Swedish Player Sven Ragnar Astrom Wins WPT Venice, powered by bwin
397 poker players competed for more than $2 million in prize money at the first-ever World Poker Tour® tournament in Italy
Last week, 397 players participated in the first ever World Poker Tour event in Italy — WPT Venice, powered by bwin. The €4,000 tournament kicked off May 6 at Casino di Venezia, with a diverse international playing field, including poker pros Carlos Mortensen, Vanessa Rousso, Chad Brown, Surinder Sunar, Steve Sung, Patrick Bruel, Max "the Italian Pirate" Pescatori and WPT Season VII Player of the Year, Betrand “Elky” Grospellier.
After five days of play, 22-year old Ragnar Astrom took home more than $542,000, a $25,000 seat in the WPT World Championship in Las Vegas, and an official WPT bracelet on Sunday when he defeated fellow Swede, Martin Jacobson. Jacobson received $325,000 as runner-up, and Frenchman Vincent Pasdeloup placed third to win $217,000, having reached the final table after qualifying for WPT Venice as a freeroll qualifier on bwin.
"This was our first event with World Poker Tour, and we are delighted with how well things worked out,” said Manfred Bodner, Co-CEO of bwin. “The combination of the online and offline player experience coupled with the information systems and being able to offer bets on the tournament adds a whole new dimension to both sides."
"We are thrilled that our first event in Italy was a success and well-received by the players,” said Steve Lipscomb, WPT CEO and Founder. “We are pleased with the high player and pro turnout and also with the unique elements that bwin brought to the table for this event. We hope to continue this level of success as we expand further into Italy, the rest of Europe and into other continents."
In addition to holding the event in the oldest casino in the world, bwin developed and introduced a Live Tournament Information System, which provided real-time streaming information such as leaderboards and bust-out updates throughout the tournament. bwin also created "Tournament Achievements," which awarded players who reached certain milestones, such as certain chip levels, first player to knock out an opponent, and the “Bubble Buster” award.
The May 10 final table was videostreamed live, and bets on the final table were offered on www.bwin.com, including overall winner bets, country bets and headto-head bets.
Andy Hindmarsh is CEO of LTDPoker.com, a Leading provider of Free Bankrolls, Free Online Poker, Player Sponsorship and the Latest Poker News. For the Best UK online poker rooms check out our Top sites including Betfair Poker, Bwin Poker and PokerStars.
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