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Freddy Deeb Leads the Final Table of the WPT Festa al Lago

With two poker titles and four final table appearances on the WPT (world poker tour) already, there is little doubt that poker pro Freddy Deeb is the most experienced poker player to have reserved one of the six slots at Festa al Lago Final table on October 25th, 2009.

But the two-time WSOP (world series of poker) bracelet winner, who has more than $6.2 million in poker tournament earnings, will come into the final on October 26th, 2009 with something as important-the lead.

Deeb said that he is very excited about making the final of the Festa al Lago. He said that he will try his best in the final. Business owner and part-time poker player Shawn Cunix will come in the final with just a few hundred thousand shy of the 3.8 million chip stack of Deeb.

The Ohio native has close to $500,000 in poker tournament earnings and while this is the biggest tournament that he has ever played on, he said that he feels prepared for it. The player currently sitting in 3rd place could be considered one of the hottest poker players in the circuit right now.

New York-native Tommy Vedes followed up a final table appearance at the 2009 World Series of Poker $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 event with a 19th place finish in the WSOP Main Event. Then he spent the summer performing well in almost every poker tournament, reaching the final table in the World Poker Open in Tunica, finishing in 18th place at World Poker Tour Cyprus and grabbing the early lead at PokerStars European Poker Tour London before busting out in 54th place.

Veteran poker pro Craig Crivello sits behind Vedes and with two World Series of Poker final tables and three deep runs in the WSOP Main Event on his poker resume, all the way back to 1995, it appears that he is on the verge of achieving something big in his poker career.

He believes that experience could be a big factor at the Festa al Lago. He added that some of the younger players have never bee in this situation so the atmosphere of the final table might affect them. One of the younger players that Crivello is referring to is 23 year old Jason Lavallee, who came into the final eleven with a big chip lead.

After a difficult play down to the final six, the Montreal native will enter the TV final table 5th in total chips in an attempt to forget his fall from the chip leaderboard behind him. Lavallee said that he will just try to not dwell on it too much and do his best in the final.

The short stack at the Festa al Lago final table is twenty-two year old Jason Burt, who is hoping that a few years of online MTT and cash game experience will be more than enough to get him through the tournament. Burt said that he just hopes to play well in the event.

11/10/2009, Tuesday
Matthew Dorst

Freddy Deeb Leads the Final Table of the WPT Festa al Lago

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