2018 WSOP Event 55: Giuseppe Pantaleo and Nikita Luther Win the $1K Tag Team for $175,805!
After three days, and 219 hands on the official final table, Event #55: $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold’em has come to an end. Giuseppe Pantaleo and Nikita Luther have been crowned as the winners, taking two coveted WSOP bracelets and the first-place prize of $175,805 to share between them!
The 2018 edition of this event broke all records as 1,032 teams entered to have a shot of following in former champions Aditya Sushant and Nipun Java’s footsteps.
Luther: "I just randomly hit him up on Twitter [...] we didn't know each other well, but now we know each other well."
This is Pantaleo’s and Luther’s first bracelet and the biggest career cash ever for Luther. For Pantaleo, this is his third-biggest cash and his second biggest here at the WSOP after finishing in sixth place in last year’s Little One for One Drop.
Speaking on how their partnership came about, Luther said: "I just randomly hit him up on Twitter, I said we should be the teams, we met once last year, and we didn't know each other well, but now we know each other well."
Pantaleo added, "It was playing the WSOP 3k last year we met, and I liked how she was playing."
But their winning formula almost didn't happen, said Luther: "He almost wasn't going to play the Tag Team as he had plans to play other tournaments."
The tag team structure is a unique proposition, but it seemed to suit both Pantaleo and Luther. "She [Luther] was multi-tabling the $3k here, which she got seventeenth in, and she would run back and forth in breaks," said Pantaleo, before continuing: "She mostly wanted me to play, but it worked well when we tagged in and out. We switched more on Day 3 to give yourselves little breaks, and mostly when we felt the momentum went away a bit. But it was with us a lot of the time."
The pair used the momentum to good effect, especially when considering strategy, which can be tough when playing as a team.
"I usually have my basic strategy and foundation," said Pantaleo. "But if there was a closer pot, you don't want to spew and feel guilty to your teammate. And also, the other teams will not want to bluff as much; only a few people were going for it on the rivers. It makes a difference; people bluffed less.”
Final Table Results
| Place | Team | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Giuseppe Pantaleo - Nikita Luther | $175,805 |
| 2 | Kazuki Ikeuchi - Hiroki Iwata - Sho Mori | $108,608 |
| 3 | Manig Loeser - Joelle Parenteau - Daniel Weinand | $76,797 |
| 4 | Alex Rocha - Megan Milburn - Joanne Milburn | $55,016 |
| 5 | Gabriel Neto - Carlos Caputo | $39,936 |
| 6 | Adam Lamphere - Ao Chen - Yijie Zhang | $29,380 |
| 7 | Salah Levy - Frank Mariani - Cord Garcia | $21,910 |
| 8 | Bon Koo - Bienvenido Caballero | $16,565 |
| 9 | Loni Harwood - Haixa Zhang - Kelly Minkin | $12,700 |
The Day's Action
The day started with 28 teams returning at noon to play down to a winner; all guaranteed a payday of at least $4,175.
The first team sent to the rail was Team Hardcastle, consisting of Jack Hardcastle, Ryan Laplante, Patrick Truong, and Kevin Gerhart. Hardcastle ran pocket tens into the pocket queens of Team Gagnon (Samuel Gagnon - Sammy Lafleur) who would later fall in twenty-first place ($5,064) themselves.
Pantaleo: "you don't want to spew and feel guilty to your teammate."
After the redraw for the final three table, the eliminations started coming in quick with a slew of teams departing to bring play to the last two tables in short order. With the elimination of Team Wilson (Andrew Wilson - Benjamin Phillips - Eric Penner) at the hands of Team Koo (Bon Koo - Bienvenido Caballero), only 18 teams remained.
Another redraw took place for the last two tables, it then took a mere five minutes before the first team got sent home. Team Clarke (Andre Clarke - Michael Corson) ran their ace-jack into the ace-king of Team Pantaleo.
