Bogdanov Victorious at WPT Venice

by Mario Alfonsi  |  Published on Feb 11, 2012  |  Updated on Feb 11, 2012

Rinat Bogdanov survived 12 hours of aggressive competition at the final table to win the World Poker Tour Venice Grand Prix. The final table began at 14:00 local time on Friday, and went into the early hours of Saturday morning before Bogdanov finished off his first major tournament victory, earning €229,800.Bogdanov came into the final table in 3^rd place, just behind Simon Ravnsbaek and well back of the chip leader, Andrea Dato. Ravnsbaek got into some trouble early, becoming one of the short stacks after some losses to Dato.After Ravnsbaek fought back to contention – he even took a very slight chip lead at one point before falling below the leaders again – it was Bogdanov’s turn to shine. The Russian poker player eliminated Ravnsbaek in fourth place, then doubled through Dato during three-handed play to create a situation where all three remaining players, including Alessandro Longobardi, were on virtually even stacks.Eventually, Bogdanov was able to knock out Dato when Dato made a push with K-4, only to run into Bogdanov’s AK. That hand left Bogdanov as the clear chip leader heading into his final confrontation with Longobardi.That heads-up battle wouldn’t last long. With the blinds relatively high at this point, it took just two hands for Bogdanov to claim his victory. When Bogdanov moved all-in on the river, Longobardi called, likely expecting that his KQ was good on a Q4x64 board. But Bogdanov shocked his opponent by turning up 64 for a full house, ending the tournament in one fell swoop.The win was Bogdanov’s first major live tournament win. In fact, it was his first cash in any major live tournament, as his only three recorded live cashes had all come from smaller events in Cyprus. The final table payouts were as follows:1^st – Rinat Bogdanov – €229,800
2^nd – Alessandro Longobardi – €111,700
3^rd – Andrea Dato – €72,275
4^th – Simon Ravnsbaek – €52,565
5^th – Gianluca Trebbi – €42,705
6^th – Andrea Carini – €32,195We here at toptenpokersites.org would like to congratulate Mr. Bogdanov for a fine victory and wish him much more success in the coming years.