Vicky Coren-Mitchell Wins Sanremo Main Event To Become First Two-Time EPT Champion
The PokerStars.it European Poker Tour Sanremo Main Event has a winner after a marvelous day of poker on Sunday. It's a mainstream celebrity. It's a lady. It's a Team PokerStars Pro. And it's the first-ever two-time EPT champion!
Vicky Coren-Mitchell started out as the final table's short stack, but when the dust settled she was the last one standing. After winning the 16th-ever EPT back in London during Season 3, Coren Mitchell has now won the 98th EPT to write poker history by becoming the first player to capture two EPT Main Event titles.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vicky Coren-Mitchell | United Kingdom | €476,100 |
| 2 | Giacomo Fundaro | Italy | €298,700 |
| 3 | Jordan Westmorland | United States | €213,850 |
| 4 | Andrea Benelli | Italy | €166,700 |
| 5 | Andreas Goeller | Italy | €130,750 |
| 6 | Bruno Stefanelli | Italy | €102,700 |
| 7 | Andrija Martic | Croatia | €76,650 |
| 8 | Emmanuel Pariset | France | €53,100 |
As usual, eight players started the final table at noon, but just about everything between the start time and 10 p.m. — the time it took to play down to a winner — wasn't so usual.
Besides Jordan Westmorland and Coren-Mitchell, just about everyone showed some unusual plays during the day. Very loose opens from early positions appeared to be the rule rather than the exception, and more than once people got in trouble because of it.
The first really bizarre thing at the final table was Giacomo Fundaro's absence for 20 minutes. Since the 26th level hadn't finished when play halted on Day 5, they continued with that level at the start of the final day. Before play, all players had been informed that there wouldn't be a break after the 26th level and that they would go straight on to the next level. Fundaro apparently hadn't gotten the memo and took his break while the remaining seven players played on.
As if things hadn't been ridiculous enough from the start, the bust out hand of Emmanuel Pariset followed soon after. The Frenchman will no doubt have nightmares about the hand for quite some time. After displaying a perfectly-working push-or-fold strategy on the fourth and fifth day, he played a post-flop pot or two on the sixth. In the first one, he folded the best hand against Westmorland. In the second, he got in even more trouble.
In that hand, Westmorland opened with a min-raise to 100,000 with the A♥3♣ and Pariset called with the K♦Q♣ in position. Andrea Benelli squeezed to 325,000 from the big blind holding the K♥K♣. Westmorland folded, and Pariset made the call.
The flop brought the 2♦6♠5♦ and Pariset announced all in out of turn. It was Benelli who was first to act, but he now checked to make the easy call a second later. Pariset was drawing very slim, and though he picked up a flush draw on the turn, he was busted seconds later. He took home €53,100 for his eighth-place finish.
Andrija Martic was the next to go. He never really got things going and a bad beat ended his nightmare final table.
Bruno Stefanelli was next on the list of people to go out. The crucial pot to his tournament was again a remarkable one. In that hand, Fundaro opened the cutoff with ace-deuce off and Stefanelli called on the button with sixes. On an 8x3x2x flop, Fundaro checked. Stefanelli bet out 155,000 and was met by a raise to 1,000,000, a bet that would mean Stefanelli had to commit all of his chips should he call. He eventually laid down the best hand, leaving himself with not much behind. Not much later, he ran his ace-jack into Westmorland's jacks and that was it for Stefanelli.
Andreas Goeller was the next on the executioner's list, taking home €130,750 for his fifth-place finish.
In the meantime, Coren-Mitchell was holding on. The dream of becoming the first two-time EPT champion was still alive, though she admitted not really thinking about that beforehand. She was already happy making the final table, and didn't have too high of hopes as she started out as the short stack. Pushing in the right spots, a nice four-bet bluff here, a cold four-bet shove with nines there, and well-timed steals made for a superb showing. Thousands of viewers new to poker came to watch her on the EPT live stream and they got taught the game by someone who's a respected Team PokerStars Pro, but doesn't play full time. When she doubled with ace-king through Westmorland's ace-queen she had serious chips for the first time at the final table. From there, Coren-Mitchell continued to show that her skill set didn't just include short-stack play, but that she knew her way around with more chips in front of her as well.
