Tom Marchese wins PokerStars NAPT Venetian Main Event

Tom Marchese wins PokerStars NAPT Venetian Main Event

Thursday, 25 February 2010

They say you're getting old when policemen start looking young. The same could be said about poker players and Bluff Europe is feeling quite aged this morning after a pair of young whippersnappers with a combined age of 43 took the top two places at the NAPT Main Event for almost $1.4m.

22-year-old Tom Marchese took the honours overnight, defeating 21-year-old Sam Stein to the $827,000 first prize. The New Jersey native started the day fifth in chips but found some big hands just when he needed them to set up a heads up clash with long time chip leader Stein.


Marchese faced a substantial chip deficit going into two-handed play and after losing a succession of small early pots it didn't look good for the online grinder. A couple of loose calls were to prove Stein's undoing though. The first time was when Marchese pushed all in holding Ks9h on a 6dKc5h4s10c board. He can't have felt too confident with his pair of Kings but they were good enough as Stein called with Jd5d for bottom pair.


The momentum had shifted and the end came soon after with Stein once again gambling for his tournament life with a small pair. After action on all preceding streets Marchese pushed all in on a board showing 4c5h9d3s10s. Stein eventually made the call revealing 4s2s for second bottom pair, way behind Marchese whose pocket 10s turned into a set on the river. Stein had to settle for just over $522,000 for his second place finish.


Marchese has had plenty of success online but the win at the Venetian is his first major live tournament victory. He is hoping to keep that momentum going too. When asked how he'd be celebrating his big payout he replied, like a true professional, that he'd probably be heading to the LAPT Main Event that starts tomorrow.



Tags: Poker News, Tom, Marchese, wins, PokerStars, NAPT, Venetian, Main, Event