Tournament Trail

Bertrand Grospellier Wins $1.4 Million at Festa al Lago
By Julio Rodriguez

After a one-year hiatus from the tournament circuit, the popular Festa al Lago returned to Bellagio as the third of four major events held there year-round. The $15,000 buy-in created a total prize pool of $5,354,400, with $1,411,015 earmarked for the eventual champion.

With two starting days, a slow-moving structure, and 45,000 in starting chips, the 368-player field should have taken quite a while to be cut down. Instead, the field dwindled at a rapid pace, enabling aggressive players to jump out in front with huge chip leads, which proved to be difficult to hold on to.

At the end of the starting days, Antonio Esfandiari led the entire field by a wide margin. He was crippled and busted the next day by new chip leader Daniel Negreanu, but the curse at the top of the leader board was not gone yet. Negreanu was practically eliminated the next day by Ryan Fair, who went on to finish the day atop the chip perch. The next day, Fair was the final elimination of the evening, leaving the curse alive and well.

All eyes then moved to Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. He held a slight lead, and even the most skeptical were talking about the alleged curse, wondering if it could be broken. Grospellier faltered early, but took out Joe Sebok in a huge pot when the tournament was nine-handed to take complete control of his opponents and enter the final table with a massive chip advantage.

Here were the stacks going to the final table:

Seat 1 - William Mietz - 1,400,000
Seat 2 - Osmin "Oddie" Dardon - 2,070,000
Seat 3 - Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier - 6,420,000
Seat 4 - Nam Le - 2,275,000
Seat 5 - Adam "Roothlus" Levy - 1,370,000
Seat 6 - Nenad Medic - 3,025,000

Grospellier continued to dominate when he made the correct decision to call Mietz's all-in move with just ace high on a 9 7 4 9 board. Mietz showed just king high and went out in sixth place, earning $186,510.

Levy was determined to play back at the young French pro, but made a move at the wrong time, running into Grospellier's pocket queens. The board bricked, and Levy was eliminated in fifth place, pocketing $266,455.

No amount of patience could help former World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker champion Nenad Medic, who lost a race to none other than Grospellier to end his tournament in fourth place. Medic scored $373,010 for his weeklong effort.

Dardon and Le didn't go down easily. Dardon proved his poker savvy earlier in the tournament when he avoided going broke with bottom set on an extremely dry flop. He agonized over his decision at the time, but felt a renewed sense of confidence when his opponent later graciously showed him top set.

Though his intuition served him well earlier, it ultimately ended his run at the title in third place. Grospellier opened for a raise and Dardon repopped him. Knowing Le was extremely short, Grospellier thrust the pressure back on Dardon, putting him to the test for all of his chips. Even with a $400,000 difference between second and third place, Dardon didn't hesitate to make the call with A-J. Unfortunately for the California native, Grospellier's 10-2 suited caught a deuce on the flop and Dardon hit the rail, earning $506,245.

When the final two started heads-up play, Le saw that he was outchipped a monstrous 16-1. Though Le doubled up twice to start the battle, Grospellier's flopped set of tens ended it all, and Le finished runner-up, banking $943,215.

This was Grospellier's second major victory of 2008; he took down the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January. His win also puts him back into the thick of the Card Player 2008 Player of the Year race, moving him into second place overall.

What's My Line? Alec Torelli
By Julio Rodriguez With Alec Torelli

Poker pro Alec Torelli has had quite the year. Following his final-table appearance at the LAPC Championship in Costa Rica, he announced his presence with a second-place finish in the heads-up event at the World Series of Poker.

In early October, Torelli turned heads when he won back-to-back events at the Bellagio Festa al Lago, earning more than $200,000 for his efforts. Incredibly, Torelli defeated Jonathan Little both times during heads-up play for his wins.

The young up-and-comer, who plays as "traheho" in some of the biggest online cash games, spoke to Card Player about his recent success and the importance of intense concentration during heads-up play.

Julio Rodriguez: Let's talk about a huge hand you played three-handed in event No. 4.

The Hand

Down to three-handed, Alec Torelli raised from the button to 30,000 and Jonathan Little folded in the small blind. John Gale made the call from the big blind, and the flop came down 8-4-2 rainbow.

Gale checked and Torelli bet 40,000. Gale made the call, and the turn paired the board with another deuce. This time, both players checked, and the river was a 3.

Gale bet 30,000 and Torelli raised to 105,000. Gale moved all in for a total of 150,000 and Torelli made the call. Gale showed 6-5 for a rivered straight and Torelli tabled his pocket deuces for quads.

JR: You raised from the button with deuces. No mystery there. What's going through your head when Gale calls from the big blind?

Alec Torelli: He's calling with a wide range there and defending pretty light most of the time. He definitely likes to see a lot of flops, at least at this point in the tournament. The flop gives me bottom set and he checks. I decided to continuation-bet, like I had done the entire tournament. When he calls, I know he could be doing this with a large number of hands, including A-3, A-5, 7-6, 6-5, 5-3. He could have paired his hand or he could have nothing more than a gutshot-straight draw. I've seen him float out of position before, where he just called to take the pot away on a later street, so I had to factor in other hands like J-10.

JR: The turn is a deuce, giving you quads. Are you checking to allow him to catch up, or are you hoping to induce a bluff on the river?

