Back-to-Back Victories and $1.6M for Petrangelo

The inaugural Stairway to Millions series concluded this week and Nick Petrangelo stole the show. The man from Feeding Hill, Massachusetts, won both the $50,000 and $100,000 buy-in events for a combined $1,593,000.

Petrangelo had two other Stairway to Millions final tables under his belt when he entered the seventh event. This $50,000 buy-in tournament attracted 21 players in total, but only three received some prize money.

Reaching day never mind winning the event looked unlikely because Petrangelo lost all but one big blind shortly after late registration closed. However, Lady Luck was on his side, and a series of double-ups kept him alive.

Day 1 ended with only three players remaining. Superstars including Jake Schindler, Sean Perry, and Jason Koon crashed out before the money place. However, none were the bubble boy. Anuj Agarwal earned that dubious honor with his fourth-place finish.

Petrangelo Second Going Into Day 2

Ali Imsirovic held the chip lead going into Day 2, with Petrangelo second, and Chris Brewer third.

Brewer found himself al-in with jack-ten against Petrangelo’s pocket fives. The coinflip was short-lived with those pocket fives turning a full house. Game over for Brewer.

Imsirovic led going into heads-up and wasted no time in extending his lead. However, a player of Petrangelo’s quality is never out of the running while they have a single chip available.

The champion elect drew level before forging a lead for himself. He opened, Imsirovic three-bet all-in with ace-nine, and Petrangelo snap-called with pocket aces. No help arrived for Imsirovic and he crashed out in second place.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Nick Petrangelo	United States	$567,000
2	Ali Imsirovic	Bosnia & Hervegovina	$315,000
3	Chris Brewer	United States	$168,000

Another Victory and Another Seven-Figure Score

Event #8 of the series commanded a $100,000 buy-in, which 19 players paid. Again, because the field was short, only the top three finishers shared the $1,900,000 prize pool.

Petrangelo was in scintillating form and responsible for several key eliminations. He busted Stephen Chidwick early on Day 1 and claimed the tournament lives of Ali Imsirovic, and Bill Klein at the final table.

Alex Foxen was the unfortunate soul who burst the money bubble. Foxen committed his stack with pocket nines and Petrangelo looked him up with king-jack. A king on the river sent Foxen home in fourth, and the tournament into the money.

The man from Massachusetts has 2,305,000 chips going into the final day. Sean Perry’s 1,085,000 stack placed him second, with David Peters and his 410,000 occupying third spot.

Peters doubled through the chip leader with king-queen versus pocket tens. Peters forged a decent lead for himself, leaving Petrangelo and Perry short but neck-and-neck.

Perry Makes an Ill-Timed Bluff

The way Perry busted in third was entirely his own fault. He raised with nine-four to 120,000 at the 15,000/30,000/30,000a level, and Petrangelo called with queen-ten. Perry fired a 180,000 bet on the ace-queen-jack flop, which was called. Perry bet 220,000 on the eight turn, but did not shake off his opponents. He jammed all-in on the ace river, which put a possible flush out there. However, Petrangelo did not believe his story and picked off the triple barrel bluff. Perry busted soon after because he only had 100,000 chips.

The final hand happened during the 40,000/80,000/80,000a level with the champ in the lead. He opened to 280,000, Peters jammed for 1,475,000, which was called. Peters showed pocket sixes, his opponent the ace-ten of clubs, and there were three clubs on the board by the turn. Peters walked away with the $570,000 runner-up prize, leaving Petrangelo to scoop an impressive $1,026,000.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Nick Petrangelo	United States	$1,026,000
2	David Peters	United States	$570,000
3	Sean Perry	United States	$304,000

Brad Johnson

You name the game, and you can bet your bottom dollar that Brad has either played it or placed a wager on it! Brad calls himself a natural gambler, and someone who gains as much enjoyment from writing about the crazy game of poker as he does playing it.

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