Atlantic City, NJ (December 12, 2009) – Ronald "Ron V" Vitello, a motion picture film editor whose career has spanned forty years, added World Series of Poker Circuit Event winner to his body of work after taking down event # 7 of the World Series of Poker Circuit Events at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City.
The 525 player field narrowed down to the final nine after Thomas Simancik was eliminated in 10th.
Along with Vitello, the final nine included 31-year old attorney Concetta Rinaldi and business manager Marcelia "Peachez" Keene, who decided to crash the all-boys club that has been the first seven final tables of the Harrah’s AC Circuit.
| NAME |
HOMETOWN |
SEAT |
CHIP COUNT |
| Greg Rudolph |
Oceanside, NY |
1 |
360,000 |
| Ronald Vitello |
New York, NY |
2 |
700,000 |
| Concetta Rinaldi |
Lynbrook, NY |
3 |
317,000 |
| Edward Sullivan |
Durham, NC |
4 |
666,000 |
| Louis DeBrocco |
Philadelphia, PA |
5 |
198,000 |
| Jeremy Cole |
New Castle, DE |
6 |
455,000 |
| Marcelia Keene |
Maplewood, NJ |
7 |
885,000 |
| Esteban Rodriguez |
Burke, VA |
8 |
650,000 |
| Adam Spinozzi |
Palmerton, PA |
9 |
909,000 |
Final table play began at about 7:35 pm with blinds and antes at 4,000/15,000/30,000.
Action was slow in the early going with a lot of pre-flop raising and folding but picked up after Louis Debrocco’s 150,000 raise from the cutoff was met with Esteban Rodriguez’s all-in re-raise from the big blind.
Debrocco made the call with his few remaining chips and showed giving him the lead over Rodriguez’s . A queen hit the flop while a 6 on the turn and river deuce resulted in a ninth place finish for Debrocco.
A beast of a hand developed after a three-way flop involving Vitello who limped-in in early position.
Rodriguez called the small blind and Spinozzi checked the big. The flop came . Rodriguez moved all-in for just over 600,000. After tanking a bit, Spinozzi re-raised all in for just under 200k more with Vitello making the call with his entire 700k stack. Rodriguez turned over top pair, jack kicker, Spinozzi showed two pair 10’s and 3’s while Vitello revealed a slow-played pocket pair of aces.
Spinozzi was on the verge of eliminating two players and taking the chip lead when a hit the turn, but a devastating on the river gave Vitello Aces and 8’s, leaving Spinozzi with less than 100,000 and busting Rodriguez in 8th. Spinozzi moved all-in a few hands later with a pocket pair of 3’s that failed to hold up against Rinaldi’s 10-4 suited. 7th and 8th places paid $7,639 and $6,111 respectively.
After losing a hand against an all-in Greg Rudolph, Jeremy Cole, a few hands later, moved all-in again for 200k and doubled up once more through Sullivan to 500k, with J-Q off against his opponents nines. Crippled, Sullivan was all in for his remaining 125k against no other than Cole and was eliminated with K-6 suited against Cole’s A-5 suited. Sullivan earned $9,167 for sixth.
The next bust out belonged to Rudolph who was eliminated all-in by Vitello’s rivered straight. Fifth paid $10,694.
With Keene and Rinaldi making up half of the remaining four, the prospect of a woman winning an open event at the Harrah’s AC circuit became very real, but those chances were cut in half when Rinaldi was next to bust after moving all-in with pocket fours vs. Cole’s A-K. The flop came A-A-K and Rinaldi was forced to settle for fourth and $12,222.
Although a bit disappointed with the results, Rinaldi felt good about her run and had this to say to women thinking about playing in fields mostly dominated by men.
"You gotta feel comfortable with yourself and have confidence," said Rinaldi.
Keene moved all-in soon after with none other than pocket queens against the pocket fives of Vitello. With her tournament life on the line, Keene suffered a horrible beat after a five hit the flop. Keene was unable to catch either of her two remaining outs and was eliminated in third, earning $13,750.
"You have to open your game up a little bit, not let the guys push you around because that’s what they think they can do sometimes, but at the same time, you can’t be too aggressive," said Keene about mixing it up with the guys.
Vitello went into heads-up action against Cole with nearly a 3-1 chip lead over his opponent but found himself on the other end of the ratio after losing an all in calling Cole all-in on the turn with middle pair to Cole’s top pair.
"I’m not out of it yet baby!" announced Vitello. After chipping back up to 300k more than Cole, Vitello moved all-in with A-Q and got a call from Cole who turned over A-6. Already dominated, a queen on the board all but ended the match with Cole down to fewer than 300k.
The final hand came moments later when Cole moved all in with against Vitello’s A-8 suited. The board hit giving Vitello top pair but Cole the flush draw. The flush failed to materialize for Cole and the closing credits began to roll. Cole earned $16,882 while Vitello took home $32,083 and the WSOP Circuit Event ring for first.
"I work hard on my game," said Vitello, who after forty years in the film industry, began playing poker about three years ago. "It’s like anything else in life, you gotta learn what you know and work hard at it."