AT: At this point, I have the deck completely locked. If he has a hand with low cards that will bet the river, I'm going to go ahead and let him. If he's floating the flop, the turn didn't help him at all, so I'm going to let him hit a pair. Let's say an ace hits the river. I'm going to let him bluff at it, knowing it's a card that he will try to represent with a hand like J-10.

JR: The river is another low card, a trey, and he leads at the pot for 30,000.

AT: That was a very small bet, so at this point, I figured that he might have made a hand. I raised to 105,000, and he moved all in for the rest, which I obviously insta-called. He turned over 6-5, which made him double-gutted on the flop. Easy game, I guess.

JR: Let's move on to the second tournament. Amazingly, you made it down to heads-up play and were once again sitting across the table from none other than Jonathan Little. I want to discuss a hand you played in which you made a great call on the river to take the wind out of his sails.

Event - Blinds/Antes	Festa al Lago	6,000-12,000 with a 2,000 ante
Player	Alec Torelli	Jonathan Little
Chip Counts	About 450,000	About 450,000
Hand	8 5	A-10

The Hand

Jonathan Little raised from the button to 25,000 and Alec Torelli called from the big blind. The flop came J-9-4 with two diamonds and Torelli checked. Little bet 40,000 and Torelli called.

The turn was a 5, and both players checked. The river was a non-diamond king and Torelli checked. Little bet 65,000, and after some thought, Torelli made the call. Little showed A-10, and Torelli tabled his pair of fives to take the pot.

JR: The flop gave you a flush draw and you checked it over to him. He bet 40,000 and you decided to just call. Did you consider a check-raise?

AT: I was playing pretty aggressively post-flop and had been check-raising a good number of hands, so I called, knowing that my check-raise might not work. He could put in another raise, forcing me to play for all of my chips as a 2-1 underdog. If I make it 120,000 on the flop, he might move in, and I'd be in a pretty awkward spot, holding just a flush draw. I'd be getting about 1.5-1 to call, and if I factored in the occasional push with a worse flush draw or open-end straight draw, I might have been forced to call in a spot where I was way behind.

Also, by check-calling, my hand looks more like a made hand, making it easier to take the pot away on the river if I don't get there.

JR: The turn was a 5, pairing your hand, and you checked once again.

AT: I was planning on check-calling the turn and re-evaluating on the river, knowing he was capable of betting with hands like K-Q, K-10, Q-10, 10-8, 9-7, basically all of the straight draws. He might even be betting hands like A-3 or A-2 that improved to wheel draws or better flush draws than mine, which I now beat, since I paired.

The only hands that beat me that he would bet on the turn are top-pair hands like J-10 plus. He wouldn't bet any hands that had a 9 in them, because he'd most likely go for pot control. Factoring all of that into the equation, I can beat most of the hands with which he would bet the turn.

JR: Well, after all of that thought, he ended up checking behind.

AT: Exactly, so now we know a bit more about his hand. He might have a hand like pocket sixes or better, or he has a 9 for pot control, but he never has a jack. He definitely would bet a jack on the turn, because of all the draws on board, knowing that I'm either in check-call or check-fold mode.

JR: The river is a king and you missed your flush. You now have fourth pair and check it again. He bets 65,000 and you correctly make the call. What was your thought process there?

AT: OK, so now I have to break down all the hands that fit his line. He can't have made a straight with Q-10, since we already established that he would have bet the turn. The same goes for K-Q or K-10. K-J isn't a possibility because we know he can't have a jack in his hand.

I'm thinking to myself about the hands he could possibly be value-betting. We can now eliminate most of the nines from his range, since he would probably check, knowing I might be holding a king. So, the only hands that he could be betting that beat me are K-2, K-3, K-4, K-5, K-6, K-7, K-8, or K-9. Two pair is unlikely, so that almost eliminates half of these holdings.
Now we think about all of his other hands that got to the river, which is essentially most of his range. Because he raises from the button and bets mosts flops, there is a strong possibility that he is holding a hand like ace high, Q-7 offsuit, and the like. He also knows that the king is a bad card for me if I have a pair like sixes, sevens, or eights, so he's likely to bluff at it with those types of hands.

I made the call and my pair of fives was good. That gave me the chip lead and momentum. I continued to grind him down, and finally my A-10 held up against his K 9 for the second win.

Heads-Up Play - The Process of Elimination

JR: You were able to quickly rattle off every likely holding for your opponent, narrowing his ranges down to a manageable number. In full-ring games, players are capable of holding just a few possible combinations that connect with the board or complete air. But it seems that in heads-up play, because the range becomes so much larger, you almost have to use the process of elimination to read your opponent.

AT: Definitely. I'm always using that method, whether I'm playing in a tournament or sitting in a cash game. That's why I can't play my A-game for 12 hours at a time. Sure, if I zone out and don't pay attention to the game, I could probably coast through a 12-hour day. It's like playing chess, but only knowing the rules. Sure, you can keep moving the pawn up a space and even get lucky a few times to win a few pieces, but if you aren't thinking a few moves ahead, you're eventually going to get outplayed.

It's draining to sit there and go through everyone's range for every hand in every pot for the entire day. That includes hands I'm not involved in, as well. Poker is not a leisure activity if you play it correctly. It can be very mentally taxing.

This is especially true for heads-up play, where you must be able to narrow someone down to a finite point. If you happen to be off by 5 percent, that could be the difference between a call or a fold, a win or a loss. The worst feeling in the world is finishing second, and when I get to that point, I'm going to make sure that I did everything I could to keep that from happening.