It took a scant 30 minutes to whittle the remaining teams down to the final ten, with both Team Pantaleo and Team Ikeuchi dominating a great deal of the action. It was the latter who would set up the unofficial ten-handed final table after Team Reymond (William Reymond - Ami Alibay) walked into the aces of Ikeuchi to exit in eleventh place. The remaining ten teams moved into the Brasilia Room.
Team Moore (Thomas Moore - Norman Straughn) would become the official final table bubble when their ace-nine couldn’t win against the ace-queen of Ikeuchi.
After 58 hands of nine-handed play, Loni Harwood would be eliminated in ninth place when her queen-jack couldn’t win against the jack-eight of Gabriel Neto. Harwood and fellow teammates Haixia Zhang and Kelly Minkin headed to the payout desk to collect $12,700 to divide between them.
Only seven hands later, Bienvenido Caballero ran pocket kings into the aces of Hiroki Iwata, and Team Koo was eliminated.
An hour later, Cord Garcia of Team Levy ran pocket nines into Alex Rocha's ace-king, with the ace coming on the flop.
The hand right after that, Ikeuchi took care of Adam Lamphere and teammates with ace-eight against Lamphere’s queen-ten. Both hit a pair on the flop, but Ikeuchi's pair was bigger.
Pantaleo: "It was rough nine-handed, no one wanted to bust, but I'm happy we made it."
Team Neto’s Gabriel Neto ran queen-jack into the ace-trey of Manig Loeser to finish in fifth place.
The final curtain fell for Team Rocha (Alex Rocha - Megan Milburn - Joanne Milburn) when Rocha's nine-eight shove was called by Pantaleo who held ace-nine. Manig Loeser departed 35 hands later, failing to win with queen-eight against the queen-ten of Pantaleo.
After that elimination, Pantaleo would start the heads-up battle with a lead of close to twelve big blinds. It took 60 hands of heads-up play before Pantaleo managed to deal the final blow to Iwata, moving all in preflop with pocket deuces and getting a call from Team Iwata's ace-nine. While Team Ikeuchi flopped a pair of aces, a deuce on the river saw the Team Pantaleo rail explode in celebration as Team Pantaleo won bracelets for their home countries of Germany and India.
Speaking on the final table, Pantaleo said: "All her friends were screaming 'Deuce on the river!' The Indian people have a sick vibe; they won this event last year.
"It was rough nine-handed, no one wanted to bust, but I'm happy we made it."
"What a fight they put up!" Luther added.
This concludes the PokerNews live reporting coverage for the Tag Team Event this year. Stay tuned as the coverage of the other events will continue until the final cards have been dealt at the end of the summer!
In this Series
- 1 2018 WSOP Event 1: Jordan Hufty Wins First WSOP Gold in $565 Casino Employees
- 2 2018 WSOP Event 2: Elio Fox Wins First Ever WSOP $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty for $393,693
- 3 2018 WSOP Event 3: Joe Cada Wins 2018 WSOP $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em SHOOTOUT for $226,218
- 4 2018 WSOP Event 4: Julien Martini Wins $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better ($239,771)
- 5 2018 WSOP Event 5: Nick Petrangelo Wins WSOP $100,000 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller ($2,910,227)
- 6 2018 WSOP Event 6: Jeremy Perrin Wins The GIANT Turning $365 Into $250,966
