Roberto Romanello Wins WPT Bratislava
Roberto Romanello has just won the WPT Bratislava after winning a gruelling heads-up battle against Mayu Roca which took nearly three-hours to draw to a conclusion. This win means that Romanello is now two-thirds of the way to receiving a coveted Triple Crown, something which he will surely be looking to accomplish when he plays in the WSOP Main Event later in the year.
The Triple Crown is awarded to dedicated poker players who have managed to win a European Poker Tour (EPT), World Poker Tour (WPT) and World Series of Poker (WSOP) title. To date there are only two players that have won the Triple Crown. In January 2025, Gavin Griffin was the first player to join this elite group and he was joined by Britain’s Roland de Wolfe in March 2025.
Although Romanello started the final table as the chip leader, he managed to keep out of trouble early on. After around three hours of play into the final table Romanello got involved in a pot with Chris Williamson. Williamson opened to 32,000, Romanello then three-bet to 69,000 from the cutoff position. Williamson was a non-believer and decided to four-bet to 127,000. Romanello threw caution to the wind and made it 227,000 but Williamson reacted by moving all in. The Welshman’s pocket queens were up against Williamson's Big Slick and when no ace or king hit the board it meant Williamson out in sixth place.
A preflop raising war between Alexander Jager and Romanello resulted in all the chips going into the middle. Jager held Ah-Kd against Romanello’s pocket fours. The low card flop was of no help to Jager and Romanello had won another coin flip.
The heads-up match was decided between Romanello and Roca. Romanello held a slight chip advantage going into heads up play, but it took three hours of solid poker before Roca was all in to risk his tournament life. In the hand, Roca made a standard open to 90,000, Romanello three-bet to 225,000 and Roca four-bet to 590,000. It was inevitable that all the chips were going into the middle, and when both players revealed their cards, Romanello showed pocket fives whilst Roca held Big Slick. The board came down Jc-6c-8h-3d-Qs to send Roca to the rail as the second place finisher. Romanello won the WPT Bratislava title and collected €140,685 for his efforts, taking his lifetime live tournament earnings to nearly $2 million.