World Poker Tour bestbet BountyScramble Main Event wrapped up yesterday at the bestbet Jacksonville poker room in Jacksonville, Florida with Paul Petraglia being crowned champion. He bagged his first WPT title in his poker career after outlasting a field of 323 entries who contributed to the prize pool of $1,501,950. Petraglia sealed the win after defeating his heads-up opponent Sam Panzica. The recently-crowned Petraglia bagged $315,732 in prize money, a ticket to the $15,000 buy-in WPT Tournament of Champions and the trophy.
Last night, Paul Petraglia took down Season XVI WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble Main Event after 5 days of play that culminated with a heads-up duel against Sam Panzica. He was denied the chance to extend his list of tournament poker accomplishments and emerge as the only player to have ever won 2 WPT titles from the same event.
Paul Petraglia is a local poker player, whose career is not that flamboyant. According to his Hendonmob profile, the player firstly appeared on the poker scene in 2011, but he did not participate in many poker tournaments. Petraglia’s latest win is the player’s most significant accomplishment in his poker career and he definitely has a reason to celebrate. Being the least experienced player, he managed to outlast the three-time WPT winner Darren Elias, who were seeking record 4th title.
Day 3 of the event kicked off with 23 players returning from the previous night. The chip lead was constantly changing. By the end of the day, the poker field was narrowed to only 6 players and the final table had already been set. Darren Elias was the player who led the final pack of 6 into the tournament’s final stage with 3.547 million in chips. The eventual winner entered the final poker battle 3rd in chips, followed by his soon-to-be heads-up opponent.
Star-Packed Final Table Challenges the Newbie Paul Petraglia
The first player to leave the poker derby was Shankar Pillai. He surrendered in 5th place for $55,191. Gaurav Raina was the next victim, who ended up in 5th place for $66,674 in prize money. There was no help on the board for John Esposito, who had to settle in 4th place for $86,440.
The table was reduced to the last 3 survivors. Petraglia needed to face the fearsome Elias and Panzica. But being a pilot, the eventual winner had already a strategy how to fly in a bad weather so that the storm cannot drag down his plane. In a post-victory interview, he shared that he needed to stay away from confrontations with Elias. However, Elias was knocked out in 3rd place, bagging a consolation prize of $135,548.
The two remaining warriors entered a heads-up battle having the hard task to determine the name of the winner. The final clash continued for a few hours. Hand #209 was the last hand played within the event’s final table. Petraglia tabled [9s][7s] against Panzica’s [Jh][3h]. The board ran out [8h][6h][5d][8c][2c] to send Panzica to the rail. The player collected $210,783 for his runner-up finish.