- 7 2018 WSOP Event 7: Roberly Felicio Wins the 2018 WSOP COLOSSUS for $1,000,000
- 8 2018 WSOP Event 8: Johannes Becker Wins $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball ($180,455)
- 9 2018 WSOP Event 9: Paul Volpe Wins Third WSOP Bracelet in Omaha Hi-Lo Championship
- 10 2018 WSOP Event 10: William ‘Twooopair’ Reymond Wins $365 WSOP.com ONLINE Event ($154,996)
- 11 2018 WSOP Event 11: Tim Andrew Triumphs in the $365 PLO GIANT for $116,015, Mizrachi Fifth
- 12 2018 WSOP Event 12: Jeremy Harkin Wins $1,500 Dealer's Choice for $129,882
- 13 2018 WSOP Event 13: Benjamin Moon Wins $1,500 Big Blind Antes for $315,346
- 14 2018 WSOP Event 14: Daniel Ospina Wins First Bracelet for Colombia in 2-7 Lowball Draw
- 15 2018 WSOP Event 15: Andrey Zhigalov Wins $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. for $202,787
- 16 2018 WSOP Event 16: Justin Bonomo Wins Second WSOP Bracelet in $10K Heads-Up Championship
- 17 2018 WSOP Event 17: Ognyan Dimov Wins Third Bracelet for Bulgaria in Event #17 ($378,743)
- 18 2018 WSOP Event 18: Adam Friedman Wins Second Bracelet in $10K Dealer's Choice
- 19 2018 WSOP Event 19: Craig Varnell Wins $565 Pot-Limit Omaha ($181,790)
- 20 2018 WSOP Event 20: Jeremy Wien Conquers $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em for $537,710
- 21 2018 WSOP Event 21: Arne Kern Wins $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em MILLIONAIRE MAKER ($1,173,223)
- 22 2018 WSOP Event 22: Philip Long Wins $1,500 Eight Game Mix ($147,348)
- 23 2018 WSOP Event 23: Brian Rast Wins Fourth Bracelet in 2-7 Lowball Championship, Brunson 6th
- 24 2018 WSOP Event 24: Michael Addamo Wins Event #24: $2,620 MARATHON No-Limit Hold'em
- 25 2018 WSOP Event 25: Benjamin Dobson Wins First WSOP Gold in $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo
- 26 2018 WSOP Event 26: Filippos Stavrakis Dedicates WSOP PLO Bracelet ($169,842) to His Brother
- 27 2018 WSOP Event 27: John Hennigan Wins 2018 WSOP $10K HORSE for Fifth Bracelet and $415K
- 28 2018 WSOP Event 28: Fortunate River Gives Gal Yifrach First WSOP Bracelet & $461K Prize
- 29 2018 WSOP Event 29: Hanh Tran Wins First WSOP Bracelet in $1,500 2-7 Triple Draw ($117,282)
- 30 2018 WSOP Event 30: Ryan Bambrick Wins First Gold Bracelet in Dominating Fashion
- 31 2018 WSOP Event 31: Steven Albini Wins $1,500 Stud to Deny Jeff Lisandro 7th Bracelet
- 32 2018 WSOP Event 32: Matthew Davis Tops Biggest Seniors Event Ever to Win $662,983
- 33 2018 WSOP Event 33: Michael Mizrachi Wins His Third Poker Players Championship Title
- 34 2018 WSOP Event 34: Robert Peacock Wins First WSOP Gold in $1,000 DOUBLE STACK
- 35 2018 WSOP Event 35: Yueqi Zhu Claims First WSOP Gold in $1,500 Mixed Omaha
- 36 2018 WSOP Event 36: Farhintaj Bonyadi Wins Event $1,000 Super Seniors ($311,451)
- 37 2018 WSOP Event 37: Eric Baldwin Wins Second Bracelet, Dedicates it to His Father
- 38 2018 WSOP Event 38: Yaniv Birman Wins First WSOP Gold Bracelet in $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship ($236,238)
- 39 2018 WSOP Event 39: Preston Lee Captures $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout Bracelet ($236,498)
- 40 2018 WSOP Event 40: Scott Bohlman Wins WSOP $2,500 Mixed Big Bet ($122,138)
- 41 2018 WSOP Event 41: Robert Nehorayan Wins $1,500 Limit Hold'em for $173,568
- 42 2018 WSOP Event 42: Shaun Deeb Gets Revenge on Ben Yu to Win $25K PLO for $1,402,683
