Andreas Walnum Wins 2006 Festa Al Lago

The youth movement in poker marched right along last week, as 23-year-old Norwegian poker pro, Andreas Walnum, took the top spot at the 2006 Festa Al Lago, outlasting over 400 players over five days. Walnum pocketed $1,090,025 and a $25,000 seat at the 2007 WPT Championship.

Right off the bat, the chip leader going into the final table, Joe Pelton, found himself retreating to the back of the pack. On the second hand, he doubled up Steve Wong when he went over the top of Wong’s pre-flop raise, only to find out his A-9 was dominated by Wong’s A-K. The very next hand, he went to the river with Walnum, doubling him up without ever showing his losing hand.

While Pelton spent the next several orbits in a fruitless effort to gain some traction, the final table lost its first player. Can Kim Hua, the short stack to start the day, had been playing tight, waiting for a hand. He finally found A-K suited and put all of his chips into the pot before the flop, but unfortunately, David Baker had pocket Aces, putting an end to Hua’s tournament.

Over the next forty minutes, Pelton made a grand recovery, first doubling up through Loveland with Aces, then doubling up through Wong with Queens. Those two hands shot Pelton up into second place with 2.3 million chips, over a million less than the chip leader, Walnum, but a million more than Wong in third place. Baker and Loveland brought up the rear with less than a million each.

Pelton wasn’t done being the center of the action. He gave about a million chips back to Wong on a bit of curious move. He called Wong’s pre-flop raise with A-5, then went over the top of Wong’s post-flop raise to put Wong all-in on a King high board. Wong called without hesitation with A-K.

The next hand, which followed a break, David Baker pushed with A-5 and Pelton called him (actually, he pushed, too, but didn’t get any callers) with Q-K. Pelton caught both of his cards to knock out Baker in fifth place.

Then, the hand after that, Pelton went back to his chip-donating ways, doubling-up Loveland when his 4-5 suited could not overcome K-8. Even though Loveland was the short stack, it was still almost one-third of Pelton’s stack.

Being a WPT final table it was no surprise that the action finally kicked up. That’s what ridiculous blinds will do. The field was narrowed from four to one in about twenty minutes. The fourth place finisher was Loveland, who committed all of his chips pre-flop with 7-7, only to lose the race to Walnum’s A-K. Walnum, who had led since his early double-up, now had more chips than Pelton and Wong combined.

Two hands later, Pelton’s roller coaster ride finally came to and end. Once again putting his chips in with the worst of it, Pelton called all-in on the flop with just a gut-shot draw versus Walnum’s top pair.

Starting heads-up play, Walnum had more than a 2-to-1 chip lead on Wong and ended it in two hands. Wong limped to start the betting in hand seventy-six, Walnum raised another $175,000, and Wong called. After a K-J-2 flop, Wong called Walnum’s $200,000 bet. Walnum checked the 8 on the turn, and Wong took this as a cue to bet $400,000. Walnum doubled the bet and Wong called. The 5 on the river looked innocent, so Walnum moved all-in, with Wong again making the call, putting himself all-in. Walnum flipped over pocket twos for a flopped set, while Wong conceded defeat, mucking his cards.

Final Table Standings – BOLD indicates TV table

(Place/Player/Prize Money)

1. Andreas Walnum -- $1,090,025
2. Steve Wong -- $542,700
3. Joe Pelton -- $292,220
4. Christopher Loveland -- $187,745
5. David Baker -- $125,240
6. Can Kim Hua -- $83,490
7. Danny Smith -- $75,145
8. Loi Phan -- $66,795
9. Christopher Cellery -- $58,445
10. George Mamacas -- $50,095

Originally published October 23, 2006