$1,500 Stud - Michael Rocco Wins Event No. 35
Jun 20, '08
Michael Rocco Wins Event No. 35 ($135,753)
After grinding Al Barbieri down to his last few pink chips, all it took was a pair of kings to send him to the rail in second place. After realizing his pair had held, Rocco bursted into celebration, screaming with joy. As tears streamed down his face, he spoke about his victory for his five-year-old son. In a time where some bracelet winners take the prestige for granted, it was nice to see a man unafraid to show the world how much the win truly meant to him.
Barbieri earned $83,210 for his runner-up finish.
Player Tags: Al Barbieri, Michael Rocco
$1,500 Stud - Rocco Chipping Up
Jun 20, '08
Michael Rocco Keeps Chipping Away
Al Barbieri made aces up but was smart enough to just call a river bet from Michael Rocco. Rocco turned over the wheel and scooped a nice sized pot to increase his chip lead.
Rocco was up to 900,000 after the hand while Barbieri took a hit down to 250,000.
Updated Chip Counts
Michael Rocco - 930,000
Al Barbieri - 210,000
NOTE: Players then took a 20-minute break.
Player Tags: Al Barbieri, Michael Rocco
$1,500 Stud - Trading Chips Back and Forth
Jun 20, '08
Rocco Takes the Chip Lead
Since coming back from the dinner break, Al Barbieri has been going backwards. Meanwhile, Michael Rocco's small ball approach to heads up stud has given him slightly less than a 2-1 chip lead.
His biggest hand came down when he made trip queens and got Barbieri to call him down.
NOTE: The player are now on a quick 10-minute break.
Player Tags: Al Barbieri, Michael Rocco
$1,500 Stud - Barbieri Taking Control
Jun 20, '08
Players left: 2 of 381
Chip Leaders:
Michael Rocco - 345,000
Al Barbieri - 800,000
Eliminations: Levon Torosyan (3rd Place)
Big Hands and Story Lines:
Al Barbieri Takes Over
Three handed play has been nice to Barbieri, who has been slowly chipping up and has a big lead over his opponents. On a recent hand with Levon Torosyan, Barbieri was showing four to the flush on board against Torosyan's four to a broadway straight. Torosyan was forced to fold once again and Barbieri chipped up some more. After the hand, Barbieri held nearly 4/5 of the total chips in play.
Levon Torosyan Eliminated in Third Place ($50,186)
After being crippled down to his last 6,000 in chips when his pair of deuces failed to push out Michael Rocco's pair of jacks, Levon Torosyan was eliminated shortly afterwards by Rocco's trip queens. He was eliminated in third place.
NOTE: The player then took a quick 30-minute dinner break before beginning heads up play.
Player Tags: Al Barbieri, Michael Rocco, Levon Torosyan
$1,500 Stud - Rapid Bustouts
Jun 20, '08
Players left: 3 of 381
Chip Leaders:
Michael Rocco - 290,000
Al Barbieri - 695,000
Levon Torosyan - 240,000
Eliminations: Giacomo D'Agostino (5th Place), Max Troy (4th Place)
Big Hands and Story Lines:
Giacomo D'Agostino Eliminated in Fifth Place ($28,083)
With just two big bets left in his stack, Giacomo D'Agostino invested it all with split tens against Michael Rocco's aces in the hole. Rocco hit another ace on sixth street to leave D'Agostino drawing dead and busted him in fifth place.
Max Troy Eliminated in Fourth Place ($37,184)
Max Troy was all in on fourth street holding a pair of aces and a straight draw, but he was in big trouble against Levon Torosyan's trip fours. Troy bricked out and Torosyan rivered a full house. Troy was eliminated in fourth place.
Player Tags: Maxwell Troy, Al Barbieri, Giacomo D'Agostino, Michael Rocco, Levon Torosyan
$1,500 Stud - Slow Going
Jun 20, '08
Players left: 8 of 381
Chip Leaders:
Michael Rocco - 350,000
Al Barbieri - 315,500
Jeff Siegal - 82,000
Giacomo D'Agostino - 185,000
Levon Torosyan - 155,000
Max Troy - 43,000
Andre Boyer - 61,000
Danny Kalpakis - 35,000
Eliminations:
Big Hands and Story Lines:
Michael Rocco's Two Pair No Good
The chip leader coming into the day has been going backwards to start out this final table. After bringing it in with a 5 showing, Rocco stuck around to make fives up on seventh street. Unfortunately for him, Al Barbieri made jacks up to scoop a decent sized pot.
Danny Kalpakis Doubles Up
Kalpakis got his last 22,000 all in on third street with a pair of split queens against Levon Torosyan's split pair of aces. Torosyan never improved and Kalpakis caught a third queen along with a pair of jacks as his full house doubled him up to 50,000 in chips.
Max Troy Doubles Up
Troy was all in on sixth street holding just a pair of sixes against Al Barbieri's ace high. Barbieri squeezed out seventh street to see he made a pair of kings, but Troy's squeeze revealed another ten to make two pair and double up.
Player Tags: Maxwell Troy, Al Barbieri, Michael Rocco, Levon Torosyan, Dan Kalpakis
