Alessandro De Fenza Aces IPT San Remo Main Event

Italian online cash game specialist Alessandro “aletilter” De Fenza took down the IPT San Remo Main Event for €105,600 from dual runner-up Marcello Miniucchi.

As seems to be the trend with current European Poker Tour thinking, destinations and dates for the EPT are deliberately chosen to coincide with regional live poker events and, yesterday – as Day 1A of the EPT San Remo Main Event was getting underway – the climax of the Italian Poker Tour (IPT) San Remo was unfolding.

The IPT San Remo Main Event was an “accumulator” tournament – one in which players can enter on multiple Day 1s and carry forward their accumulated stacks into Day 2 – and consequently 1,124 entries were generated by 609 players, creating a prize pool of €763,196 which was distributed among the top 167players.

The nine-handed final table was set early on Monday morning, with the runner-up in February´s IPT Saint Vincent – Marcello Miniucchi – at the top of the chip counts, having a seven big blind chip advantage over online Supernova Elite cash game player Alessandro De Fenza.

The Early Eliminations see Miniucchi Stay Ahead

With blinds of 50K/100K and antes of 10K, there was no hanging about at the start of the IPT San Remo Main Event. Jae Kyung Sim chipped up early at the expense of Fabio Scepi before eliminating Niccolo Ceccarelli with a flopped set of Fours over Ceccarelli´s (A♥ 2♥) turned two pairs. Scepi was eliminated in unfortunate circumstances when getting all-in with Ace-Queen on a flop of A♥ 2♠ 4♣, and being called by Marcello Miniucchi (3♠ 5♠) who had flopped a wheel straight.

Alessandra Borsa was bust in seventh place when his A♣ J♣ failed to improve against Alex Norden´s A♦ Q♥, but then Marcello Miniucchi started to run away with the event – busting Adel Kabbani in sixth place A♣ K♦ > K♠ 10♦ and sending Alex Norden to the rail in fifth K♥ K♦ > 8♠ 7♠ after Norden had missed his flush draw.

Jae Kyung Sim Benefits from Deal as De Fenza Leads into Heads Up

Alex Longobardi (A♥ 7♦) was unlucky to be bust in fourth place when Miniucchi (K♠ Q♣) rivered a Queen-high flush and, when the final table was reduced to just three players, a deal was agreed that would see the a re-distribution of the prize money so that the winner would receive €105,600 (originally €130,100) and the second and third players locking up €95,600 (originally €88,600) and €75,000 (originally €57,500) respectively.

Alessandro De Fenza immediately went on the attack – doubling up against Marcello Miniucchi 10♣ 9♣ > A♣ 4♠ when turning Trip Nines, and repeating the feat a few hands later K♣ 9♣ > A♦ 7♦ with a flopped King to take a massive chip advantage. Marcello Miniucchi eliminated Jae Kyung Sim in third place K♥ 4♣ > A♥ J♣ (Miniucchi paired his Four) to close the gap between himself and De Fenza, but the tournament was quickly resolved in decisive fashion.

Alessandro De Fenza Wins

The climax of the IPT San Remo Main Event was quick and brutal. Marcello Miniucchi (Q♥ Q♦) and Alessandro De Fenza (A♥ A♠) got into a pre-flop raising war in one of the first hands of the heads-up and eventually all the chips went into the middle. De Fenza´s Aces held, and he had added victory in the IPT San Remo Main Event to his incredible online achievements.