Pescatori joins Hastings as two-time winner at this year’s WSOP

Max Pescatori won his second event of the 2015 World Series of Poker as he took down the $10,000 buy-in Seven-card Stud High-Low Eight or Better Championship early Monday at the Rio Convention Center.

Pescatori, an Italian professional poker player who resides in Las Vegas, joins Brian Hastings as the only two-time winners at this summer’s WSOP.

It was the fourth career bracelet for Pescatori as the native of Milan earned $292,158 for the victory. Pescatori, 44, also won the $1,500 buy-in Razz event on June 3.

“I believed I could do it because stud is my best game,” Pescatori told WSOP.com. “Coming into the series, I thought this event was my best shot to win another gold bracelet. The win in Razz wasn’t the event I necessarily thought was my best chance, so that was nice to get it there. But I always thought stud was the game where I could go deep. I even spent a lot of time beforehand studying and thinking more about the game.”

Great Britain’s Stephen Chidwick finished second and pocketed $180,529, while well-known pro Daniel Negreanu, who predicted early on he would win the event, was denied a shot at his seventh career bracelet as he finished third. Negreanu was looking to become only the ninth player in history with seven or more WSOP victories.

Pescatori was in dire straits during four-handed play as he was down to only three big bets. However, he climbed his way back and overcame Chidwick’s 3-to-2 chip advantage when heads-up play started.

“This is a streaky game,” Pescatori told WSOP.com. “You need some luck of course. But if you can hang in there and then catch some cards, if you are determined you can make up a lot of ground in just a few hands. That’s what happened.”

The victory pushes Pescatori into seventh place in the World Series of Poker Player of the Year standings and also improved his WSOP record to 4-0 when he reaches three-handed play. Pescatori joins 1970s legend Bill Boyd as the only bracelet winners to never finish second or third, according to the WSOP.

The event drew 111 entrants for a prize pool of $1,043,400.

HASTINGS WINS SECOND BRACELET

Hastings, a professional poker player from Luzerne County, Pa., won the $1,500 buy-in Ten-Game Mix early Sunday to become the first double-winner of this summer’s WSOP.

It was Hastings’ third career bracelet, and he earned $133,403. Hastings also was victorious in the $10,000 buy-in Seven-Card Stud Championship on June 13.

Hastings faced a 4-to-1 chip disadvantage early on in heads-up play against Ukrainian-born Rostislav Tsodikov but prevailed after nearly three hours. Tsodikov, who now resides in Daly City, Calif., collected $82,398 in his second career WSOP final-table appearance.

With the victory, Hastings jumped into third place in the WSOP Player of the Year standings behind leader Paul Volpe and Phil Galfond.

The Ten-Game Mix features Seven-card Stud, Pot-limit Omaha, No-limit Hold ’em, Razz, Badugi, Omaha High-Low Split, Limit Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw, No-limit Deuce-to-Seven Single Draw, Limit Hold ’em and Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split.

The event drew 380 entrants for a prize pool of $513,000.