New York Poker Pro Tommy Vedes took down his first major title when he won the World Poker Tour Festa Al Lago event at the Bellagio Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Vedes claimed the title when he defeated Jason Lavalee heads-up as his king-queen surpassed Lavallee’s eight-six when he caught queens on both the turn and the river to take home the US$1.2 million first prize.
By virtue of his win, Vedes also earned a seat at the World Poker Tour Championship, also to be held at Bellagio, next April, which carries a hefty buy-in of US$25,000. Both Vedes and Lavallee made it to heads-up play at the first TV table in their respective careers. Lavallee went home with just over US$795,000 for the highest finish of his career.
Another first-timer in front of the cameras, Craig Crivello, finished third and took home US$477,000. Lavallee eliminated Crivello when Crivello shoved all-in preflop with king-jack offsuit. Lavallee called with pocket tens. Crivello had an inside straight draw on the river; either of the two tens left in the deck would have given him a king-high straight, but a nine on the river finished his chances of winning the tournament.
Long time poker pro Kaseem “Freddy” Deeb finished in fourth place and pocketed US$278,000. Although Deeb was the chip leader going into the final table, a series of bad beats quickly depleted his stack. Deeb started the day with over six million in chips, but found himself down to his last 975,000 when he pushed all-in with ace-four offsuit. Vedes called with pocket sixes, Deeb’s hand did not improve and he was eliminated.
Newcomer Jason Burt finished in fifth place and earned just over US$208,000 for his efforts. Satellite specialist Shawn Cunix, who entered the final table as the short stack, was the first player eliminated. In addition to his brief TV time, Cunix garnered US$168,970. Both Burt and Cunix were TV table rookies who made strong showings at the prestigious event.
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