Matt Giannetti Wins World Poker Tour Malta Championship
Sunday September 25, 2011 : Giannetti scores another Euro 200 000 in WPT tourney
Matt Giannetti, already a November Niner in this year's World Series of Poker main event, made another big score over the weekend when he took down the World Poker Tour Malta Championship, winning Euro 200 000 and a $25 000 seat in the WPT World Championship at the Bellagio next April.
Giannetti used some of his $782,000 WSOP winnings to travel to the Mediterranean island of Malta and the Portomaso Casino, where the tournament was held, paying a Euro 3,500 buy-in to mix it up with 240 other contestants including names like Hellmuth, TonyG, Haxton, Bonomo, Clémençon, Sartoris, Trumper and Williamsson.
Although Giannetti played a consistently powerful game throughout the tourney, at one point on the final day it appeared that he was about to go out in third place after a clash with Italian spitfire Cecilia Pescaglini, but he was able to recover sufficiently well to survive into a heads up against the relatively unknown Pescaglini and ultimately win.
The runner up prize of Euro 116,700 helped Pescaglini dry her tears of disappointment after a good showing that earned the best payday she has yet achieved.
Filippo Bianchini gave a very creditable account of himself before busting out after five hours of intense three-handed play against Giannetti and Pescaglini, and took home Euro 76,820.
The final table of six started with the 21-year-old French pro Tristan Clémençon in charge, but his fortunes went south quickly and on only the thirteenth hand he fell by the wayside in fifth position, beating only short stack Fabien Sartoris to the rail. By hand 19 Simon Trumper from Britain was on his way out after a clash with the mercurial Pescaglini, leaving with Euro 53,430.
The win boosted Giannetti's career earnings to $1.5 million, with the prospect of substantially more in November, when he joins the final table of the WSOP main event with the third largest stack.
The American player has been getting plenty of big-tourney practice lately, having also played in the Partouche Poker Tour main event held in Cannes recently.