It wasn't just Coren-Mitchell showing the viewers how to play poker, though. Westmorland, the online wunderkind, made for some good entertainment. He made nice lay downs, perfect value bets and really had Benelli's number. In one hand, he got Benelli to call with queen-high. In another one, he flopped a flush and got Benelli to hero call for a huge chunk of chips with just a pair of aces on a four-flush board. Benelli was visibly on tilt after that hand.
It appeared as if Benelli could use the break that followed, though he was still the next one to be eliminated. Two times in a row he got three-bet by Westmorland and he didn't get away cheap. He was getting shorter and shorter. While he started the day on a little bit of a heater, the deck was ice cold for him when he least needed it to be. Eventually, he had to go all in with king-ten and Fundaro made the call with queen-ten and hit two pair.
At the start of three-handed play, Coren-Mitchell was still the short stack. She battled her way back, though, and left the short stack when she picked up a big pot with pocket sixes. The chip lead changed hands between Fundaro and Westmorland in the meantime, but Coren-Mitchell wasn't losing ground. To the contrary, she took the second spot on the leaderboard in a hand where she flopped trips in a limped pot. Fundano was the one falling down to third after not getting away cheaply from ace-king.
The biggest hand of the tournament was still yet to come. Westmorland raised his button for 200,000 with the Q♣10♠ and Coren-Mitchell made it 500,000 to go from the big blind with the A♦10♣. Westmorland made the call, the flop fell 2♠10♦10♥, and Coren-Mitchell checked. Westmorland bet 550,000 and Coren Mitchell check raised to 1,200,000. Westmorland thought about it for a while and made the call. The turn card was the 4♣ and both players checked. The river card was the 3♦ and when Coren-Mitchell bet 1,500,000. Westmorland shoved all in and Coren Mitchell thought for awhile before calling with the best hand.
This left Westmorland severely crippled. With just eight blinds left, something needed to happen, and it did — though it wasn't good for him. He called al lin in with queen-six suited and was up against Coren-Mitchell's ace-three. Westmorland hit a six on the turn, but the river was an ace and he departed from the tournament in third place.
Just like that, Coren-Mitchell was heads up for the title. Heads up for a €476,100 first prize. Heads up to become the first-ever two-time EPT champion. Heads up to write poker history.
It wouldn't take long to make that dream a reality. She played like a champ and got some help from the deck in the last hand. She raised it up to 260,000 from the button with the Q♠J♣. Fundaro just flat-called with the A♣A♠, and the flop came J♦7♠Q♣, giving Coren-Mitchell two pair. Fundaro checked and Coren-Mitchell bet 350,000. Fundaro then check-raised to 825,000 and Coren Mitchell called. The 10♠ fell on the turn and Fundaro checked again. Fundaro went for the double check-raise and pushed all in over Coren-Mitchell's bet of 1,000,000. Coren-Mitchell made the call.
Coren-Mitchell was on the verge of eliminating her opponent, on the verge of winning the tournament, and becoming the first-ever two-time EPT champion. She just needed to fade the aces, kings, tens, and sevens.
The commentators on the live stream couldn't hold their excitement and yelled for Coren-Mitchell's hand to hold. And it did. The 4♠ on the river was a blank and Coren-Mitchell got up from the table and hugged her opponent. She couldn't believe what had just happened.
The poker world now has the first two-time champion and her name is Victoria Coren-Mitchell! She took home a first-place prize of €476,100 and a stunning watch worth more than €5,000 from luxury Swiss brand SLYDE, the official watch sponsor for EPT Season 10 main and high roller events, after beating a 556-strong field in Italy's Sanremo.
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