Festa al Lago: Randal Flowers Makes WPT History

Randal Flowers defeated Michael Benvenuti in the WPT Festa al Lago Main Event to secure himself the $831,500 first place prize. This feat has also made the 22 year-old player become the youngest to ever to win two WPT titles.

Photo source: CardPlayer

Over the past six days, the Bellagio in Las Vegas hosted the 2010 World Poker Tour Festa al Lago. A total of 335 players joined the $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event, including Scotty Nguyen, Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson and John Juanda.

Obrestad falls short of the final table

All of the above mentioned pros and many more were felted by the end of the second play day. Meanwhile, Matthew Affleck, Annette Obrestad and David Williams secured themselves some of the largest stacks entering Day 3.

Amongst the survivors was also the winner of last year's WPT Spanish Championship, Randal Flowers (pictured right). Despite being far behind the chip leaders, Flowers managed to find his way through the following days, reaching the end of Day 4 with the 9th largest stack and only 12 more players besides him still gunning for the title.

Meanwhile, Obrestad continued her great play from the previous days and surpassed everyone on Day 4, taking the chip lead with over 2 million in chips. However, her great run was about to be abruptly ended, as she was sent to the rails in 13th place on Day 5. Her elimination was followed shortly afterwards with another known pro packing his bags, as Jeff Madsen was busted in 11th place.

The youngest player ever with two WPT  titles

With both Obrestad and Madsen knocked out from the tournament, all eyes were set on the young pro Randal Flowers. With one WPT title already under his belt, winning the WPT Festa al Lago Main Event would mean that he would become the youngest player ever to hold multiple WPT titles at the age of just 22.

Flowers eventually did make it all the way to the heads-up clash for the title against Michael Benvenuti. The chips went back and forth between the two until finally, Flowers managed to land the final blow to his opponent and make WPT history. Flowers opened the final hand with a raise to 330,000 and Benvenuti made the call.

The flop came and Benvenuti checked. Flowers decided to bet 420,000 and Benvenuti replid with an all-in. Flowers paused for a few seconds before announcing a call. Benvenuti showed , while Flowers revealed . The turn card was and with the river bricking for Benvenuti's draws, Flowers could scoop the final pot of the tournament and celebrate his victory.

Besides the $831,500 first place prize, the winning of this event has made Flowers become the youngest player ever with multiple WPT titles. His total tournament winnings have now reached $2,613,282. Below are the WPT Festa al Lago final table results:

WPT Festa al Lago Main Event Final Table Results
Place	Name	Prize
1	Randal Flowers	$831,500
2	Michael Benvenuti	$564,200
3	Noah Schwartz	$344,968
4	Jason Koon	$225,680
5	Andrew Frankenberger	$161,200
6	Skip Wilson	$112,840