WSOP Event #13: Max Pescatori Garners First Bracelet

To say that Max Pescatori had a good day would be an understatement. First, his home country, Italy, won the World Cup. Then, in one of the shortest final tables in recent memory (only about six hours, comparable to the seven card stud final table from a couple days earlier) he won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in the $2,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em event, along with $682,389.

It was a busy day at the Rio on Sunday. In addition to this final table, both the $1,000 ladies event and $10,000 pot-limit Omaha events commenced, and the $1,000 no-limit hold’em re-buy event was narrowing to its final nine. Cards were flying and big names were everywhere, but the focus of the afternoon was on the $2,500 no-limit hold’em final table.

In all honesty, Pescatori was a bit of a surprise to win the bracelet. It is not because the “Italian Pirate” (so nicknamed because he likes to wear a green, red, and white bandana…and he’s Italian) is a poor player. Quite the opposite – he is among the most formidable poker players around. It is just that Anthony Reategui had an overwhelming chip lead going into the final table. He had almost twice as many chips as his next two competitors, Pescatori and Terrence Chan, and about twice as many as all of the remaining players. And if we remember back to last year, Reategui had a dominant chip stack going into another final table (there was one other player who did have a lot of chips there, as well), and he ended up wiping everybody out. He single-handedly eliminated all eight of his opponents on his way to his first WSOP bracelet.

Monday’s final table seemed like déjà vu. Reategui wielded his chip stack like a battle axe, swinging away at anyone and everyone who dared take him on. He knocked out five of the first six players, increasing his chip stack even more. It really was almost exactly like last year’s performance, and those that were present at both final tables were expecting the results to be the same.

Heck, when there were three players left, Reategui had more than twice the chips of the other two players combined, $2,300,000 to $630,000 to $295,000. Reategui was putting on a show.

But then Pescatori, who had been quietly hanging around, snuck up on Reategui. Pescatori’s first big move was when he, as the short stack with less than $200,000, tripled up. His A-8 needed only another Ace on the board to beat Reategui and Justin Pechie, who checked it down before mucking.

The next major move was when Pescatori knocked out Pechie in 3rd place. All the money went in pre-flop, but even if it didn’t there was no way either man was going to get away from the hand if they waited to see a flop. Pescatori held 8-8, while Pechie had 6-6, and the flop came K-6-8, giving each a set. Then, the turn was another King, giving each a full house, and the river (as if Pescatori’s hand needed the boost) was the last 8, making quads for Pescatori.

At this point, Pescatori was still way behind going into heads-up play, $2,340,000 to $875,000, but at least he had some chips to play with. It still seemed like a foregone conclusion that the aggressive Reategui was going to batter Pescatori left and right until he won his second bracelet in two years.

Not so fast.

On the very first hand of the one-on-one duel, Pescatori bet hard on a board of J-5-3-4, with three clubs. Reategui raised him, so Pescatori pushed all-in. Reategui called with J-4 and two pair, but Pescatori had 10-2 of clubs and a flush. The river was a 6 and all of a sudden, Max Pescatori had the chip lead by $100,000.

Over the course of the next thirty minutes, Pescatori pounded on Reategui, scooping a few very large pots. The man who had been almost invisible during most of the final table (except for his outgoing personality) was now the aggressor. As they say in football, he was running down hill. Nothing could go right for Reategui, and in only about an hour of heads-up play, Pescatori dealt the death blow, completing his astounding comeback.

After some betting and raising on a flop of 10-7-6, Reategui was all-in and called by Pescatori. Pescatori had J-8, which gave him and overcard to the board and a gut-shot straight draw, while Reategui was in the lead with Q-10 for top pair. The turn was a King, which was meaningless, but the 9 on the river gave Pescatori the straight, clinching victory and his coveted first bracelet.

Originally published July 10, 2006