. On the second hand Walnum raised to $175k preflop with 2-2 and Wong called with K-4. The K-J-2 flop was a disaster for Wong, giving him top pair (very strong in heads-up) but giving Walnum a set. Wong just check called Walnum’s $200k bet on the flop, but led out with a $400k bet when the turn came a harmless looking eight. Walnum then put in a minimum re-raise to $800k and Wong called.
It was a strange play from Wong at this point, as it left him with just $1.4 million from his $2.6 million stack. Walnum’s mini-raise should have made him very suspicious, and he may have realised, subconsciously perhaps, that he would need to catch a king or a four on the river to have any chance of winning. An all-in re-raise or a fold at this point would probably have been the optimum play.
Nevertheless that wasn’t what Wong chose to do, and with $2.4 million in the pot he was pretty much committed to calling when Walnum went all-in on the river, which was a five of diamonds, no help to either player. He did so, and the WPT Festa al Lago title went to Andreas Walnum from Norway. Wong picked up $542,700 for second place.
Below are the payouts for the final table players:
1st Andreas Walnum $1,090,025
2nd Steve Wong $542,700
3rd Joe Pelton $292,220
4th Christopher Loveland $187,745
5th David Baker $125,240
6th Can Kim Hua $83,490
Submitted: 2006/10/25 at 11:17:26
