PokerStars NAPT Venetian Main Event 2010 Won By Tom Marchese

Tom “Kingsofcards” Marchese has won the PokerStars NAPT Venetian Main Event after beating a field of 872 players to take the title and claim the $827,648 first place prize.
Marchese’s victory at the $5,000 buy-in event provided the 22 year old internet pro with his biggest score to date and following his win he commented: “It’s really hard to describe, but it feels really good. It hasn’t really set in yet in terms of the money and the accomplishment. I’m kind of just letting it all sink in.”
As the remaining 8 players took their seats at the final table, it was Eric Blair who was first to be eliminated after his pocket 7’s pre-flop shove fell to Sam Stein’s AK and a King on the flop. He took away $60,266 for his eighth place finish.
Next to go was a short stacked John Cernuto who exited in 7th ($104,461) after pushing pre-flop with Ac5c, and despite hitting an A on the flop lost when Stein hit a J and a 10 on the turn and river.
Soon after, Fuller picked up $144,639 for a 6th place finish after his pocket J’s push was looked up by Clemente holding pocket Q’s. David Paredes then exited in 5th ($184,816) after getting all his chips in pre-flop holding the pocket rockets against Stein’s Jacks, only to watch his opponent make his set on the flop.
Two hours later, the final table lost its next players in quick succession after Yunus Jamal’s pocket 10’s lost a classic race against Marchese’s A Q for a fourth place finish ($241,064), while Clemente picked up $309,366 in third when his A8 lost to Marchese’s pocket queens.
Going into the heads-up stage, Sam Stein made a loose river call with 3rd pair to give away his chip advantage and soon after he called Marchese’s river shove holding 4s2s on a 4c5h9d3s10s board only to see his opponent held a set of 10’s. Stein still walked away with an impressive $522,306 for his runner-up performance, while Tom “Kingsofcards” Marchese took home $827,648 and the PokerStars.net NAPT Venetian Main Event title.
Commenting on the final heads-up battle, Marchese said: “When you get heads up you never know whats going to happen. I was fortunate enough to make some hands and I got called pretty light. I know that it’s frustrating to go from a pretty dominate chip lead to suddenly being dominated yourself, so people tend to almost spite call. The tide really turned in the space of about five hands were it all went well for me and fell apart for him.”