WPT VENICE GP: FROM RUSSIAN, WITH LOVE - BOGDANOV CONQUERS ITALY

PHOTO CREDIT/SOURCE: WPT.com

Russian Rinat Bogdanov defeated a slew of Italians and one persistent Swiss in order to conquer Venice and win the WPT Venice Grand Prix ... which he did!

Bogdanov didn't have much in the way of live tournament cashes prior to Friday, just a few scores at Merit events in Cyprus and that was it. That all changed today.

Bogdanov picks up over 300K US for the win ... it wasn't an easy journey - our two feature players from Thursday, chip leader Andrea Dato (2011 PTPR Rank: 165th) and Simon Ravnsbaek Ravnsbaek (2011 PTPR Rank: 283rd) decided to take the aggressive route during final table play, yet, neither player was able to do better than third.

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FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS 1st Rinat Bogdanov - €229,800 2nd Alessandro Longobardi - €111,700 3rd Andrea Dato - €72,275 4th Simon Ravnsbaek - €52,565 5th Gianluca Trebbi - €42,705 6th Andrea Carini - €32,195 RELATED POSTS >> DATO DOES IT AGAIN >> BJERKMANN LEADS VENICE >> O'DWYER O SO CLOSE >> SHALLOW WINS WPT IRELAND NEXT TOUR STOP WPT Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts, Florida February 10-14, 2012

PTPR PREMIER EVENT World Poker Tour Venice Grand Prix WPT Venice Grand Prix Main Event February 6-10, 2012 Casino di Venezia | Venice, Italy Buy-in: $6,555 | Prizepool: $889,338 Entries: 155 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION RINAT BOGDANOV 126 ALESSANDRO LONGOBARDI 76 ANDREA DATO 46 SIMON RAVNSBAEK 36 GIANLUCA TREBBI 31 ANDREA CARINI 26 JASON WHEELER 26 JEREMIE SOCHET 11 MASSIMO MOSELE 11 ANDREY GULYY 11 GABRIELE LEPORE 11 MARCEL BJERKMANN 9 MARKO NEUMAN 9 JAMES AKENHEAD 9 ERION ISLAMAY 9 KONSTANTIN STRELETSKIY 6 GIACOMO VALENTI 6 GIANLUCA SPERANZA 6

WPT VENICE GP: DATO DOES IT AGAIN - FINAL TABLES IN VENICE

PHOTO CREDIT/SOURCE: WPT.com

Andrea Dato has indeed done it again. For the second time in a few months, he has reached a WPT Final Table in Venice - this time at the WPT Venice Grand Prix!

Dato is hoping that he can get it done in his homeland this time around - he picked up a fourth place finish at WPT Venice in December.

Dato (2011 PTPR Rank: 165th) had a great end to 2011 - collecting over 260K in winnings - including a deep run at the WSOP (NLH Triple Draw) good for 138K!

Swiss player Simon Ravnsbaek sits in second place behind the Italian - and he certainly will be a tough challenge for Ravnsbaek, who is the defending Danish Championships title holder. Ravnsbaek (2011 PTPR Rank: 283rd) has been a consistent point producer on the circuit for a few years now.

Rinat Bogdanov (2011 PTPR Rank: NR), 2008 La Note del Poker Champion Alessandro Longobardi (2011 PTPR Rank: NR), Andrea Carini (2011 PTPR Rank: 1483rd) and Gianluca Trebbi round-out final table play.

FINAL TABLE CHIP COUNTS
Andrea Dato 1,591,000
Simon Ravnsbaek 922,000
Rinat Bogdanov 907,000
Alessandro Longobardi 558,000
Andrea Carini 347,000
Gianluca Trebbi 343,000

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FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS 1st - €229,800 2nd - €111,700 3rd - €72,275 4th - €52,565 5th - €42,705 6th - €32,195 RELATED POSTS >> BJERKMANN LEADS VENICE >> O'DWYER O SO CLOSE >> SHALLOW WINS WPT IRELAND >> BJERKMANN DUTCH KING >> BJERKMANN WINS BELGIAN OPEN LIVE EVENT COVERAGE WPT LIVE STREAM NEXT TOUR STOP WPT Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts, Florida February 10-14, 2012

