World Poker Tour Festa Al Lago Ends, Tommy Vedas Takes Bracelet

Poker News - October 28th, 2009 - Written by Glen

Six exciting and nerve wracking days concluded before the World Poker Tour's Festa al Lago came to an end, crowning Tommy Vedas the victory. Vedas plowed through Jason Lavallee after nearly two hours of heads up play, in which leadership of chip counts changed hands several times.

The final table had potential to set Freddy Deeb up to tie, and perhaps ultimately break, the record for the most WPT championships, but Deeb was pushed out in fourth place. Deeb shoved under the gun, a chip stack worth 975,000. Tommy Vedas called Deeb's shove, and both players revealed their hole. Deeb held an A-4 offsuit, while the soon-to-be winner held pocket sixes. Deeb completely failed to pair up, giving Vedas an even more dominant lead over the competition.

This left Craig Crivello, Jason Lavallee, and Tommy Vedas to vie for the chips and the prize. On Crivello's final hand, he shoved with 1.95 million chips after Lavallee raised the 120,000 big blind to 280,000, a raise made from the button. Crivello's K-J offsuit failed to live up against Lavallee's pocket tens, sending Crivello home nearly $500,000 dollars richer.

The big game continued with heads up play between Lavallee and Vedas, with Vedas losing superiority to Lavallee within thirrty minutes of heads up play. The last twenty minutes saw Lavallee shoving regularly to steal the blinds and ante, but his strategy backfired in what could only be described as an unsuccessful bluff or perhaps just a donkey move. On the final hand, Lavallee shoves his entire pile to the middle of the table. Vedas calls, and both players revealed their hands. Lavallee showed a paltry 8-6 hearts, while Vedas sported the K-Q of diamonds. The royal family prevailed, as Vedas ultimately hit trips on the river, giving him the pot.

Vedas would walk with $1.2 million dollars, a bracelet, and a Rolex. Lavallee, while not the winner, still took home $795,150 which kept his event profitable as well as it was fun. The WPT's next major tournament will be in Foxwoods resort, and USA Online Poker Rooms are still holding satellites to this event, allowing players to buy in with much less than their backroll would permit.

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