Davide Iannaco Triumphs at SiGMA Poker Tour Malta

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Iannaco, Brzezinski star at final table

Last Sunday, sixty players returned to the Portomaso Casino for Day 2 of the SiGMA Poker Tour (SPT) Malta Main Event. Danish player Sebastian Mortensen was in the box seat with over a million chips but as the day wore on, it looked as though the story would be Polish player Tomasz Brzezinski, fresh off his EPT Barcelona Main Event final table.

pummeled his opponents with relentless pressure

With the wind at his back after a fourth-place finish worth €493,250 ($578,313), Brzezinski was taking every spot in pursuit of victory. Loose opens, deft squeezes, and triple barrels were all deployed in the endgame as he pummeled his opponents with relentless pressure. The one man who absorbed that pressure the best was Italian Davide Iannaco, whose performance was nothing short of sublime.

The soft-spoken Iannaco tip-toed his way through the final stages, flying largely under the radar as he nudged his way up the leaderboard. Composure personified, he picked his spots well, displaying grit and determination way beyond his limited experience. It would ultimately come down to him and Brzezinski for the title and a €28,500 ($33,415) purse.

Montealegre knows the ingredients

The SPT is the new kid on the poker block, announcing itself back in April with a phenomenal debut stop in São Paulo, Brazil. Malta was the tour’s first festival on European soil, fitting as the tour’s manager Ivonne Montealegre has a reputation for bringing excellence to her poker endeavors on the island.

The Malta Poker Festival founder knows the ingredients required to make a poker event bang and she clearly brought all that experience to the table with this event. Noticeably though, she also sprinkled in some new ingredients, aware that the SiGMA Poker Tour has its own set of brand values and expectations.

A €5,000 ($5,862) Freeroll side event for SiGMA Platinum Pass holders was both a generous and classy affair. The Divas Event was a stylish reinvention of the Ladies tournament concept. The €220 ($258) Hendon Mob Championship was the perfect secondary event, but all eyes, come Sunday, were naturally on the Main Event.

The final table

Six starting flights had produced 411 entrants, all vying for the lion’s share of the €150,000 ($175,868) guarantee. Sixty combatants took their seats on Day 2 and, right from the off, the attrition rate was swift, brutal beats and coolers galore, as the tournament was whittled down to the skilled and lucky few. The final table was live streamed for posterity with SPT ambassador Lucas Robinson, The Hendon Mob’s Head of Partnerships and handsome Irish Malteaser David Lappin calling the action.

Norwegian veteran Terje Bremseth and Italian Agostino Vitiello were promptly dispatched by a relentless Tomasz Brzezinski, who threatened to make it a rapid-fire evening under the spotlight. Christopher Convery and Guillaum Otto were next to fall, both at the hands of Iannaco. For a moment it looked like Jon Persent would be the man to beat as he took the lead with some tidy plays, but the poker gods were cruel and coolered him out of the tournament when he ran Ace-Queen into Brzezinski’s pocket Kings.

With four players left, Brzezinski pulled away. Joachim Vaesen was eliminated in third and Romain Gachet, whose stack fluctuated wildly on the final table, busted in third. Iannaco was in arrears, but the deck was kind in the early exchanges of heads-up. Ten of the first 12 pots went the way of the Italian and suddenly, it was Brzezinski who was on the ropes.

Sigma Boy

Playing just 13 big blinds, the Pole limp-trapped Ace-Queen and Iannaco obliged with the King-Three. The board ran out clean and Brzezinski was back in the lead. A little back and forth ensued and then, with the stacks shallow, Brzezinski shoved King-rag and ran into King-Queen. A Queen on the turn sent Iannaco into the winner’s enclosure.

“Everything went right for Iannaco heads‑up,” the excellent coverage from PokerNews’ Richard Hayes notes. That is certainly true, but nothing should be taken away from the performance of Iannaco, who possessed poise and a killer instinct as he went from seventh at the final table to champion.

Thank you to the organizers; it was a great event.”

“I’m very happy, I’m not a pro, I don’t study like they do, but I have a good group of friends who are professionals or coaches and I like to talk about the game with them,” Iannaco reflected after the match was done and dusted. “This won’t change much in terms of my poker plans – I’ll play everything in Malta like I always do, and see where things take me. It was a fantastic tournament…I played well and ran well. Thank you to the organizers; it was a great event.”

It was great to hear such wise words from the first SPT Malta champion – the hallmark of someone who treasures the grit behind the glory.