Dario Minieri? Pft. Gino Alaqua? Nah. Cristiano Blanco? Close. Nope, forget them, because Italy's first ever winner is an unknown name in the shape of Salvatore Bonavena, a 44-year old amateur from Vibo Valencia. Yes, after five long seasons, Italy have finally captured EPT gold.
The location for this landmark day was the lavish Hilton Hotel in a cold, but welcoming Prague, the Czech capital playing host to yet another week of poker fun and frolics as an impressive 570 poker enthusiasts looked to echo the achievements of Frenchman Arnuad Mattern from last year.
Salivating over the prospect of a €774,000 payday were the usual suspects: a smattering of PokerStars Team Pros, a selection of young, fresh-faced Scanidies and the odd sprinkling of Brits in Stuart Rutter, Luke Schwartz, Steve Jelinek and Budapest champion Willie Fry. Perhaps the most recognisable face present belonged to Gus Hansen, but after a late entrance, the Great Dane never really got going and exited within just a few levels.
If ever Italy were to add their colours to the record books, then this was their golden opportunity, as no less than three Italians made it to the final table, one of whom was chip leader with 1,402,000:
Salvatore Bonavena (Italy) -- 1,402,000
Alexiou Konstantinos (Greece) -- 1,382,000
Francesco Cirianni (Italy) -- 807,000
Fredrik Nygard (Finland) -- 666,000
Massimo Di Cicco (Italy) -- 429,000
Nasr El Nasr (Germany) -- 376,000
Raul Mestre (Spain) -- 313,000
Andrew Alan Chen (Canada) -- 309,000
Although the second shortest stack, the most talented player at the table was undoubtedly 20-year old Canadian Andrew Alan Chen, an online pro who recently finished fifth at the LAPT event in San Jose. But even the best players need a a little help, and after Raul Mestre exited in eighth with Ac-7c versus the pocket nines of Fredrik Nygard, Chen enjoyed not one, but two all-in outdraws to see his stack jump to the half a million mark.
With Nasr El Nasr coin-flipped into seventh (K-Js vs. Chen's T-T), it was Fredrik Nygard who snapped up sixth. Pushing all in with A-8, the Finn was in domating shape against Chen's Q-2, but a two on an otherwise blank board saw him exit stage left and forced to settle for €130,000.
With three Italians in the final five, an Italian victory looked set in stone, but the exit of silk scarf wearing Francesco Cirianni left people wondering. However, a double up for Di Cicci (A-A vs. 7-5) and a crucial pot which saw Bonavena's A-5 outdraw Chen's K-K restored Italian hopes and allowed Bonavena to reclaim the chip lead with 2,068,000.
All the while, former chip leader Alexiou Konstaninos, who had been pushing all in with great frequency, finally got looked up by Bonavena's K-Q. Konstantinos' pocket threes looked to be good for survival on a 2-2-6-7 board but a king on the river saw the Greek hurtling out in sixth and sent the Italian contingent of the rail into a wild frenzy. Victory was surely theirs!
With three left, Chen was still the danger man, but was soon despatched in third (K-Q versus Bonavena's A-6) to leave the buoyant crowd with a dream heads up, Italy versus Italy and a guarantee of their first ever EPT title. As the crowd chanted White Stripes' 'Seven Nation Army', Di Cicco and Bonavena danced, shook hands and embraced before re-entering the battlefield, Bonavena the clear favourite with a near three to one chip lead.
Di Cicco doubled up once with T-2 versus Q-T on a T-4-2 flop, but ultimately succumbed to his fellow countryman when he was caught bluffing on an 8-2-3 all heart flop All in with A-4 (no heart), Di Cicco was looked up by Bonavena's 8-7 of diamonds. Two raggy cards later, and we had our winner, a recreational player participating in only his second EPT, but now champion of Prague.
Bonavena, who will also be competing at the PCA in the Bahamas next month, said: “I’m really happy but it hasn’t sunk in yet. I actually feel like crying – it’s one of the best days of my life because I have done something no other Italian has done. I feel very proud.”
The €5,250 buy-in tournament, hosted by Golden Prague Poker at the Hilton Prague Hotel, attracted a record field from 40 countries, including 88 players who won their seats online with PokerStars. The EPT founder John Duthie said: “EPT Prague has been a remarkable tournament and, as always, world class poker has been displayed by players who have travelled from all over the world to take part. It’s also been great to witness the growing number of good players coming out of Eastern Europe. Poker is really taking off in this region.”
1st Salvatore Bonavena -- €774,000
2nd Massimo Di Cicco -- €445,000
3rd Andrew Alan Chen -- €257,000
4th Alexiou Konstantinos -- €199,000
5th Francesco Cirianni -- €166,000
6th Fredrik Nygard -- €130,000
7th Nasr El Nasr -- €99,500
8th Raul Mestre -- €71,800