Edoardo Alescio Upsets Steve O'Dwyer for WPT Venice Championship
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Edoardo Alescio overcame a table of experienced professional poker players to win the World Poker Tour Venice championship. The inexperienced Alescio was the underdog heading into the final table, but a combination of skillful play and timely luck carried him to his first poker tournament victory and a prize of €194,000.
While Alescio was certainly facing more experienced opponents, perhaps none were as intimidating as his final adversary. In heads-up play, Alescio faced Steve O’Dwyer, the tournament pro who has had an extremely successful 2011. However, although O’Dwyer had nearly $2 million in tournament cashes in his career, a major tournament victory had eluded him, making WPT Venice a prime opportunity for a breakthrough.
But despite the fact that Alescio had no notable cashes in his career, he had other ideas about how the tournament would end. Although O’Dwyer gained a quick lead, Alescio eventually fought back. With his back against the wall, Alescio got the rest of his chip in on the turn with third pair and a flush draw. However, O’Dwyer was a significant favorite, holding top pair. That put the pro just one card away from a WPT championship. But Alescio spiked the diamond he needed to stay alive, giving him a 2-1 chip lead.
Not long after, it was O’Dwyer’s turn to get his money in. In a preflop race situation, O’Dwyer shoved with A-7 against Alescio’s pocket fives. O’Dwyer looked to be in excellent shape when he hit an ace on the flop, but a five on the turn completely turned the hand around, immediately making Alescio the WPT Venice champion.
For his second place finish, O’Dwyer earned a consolation prize of €95,550.
Four of the final table participants were Italian natives, and all finished in the top five (Alex Dozhenko of Russia was the other player at the final table, finishing 6th). The final table results were as follows:
Edoardo Alescio - €194,000
Steve O’Dwyer - €95,930
Michele Caroli - €66,090
Andrea Dato - €43,170
Andrea Benelli - €34,245
Alexander Dovzhenko - €27,035