Nick Petrangelo Shows The Poker World How It’s Done

Nick Petrangelo put on a masterclass of tournament poker at partypoker on August 11. Anyone who ever doubted his ability should watch a re-run of the WPT 6-Max Championship final table and look on in awe of the skills on show.

Petrangelo hardly put a foot wrong at the seven-handed final table and deserved his $494,550 prize. He found himself nursing a short stack but kept his cool and his class shone through.

The final day started with seven players in the hunt for the title. More than $1.62 million of the $3 million prize pool waited to be distributed. Jake Schinder sat down second-bottom in chips and his situation never improved.

He three-bet all-in with pocket sevens over the top of a raise from the aggressive Artsiom Prostak, only to run into the pocket aces of Jiachen Gong. Gong’s aces held, leaving Schindler with slightly less than four big blinds. Those went into the middle a couple of hands later when Prostak moved all-in. Schindler held pocket kings to Prostak’s ace-trey, but an ace landed on the turn to bust him in seventh.

Petrangelo Doubles Up Through Sion

Elio Sion was the next player eliminated. Sion is a superb player, one who won the $50,000 Poker Players Championship at the 2016 WSOP. Skilled as he may be, Sion couldn’t beat Lady Luck. Sion lost most of his stack running a pair of jacks into the aces of Petrangelo. Nobody knew then that the hand would prove to be the tournament’s turning point.

Sion crashed out in sixth a few hands later, locking up a six-figure prize for the remaining players.

Fifth-place and $128,100 went to Gong in a cruel hand. Gong min-raised to 1,200,000 with red aces and watched as Petrangelo jammed for 23,100,000 from the button. Gong snap-called and Petrangelo’s jack-ten of diamonds needed plenty of help. That help arrived in the form of trip tens on the flop and quads on the turn. Game over for Gong.

United Kingdom-based German Patrice Brandt busted in fourth. He flopped top pair with his ace-five against Prostak’s pocket eights, only for Prostak to turn a set. Brandt committed the rest of his stack while drawing dead, which reduced the players by one.

Pocket jacks played a major part in this tournament once again when they busted Arsenii Karmatckii. Karmatckii raised to 2,500,000 at the 350,000/700,000/87,500a level with ace-king. Prostak re-raised all-in with jacks and Karmatckii called off his last 16 big blinds. The community cards ran out nine-high and the tournament progressed to heads-up.

Lots Of Work To Do Heads-Up

Petrangelo still had a lot of work to do because he trailed 25,200,000 to 73,500,000 in chips. Petrangelo completely outplayed his opponent, bluffing in the correct spots and applying aggression.

One hand, in particular, showed Petrangelo’s class.

Prostak min-raised to 2,800,000 with queen-deuce and Petrangelo called with queen-seven. Prostak flopped two pair and Petrangelo check-called a 1,400,000 bet. The turn was another deuce, gifting Prostak a full house. Petrangelo check-called a 4,300,000 bet. The river was a ten and Petrangelo checked once more. Prostak jammed all-in for 16,900,000 only for Petrangelo to tank-fold!

The final hand saw Prostak open to 2,800,000 with ace-queen and Petrangelo called with king-ten. Two tens on the flop put the ball firmly in Petrnagelo’s court. He checked before check-raising Prostak’s 1,400,000 bet to 4,000,000. The five of spade landed on the turn, putting three spades out there; Prostak held the queen of spades. Petrangelo bet 8,300,000 and was called.

The ace of hearts completed the community cards and the writing was on the wall for Prostak. Petrangelo set him all-in for his last 15 big blinds and Prostak obliged with a call. Game over for the Russian and game on for Petrangelo.

WPT #04 6-Max Championship Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Nick Petrangelo	Canada	$494,550
2	Artsiom Prostak	Belarus	$368,250
3	Arsenii Karmatckii	Russia	$278,448
4	Patrice Brandt	United Kingdom	$192,900
5	Jiachen Gong	Canada	$128,100
6	Elio Sion	United Kingdom	$93,630
7	Jake Schindler	Mexico	$70,200

The champion also received a $15,000 entry, plus flights and accommodation, to the Tournament of Champions. We’re not sure when that is because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, however.

Play switches to Progressive Knockout (PKO) tournaments in the WPT World Online Championships at partypoker from August 15. The championship events come with $33, $320, and $3,200 buy-in levels. Guarantees weigh in at $300,000, $1,000,000, and $3,000,000 respectively.

Matthew Pitt

If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.

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