PTPR PREMIER EVENT World Poker Tour Venice Grand Prix WPT Venice Grand Prix Main Event February 6-10, 2012 Casino di Venezia | Venice, Italy Buy-in: $6,555 | Prizepool: $889,338 Entries: 155 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st position 126 2nd position 76 3rd position 46 4th position 36 5th position 31 6th position 26 JASON WHEELER 26 JEREMIE SOCHET 11 MASSIMO MOSELE 11 ANDREY GULYY 11 GABRIELE LEPORE 11 MARCEL BJERKMANN 9 MARKO NEUMAN 9 JAMES AKENHEAD 9 ERION ISLAMAY 9 KONSTANTIN STRELETSKIY 6 GIACOMO VALENTI 6 GIANLUCA SPERANZA 6

WPT VENICE GP: STOP THE PRESSES! FAN FAVOURITE BJERKMANN LEADS FINAL 27

PHOTO CREDIT/SOURCE: WPT.com

Which player gets the most hits on the PTPR site? It's not even close ... although many google searches for Jonathan Duhamel get a lot of people to this site, it's Marcel Bjerkmann that takes the cake! Soon after the birth of this site, Marcel Bjerkmann went crazy and started winning events daily (ok, ok monthly) - ever since then, Bjerkmann has been "the man" on PTPRPoker.com!

Well, Marcel is back in the spotlight. Bjerkmann (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) was quiet in 2011 - after a fantastic 2010 - but he has been playing more live poker in recent months.

Bjerkmann leads the WPT Venice Grand Prix following Day 2 play at Casino di Venezia in Venice, Italy as 27 of the 155 original entrants will make their way back to the casino floor on Day 3 Wednesday.

Marko Neumann (2011 PTPR Rank: 1440th), Jason Wheeler (2011 PTPR Rank: 828th) and James Akenhead (2011 PTPR Rank: 2024th) round-out the Top 4 and will be looking to take the lead over from Bjerkmann. We'll play down to a final table on Wednesday!

TOP 27 CHIP COUNTS
Marcel Bjerkmann 436,300
Marko Neumann 384,400
Jason Wheeler 348,200
James Akenhead 336,000
Andrey Gulyy 326,000
Gianluca Trebbi 323,500
Andrea Dato 309,900
Gabriele Lepore 233,200
Jeremie Sochet 232,500
Alessandro Longobardi 221,200
Giacomo Fundaro 195,700
Rinat Bogdanov 167,600
Massimo Mosele 148,000
Erion Islamay 140,600
Gianluca Speranza 134,000
Dario De Paz 94,900
Zoltan Szabo 91,300
Andrea Carini 83,300
Simon Ravnsbaek 78,100
Guido Chiodo 75,700
Kara Scott 60,100
Giacomo Valenti 50,500
Viacheslav Goryachev 50,500
Konstantin Streletskiy 44,400
Lionel Tran 39,000
Maurizio Saieva 38,800
Carla Solinas 38,600

NOTABLE DAY 2 ELIMINATIONS
Mike Sexton, Mustapha Kanit, Melanie Weisner, Max Pescatori, Nicolas Levi, Roberto Romanello, Marvin Rettenmaier, Benjamin Pollak, Irene Baroni, Guillaume Darcourt, Dmitry Vitkind and Filippo Candio.

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WPT VENICE GRAND PRIX PAYOUTS 1st - €229,800 (Includes a WPT Bellagio seat) 2nd - €111,700 3rd - €72,275 4th - €52,565 5th - €42,705 6th - €32,195 7th - €25,625 8th - €19,055 9th - €13,795 10th - 12th €9,855 13th - 15th - €8,540 16th-18th - €7,225 RELATED POSTS >> O'DWYER O SO CLOSE >> SHALLOW WINS WPT IRELAND >> BJERKMANN DUTCH KING >> BJERKMANN WINS BELGIAN OPEN NEXT TOUR STOP WPT Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open, Florida February 10-14, 2012

PTPR PREMIER EVENT World Poker Tour Venice Grand Prix WPT Venice Grand Prix Main Event February 6-10, 2012 Casino di Venezia | Venice, Italy Buy-in: $6,555 | Prizepool: $889,338 Entries: 155 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st position 126 2nd position 76 3rd position 46 4th position 36 5th position 31 6-7th position 26 8-11th position 11 12-15th position 9 16-18th position 6