Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas choked and fittingly a young upstart named Patrick scarfed more than 5 pounds of corned beef and cabbage to win the GoldenPalace.com St. Patty’s Day Eating Championship at Ned Devine’s in Boston ’s Faneuil Hall yesterday.

Chicago competitive eater Patrick Bertoletti downed 5.75 pounds of corned beef and cabbage in 10 minutes, besting a field of power chowers that included Eric “ Badlands ” Booker, Tim “Eater X” Janus and local fave “Crazy Legs” Conti of Belmont to win a $2,500 purse.

“The competitive eating contests are always fun to watch and are real crowd-pleasers,” said GoldenPalace.com CEO Richard Rowe. “Congratulations to Patrick and all the competitive eaters. And a big thanks to the International Federation of Competitive Eating and the city of Boston for helping make this a successful event.”

The GoldenPalace.com competitive eating contests originated from the casino’s famous purchase of the Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese Sandwich for $28,000 on eBay. The first Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese eating contest was such a success that it quickly spawned a circuit of GoldenPalace.com eating events such as the Valentine’s Day Massacre, a chocolate heart eating competition in Chicago this past Valentine’s Day.

The casino’s marketing campaigns and events have become a pop-culture phenomenon, making headlines worldwide and securing GoldenPalace.com as the world’s most recognized online casino.