Event #55: $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold'em

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 on Day 1 to have a shot of following in former champions Aditya Sushant & Nipun Java's footsteps.

These are Pantaleo's and Luther's first bracelets and the biggest career cash ever for Luther. For Pantaleo, this is his third-biggest cash ever and his second biggest here at the WSOP after finishing in 6th place in last year's Little One for One Drop.

The winner of that event, Adrian Moreno, actually came over to rail Team Pantaleo for the win. Other notable players on the final table included Kazuki Ikeuchi, Manig Loeser, Alex Rocha, Adam Lamphere, Cord Garcia, and Loni Harwood.

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 17th 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 a tough proposition 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

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 21st place ($5,064) themselves.

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 and 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 was bigger.

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. 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: "It was rough nine-handed, no one wanted to bust, but I'm happy we made it."

"What a fight they put up!" added Luther.

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!

Hand #213: Kazuki Ikeuchi moved all in and won the pot.

Hand #214: Giuseppe Pantaleo called on the button and Ikeuchi moved all in and won the pot.

Hand #215: Ikeuchi called on the button, and Pantaleo checked. Pantaleo then check-called a 160,000 bet on the     flop before the   came on the turn. Pantaleo check-called a bet from Ikeuchi once again this time for 450,000. On the   river both players checked and Pantaleo took the pot with jack-high   .

Hand #216: Pantaleo called on the button, and Ikeuchi checked. The flop came    , and both players checked to see the   turn and checked again to see a   river. They checked to a showdown, and Ikeuchi won it with    for a pair of deuces.

Hand #217: Ikechi raised all in on the button, and Pantaleo called.

Giuseppe Pantaleo:   
Kazuki Ikeuchi:   

Board:      

Ikeuchi paired his four to take the lead and held to secure another vital double-up.

Giuseppe Pantaleo - Nikita Luther	6,700,000	-1,820,000
Kazuki Ikeuchi - Hiroki Iwata - Sho Mori	3,700,000	1,900,000

Hand #205: Giuseppe Pantaleo raised to 240,000 from the button and Kazuki Ikeuchi shoved, Pantaleo folded.

Hand #206: Ikeuchi called on the button and Pantaleo opted to check. The flop came    , Pantaleo check-folded to Ikeuchi's 120,000 bet.

Hand #207: Pantaleo raised to 240,000 once more but folded again when Ikeuchi shoved.

Hand #208: Ikeuchi called on the button and Pantaleo checked. The flop came     and Pantaleo check-folded to Ikeuchi's bet of 120,000.

Hand #209: Pantaleo raised to 240,000 from the button and Ikeuchi folded.

Hand #210: Ikeuchi called on the button and Pantaleo checked. The flop came    , Pantaleo check-called the 120,000 bet of Ikeuchi. They both checked through the   on the turn to the   on the river. Ikeuchi folded to Pantaleo's bet of 230,000.

Hand #211: Pantaleo completed on the button and Ikeuchi checked. They both checked through the     on the flop and the   on the turn to the   on the river. Ikeuchi check-folded to Pantaleo's bet of 175,000.

Hand #212: Ikeuchi called on the button and Pantaleo opted to check. They both checked through the     on the flop and the   on the turn to the   on the river. Pantaleo check-called the 120,000 bet of Ikeuchi. Ikeuchi tabled    and that was enough to win the pot as Pantaleo mucked his hand.

Giuseppe Pantaleo - Nikita Luther	8,520,000	720,000
Kazuki Ikeuchi - Hiroki Iwata - Sho Mori	1,800,000	-800,000

Hand #191: Giuseppe Pantaleo raised to 240,000 from the button and Kazuki Ikeuchi folded.

Hand #192: Ikeuchi raised to 250,000 from the button and Pantaleo called. The flop came    , Pantaleo check-called the 150,000 bet of Ikeuchi. They both checked through the   on the turn and the   on the river. Pantaleo tabled    for the pot.

Hand #193: Pantaleo raised to 240,00 from the button and Ikeuchi called. The flop came    , Ikeuchi check-called the 140,000 bet of Pantaleo. They both checked through the   on the turn to the   on the river. Ikeuchi now check-folded to Pantaleo's bet of 325,000.

Hand #194: Pantaleo got a walk.

Hand #195: Pantaleo raised to 240,000 on the button and Ikeuchi folded.

Hand #196: Ikeuchi folded his button.

Hand #197: Pantaleo called on the button and Ikeuchi opted to check. The flop came     and Ikeuchi check-folded to Pantaleo's bet of 120,000.

Hand #198: Ikeuchi called on the button and Pantaleo checked. The flop came    , Pantaleo check-called Ikeuchi's bet of 120,000. The turn brought them the  , now Pantaleo check-called the 250,000 of Ikeuchi. The river completed the board with the   and they both checked. Pantaleo showed    for the turned two pair of queens and treys to take the pot.