- 43 2018 WSOP Event 43: Timur Margolin Takes Down $2,500 NLHE for $507,274
- 44 2018 WSOP Event 44: Nicholas Seiken Wins $10k 2-7 Triple Draw Championship for $287,987
- 45 2018 WSOP Event 45: Mario Prats Garcia Wins $1,000 Big Blind NLH For $258,255
- 46 2018 WSOP Event 46: David Brookshire Wins WSOP $2,500 Mixed Omaha/Stud Hi-Lo 8 ($214,291)
- 47 2018 WSOP Event 47: Matthew 'mendey' Mendez Wins First WSOP Online PLO Bracelet ($135,077)
- 48 2018 WSOP Event 48: Tommy Nguyen Wins Monster Stack for $1,037,451
- 49 2018 WSOP Event 49: Loren Klein Wins $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship for $1,018,336
- 50 2018 WSOP Event 50: Jay Kwon Wins $1,500 Razz ($125,431)
- 51 2018 WSOP Event 51: Ryan Leng Ships First WSOP Gold in $1,500 BOUNTY ($272,504)
- 52 2018 WSOP Event 52: Scott Seiver Wins $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship ($296,222)
- 53 2018 WSOP Event 53: Couden Tops Elezra, Matusow, Negreanu, and Fitoussi to win $1,500 PLO8
- 54 2018 WSOP Event 54: Portugal's Diogo Veiga Wins $3K Big Blind Antes ($522,715)
- 55 2018 WSOP Event 55: Giuseppe Pantaleo and Nikita Luther Win the $1K Tag Team for $175,805!
- 56 2018 WSOP Event 56: Calvin Anderson Wins His Second Bracelet in the $10K Razz ($309,220)!
- 57 2018 WSOP Event 57: Jessica Dawley Wins the WSOP Ladies Championship for $130,230!
- 58 2018 WSOP Event 58: Tribe Has Spoken: Jean-Robert Bellande Wins First Bracelet for $616K
- 59 2018 WSOP Event 59: Mike Takayama Makes History as the First Filipino to Win a WSOP Bracelet
- 60 2018 WSOP Event 60: Galfond Wins 3rd Bracelet in $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Championship
- 61 2018 WSOP Event 61: Ryan 'Toosick' Tosoc Wins WSOP.com $1,000 Championship ($238,778)
- 62 2018 WSOP Event 62: Galen Hall Wins $888 Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold'em for $888,888
- 63 2018 WSOP Event 63: Chance 'BingShui' Kornuth Wins Second Bracelet in WSOP.com Online High Roller for $341,598
- 64 2018 WSOP Event 64: Matsuzuki Wins First WSOP Gold Bracelet in $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo
- 65 John Cynn Wins the 2018 WSOP Main Event for $8,800,000!
- 66 2018 WSOP Event 66: Longsheng Tan Wins $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em for $323,472
- 67 2018 WSOP Event 67: Anderson Ireland Wins $1,500 PLO Bounty for First Bracelet and $141K
- 68 2018 WSOP Event 68: Guoliang Wei Wins Fourth Chinese Bracelet in The Little One for One Drop ($559,332)
- 69 2018 WSOP Event 69: Ronald Keijzer Wins $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed for $475,033
- 70 2018 WSOP Event 70: Yaser Al-Keliddar Wins Event #70: $3K Limit Hold'em 6-Handed for $154K
- 71 2018 WSOP Event 71: Phil Hellmuth Wins 15th Career Bracelet in $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em!
- 72 2018 WSOP Event 72: Jordan Polk Wins $1,500 Mixed NLH/PLO for $197,461
- 73 2018 WSOP Event 73: Denis Timofeev Bests Leo Margets to Win the $1,000 Double Stack Turbo
- 74 2018 WSOP Event 74: Shaun Deeb Wins Second Bracelet of the Summer in $10,000 6-Max ($814,179)
- 75 2018 WSOP Event 75: Joe Cada Wins His Fourth Career Bracelet in The Closer ($612,886)
- 76 2018 WSOP Event 76: Brian Hastings Wins the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E and 4th Bracelet
- 77 2018 WSOP Event 77: Ben Yu Wins Third Bracelet in $50,000 High Roller $1,650,773
