Denis Karakashi has won the World Poker Tour National Series Main Event in San Remo, after beating Antonio Rutigliano, in heads-up action, to take the first prize of €70,000.
The National Series Main Event San Remo attracted 354 entrants, and the Italian Denis Karakashi defeated Antonio Rutigliano, in heads-up action, to take the first prize of €70,000 and a nice shiny crystal WPT National trophy.
It was the first event starring the Tilt Events pairing Kara Scott and Giovanni Rizzo. Scott getting some game time in before she heads over to Las Vegas for her role as sideline reporter for ESPN. Neither player made the mark they would have hoped in this one.
It seems like a broken record, but the eventual winner wasn’t even planning to play in the event. He travelled to the city with a friend, and hopped into a last minute satellite; won it, and the rest as they say is history.
Prior to this event Karakashi had only cashed six times in live tournaments. He had earned $9,420 in live tournaments, and his best cash to date was €3,281 for a side event victory picked up at Eureka5 Rozvadov. His heads-up opponent, Rutigliano, was also very inexperienced.
The most experienced player at the final table was Francesco Di Vivo. The Italian had earned over a million in live tournament earnings including two appearances at European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Events. Di Vivo finished runner-up to Anton Wigg in EPT6 Copenhagen, and finished seventh in EPT7 San Remo the year Rupert Elder took the title.
Di Vivo would have his work cut out. Karakashi came into the final table with over 70% of the chips in play. He wielded the big stack like a big dude from Game of Thrones, and one by one he sent everyone to the rail before taking a 6:1 chip advantage into the heads-up period, where his A9 would pin the A3 of his opponent to the mat for the one, two and three.
Final Table Results
1st. Denis Karakashi – €70,000
2nd. Antonio Rutigliano – €45,000
3rd. Dario Ciravegna – €29,000
4th. Francesco De Vivo – €21,000
5th. Alexandre Le Vailllant – €16,000
6th. Cataldo Valletta – €12,450
7th. Simone Giampaolo – €10,000
8th. Gregory Grech – €8,000
9th. Samir Bouchakour – €6,200