Giuseppe Pantaleo - Nikita Luther	9,320,000	2,620,000
Kazuki Ikeuchi - Hiroki Iwata - Sho Mori	1,000,000	-2,800,000

Hand #185: Manig Loeser decided to shove for 1,165,000 in total on the button and Kazuki Ikeuchi folded his small blind. Giuseppe Pantaleo asked for a count and then called.

Manig Loeser:   
Giuseppe Pantaleo:   

The board ran out       to not provide any help to Loeser as him and his teammates, Joelle Parenteau and Daniel Weinand, were eliminated in 3rd place.

Giuseppe Pantaleo - Nikita Luther	5,825,000	1,625,000
Kazuki Ikeuchi - Hiroki Iwata - Sho Mori	4,495,000	-20,000
Manig Loeser - Joelle Parenteau - Daniel Weinand	0	-1,185,000

Hand #183: Giuseppe Pantaleo raised to 300,000 from the small blind and Manig Loeser called in the big blind. The flop came    , Pantaleo bet 165,000 and Loeser called. They both checked through the   on the turn and the   on the river. Loeser showed    to win the pot.

Hand #184: Loeser completed the small blind and Kazuki Ikeuchi opted to check. The flop came     and Loeser bet 100,000. Ikeuchi raised to 325,000. Loeser checked out Ikeuchi's stack and then decided to shove. Ikeuchi called immediately for the 2,165,000 he had in front of him.

Kazuki Ikeuchi:   
Manig Loeser:   

Ikeuchi had flopped two pair and Loeser held top pair with the queens.

The rest of the board was completed with the   on the turn and the   on the river. No help for Loeser and he was left behind with almost 1,200,000.

Kazuki Ikeuchi - Hiroki Iwata - Sho Mori	4,515,000	415,000
Manig Loeser - Joelle Parenteau - Daniel Weinand	1,185,000	-1,365,000

Hand #172: Manig Loeser called in the small blind, and Kazuki Ikeuchi checked the big blind. The flop came down    , and Loeser's bet got a fold.

Hand #173: Giuseppe Pantaleo got a walk in the big blind.

Hand #174: Ikeuchi raised to 225,000 on the button and Loeser called in the big blind. Loeser check-called a 150,000 bet on the     flop before both players checked on the   turn and again on the   river. Loeser showed    for a pair of fives and Ikeuchi won the pot with    for a pair of sevens.

Hand #175: Pantaleo raised to 200,000 on the button and won the pot.

Hand #176: Ikeuchi called in the small blind, and Pantaleo got his opponent to fold after he moved all in.

Giuseppe Pantaleo - Nikita Luther	4,200,000	500,000
Kazuki Ikeuchi - Hiroki Iwata - Sho Mori	4,100,000	-500,000

Hand #162: Giuseppe Pantaleo raised from the small blind to put Manig Loeser in the big blind all-in and Loeser called for the 1,540,000 he had in front of him.

Manig Loeser:   
Giuseppe Pantaleo:   

The board ran out      , they both flopped a pair but Loeser's higher pair of aces held on all the way through the board to double him up.

Hand #163: Pantaleo raised to 200,000 from the button and both Loeser and Kazuki Ikeuchi folded their blinds.

Hand #164: Ikeuchi completed his small blind and Pantaleo opted to check his big blind. They both checked through the whole       board. Ikeuchi showed    but was beaten by the higher kicker of Pantaleo who held   .

Hand #165: Ikeuchi raised to 225,000 from the button and Loeser called from the big blind. They both checked through the     flop and the   on the turn to the   on the river. Loeser bet 385,000 and Ikeuchi folded.

Hand #166: Loeser completed his small blind but then folded when Ikeuchi raised to 275,000.

Hand #151: Giuseppe Pantaleo raised to 200,000 from the button and Kazuki Ikeuchi called in the big blind. They both checked through the     flop to the   on the turn. Ikeuchi check-folded to Pantaleo's bet of 175,000.

Hand #152: Manig Loeser raised to 225,000 from the button and Pantaleo called. They both checked through the whole       board for Pantaleo to take down the pot with    for the flopped pair of eights.

Hand #150: Alex Rocha counted out his stack and decided to shove from the button for 1,040,000 in total. Giuseppe Pantaleo looked at his own cards and took some time to consider his options. After a while, Pantaleo also moved all in. Manig Loeser glanced at his own cards and decided to fold.

Alex Rocha:   
Giuseppe Pantaleo:   

The board ran out       to give Pantaleo two pair, aces and queens, to eliminate Rocha and his girlfriend Megan Milburn and her mother Joanne Milburn in fourth place for $55,016.

Giuseppe Pantaleo - Nikita Luther	3,700,000	2,000,000
Alex Rocha - Megan Milburn - Joanne Milburn	0	-1,375,000