PTS AT STAKE: O'DWYER, ROMANELLO LOOKING OUT FOR NUMBER ONE ...

PHOTO: WPT.com, POKERSTARSBLOG.com
SOURCE: WPT.com

Down the stretch they come! WPT Venice is one of the last chances that players will get to collect PTPR Points in 2011 ... and Steve O'Dwyer and Roberto Romanello are certainly trying to make the best of it - and possibly steal the title of 2011 PTPR Poker Tournament Player of Year away from WSOP stand-out Ben Lamb.

Theoretically, fifteen players have a shot at becoming taking the 2011 PTPR POY honours - in all actuality, only a few players are still capable of accomplishing the feat as we dwindle down to the last few tournaments on the 2011 circuit.

Other that this WPT Venice Main Event, there are a few other tournaments holding our attention including the Epic Poker League 6-Max event taking place on Friday and Saturday, the Dusk Till Dawn Monte Carlo in Nottingham over the weekend and Saturday's High Rollers tournament here at WPT Venice.

Back to the matter at hand, looking at who is leading WPT Venice after Day 2 play, or actually, where O'Dwyer and Romanello stand as the Final 40 players return to Casino di Venezia on Friday.

O'Dwyer is 10th in chips after Day 2, which is actually a letdown for him, as O'Dwyer was Top 5 in chips for most of the tournament. Still, O'Dwyer is very much in contention - heck, a double-up and he's the chip leader! O'Dwyer MUST win WPT Venice in order to surpass Lamb atop the 2011 PTPR Leaderboard.

O'Dwyer has two tournament wins in 2011 - The Bellagio Cup and the Epic Pro/Am back in August.

As for fan favourite Romanello, he's only a few chips behind O'Dwyer and after a roller coaster Day 2 will be looking to settle things on Friday. Unlike O'Dwyer, a Top 2 finish is what Romanello is looking for in order to pickup POY honours.

Like O'Dwyer, Romanello has two wins on the season: WPT Bratislava and a EPT Barcelona Side Event.

Romanello burst onto the poker scene a year ago - almost to the day! - where he captured the title and our hearts at EPT Prague. Romanello couldn't hide his emotions as tears of joy were shed when he picked up the EPT trophy - it was very refreshing to see a poker player show that type of emotion after a victory.

Back to tournament action ... two players who were part of the Top 15 earlier this year are sitting second and third in chips and would more than likely finish the season inside the PTPR Top 15 Leaderboard with a win in Venice.

France Poker Series Finale winner Marvin Rettenmaier is 40K chip behind our leader while WPT Hard Rock champ Taylor Von Kriegenbergh right on Mad Marvin's heals.

WPT VENICE NOTABLE REMAINING CHIP COUNTS:
Wanny Piazza 373,500 (Chip Leader)
Marvin Rettenmaier 330,000
Taylor von Kriegenbergh 326,900
Ronnie Bardah 225,000
Steve O'Dwyer 197,900
Roberto Romanello 167,100
Alex Dovzhenko 85,000
Arnaud Mattern 70,000
Marco Figuccia 41,000

Notable Day 2 eliminations included:
Mustapha Kanit, Roger Hairabedian, Zimnan Ziyard, 2011 PTPR #4 Ranked Player Alessio Isaia and Dominik Nitsche.

WPT VENICE PAYOUTS (IN USD):
1- $255,842
2- $125,740
3- $86,990
4- $56,822
5- $45,087
6- $35,585
7- $26,884
8- $19,770
9- $14,229
10-18- $9,885
19-27- $7,509

PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Poker Tour Venice
WPT Venice NLH Main Event
December 13-18, 2011

Casino Di Venezia | Venice
Buy-in: $4,295 | Prizepool: $841,345 | Entries: 213

PTS AT STAKE::
1st position 127
2nd position 77
3rd position 47
4th position 37
5th position 32
6th position 27
7th position 27
8th position 12
9th position 12
10th position 12
11th position 12
12th position 10
13th position 10
14th position 10
15th position 10
16th position 7
17th position 7
18th position 7