Damiano Aloi Crowned Lex Live Main Event Champion; Community Members Take Top Three Spots
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After five days of action at the Casino Barcelona, Damiano Aloi has been crowned the Lex Live Main Event champion. He locked up €24,500 and took his first major trophy back home to Australia after cutting a heads-up deal with Niko Wieland (€25,500).
Lex Live is a community-driven event, and it just so happens that the community players are pretty good at poker. Rens Buijs won the High Roller earlier in the series — while in the Main Event — community players claimed the top three spots, with PokerStars Team Pro Sebastian Huber finishing third for €16,000.
Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Prize (EUR) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Damiano Aloi | €24,500* |
| 2 | Niko Wieland | €25,500* |
| 3 | Sebastian Huber | €14,000 |
| 4 | Jordi Escriba | €11,500 |
| 5 | Bakir Saranovic | €9,000 |
| 6 | Oscar Penella Olive | €7,600 |
| 7 | Martin Biegajlo | €6,300 |
| 8 | Sergio Rodriguez Cobos | €5,000 |
| 9 | Kamil Chrostowski | €3,700 |
*Denotes heads-up deal
Final Table Action
It was a slow start to the final table, with not much action for the first couple of levels, and many pots were taken down preflop with a raise or reraise.
Shorter stacked players Bakir Saranovic, Martin Biegajlo, and Oscar Penella Olive all found early double ups, the latter through Huber in what would be the first hit major hit to the Team PokerStars player's stack.
The first to bust the final table was Kamil Chrostowski, who shoved from the big blind and ran into Wieland's ace-king.
Sergio Rodriguez Cobos then lost a flip against Sarnovic to bust in eighth place, while Saranovic chipped up to over 2,000,000.
Aloi Takes Lead in Game-Changing Pot
In what was the first real game-changing pot of the day, Biegajlo was all in with pocket queens, Olive all in with ace queen, and Damiano Aloi had them both covered holding ace king. Aloi knocked both players out, reducing the field to five and taking a clear chip lead.
Aloi went on to knock out Saranovic in fifth place. Moments later, Aloi won a flip to eliminate Jordi Escriba in fourth, chipping up to over 9,000,000, more than half the chips in play.
He then ramped up the aggression and continued to utilize his stack advantage, applying maximum pressure to the two other remaining players, Huber and Wieland, who were both sitting on similar stacks.
Huber and Wieland eventually clashed when Huber moved all in from the small blind, and Wieland called. Wieland paired his ace on the flop and held to eliminate Huber in third place (€14,000).
Heads-Up Deal Made
When the action went heads-up, Wieland managed to wrestle the chip lead from Aloi, doubling up with two pair against Aloi's top pair. He then won a couple more significant pots, reducing Aloi's stack to around 2,000,000 and putting him in the danger zone.
It wasn't over yet, though. Aloi doubled up with pocket aces, then won a postflop double-up with two pair to regain the chip lead.
At this point, the pair decided to talk numbers. The tournament was paused, and Aloi and Wieland spoke privately about a potential deal. When they returned, a decision had been made for a nearly 50-50 split.
Wieland took slightly more, €25,500, for second place. Aloi accepted €24,500, the trophy, and the prestige of being the Lex Live 3 Main Event champion!
Winner's Reaction
Following his victory, Aloi told PokerNews how he was feeling about the trophy win.
"It's very surreal," he said. "I'm so grateful just to have the opportunity to travel to Lex Live, let alone win the Main Event. I can't explain how happy I really am!"
Although Aloi is a profitable player and has had several final table finishes in Main Events in Australia, this is the first time he's won a major trophy.
"I've had some very big spots in Australia over the years. Look, no one likes bad-beat stories, but I've probably run under EV in major events. I've made five final tables in the last three years and not shipped one."
"So to finally break through, it's like the monkey off the back. When you've been playing for ten years, are profitable, and have not had a major breakthrough, you always question whether you can do it. So to finally turn around and say 'Yes you can', it's very nice!"
Aloi will return to Australia to see family and his girlfriend and then head to Brisbane for a mixed-game series.
