The European Poker Tour (EPT) returned to action this month with a stop in Sanremo, Italy, a coastal town near the France border. Monday was the start of the EPT Sanremo Main Event with the first of two starting flights. Of the 172 players who paid the €4,600 + €300 to play yesterday, 103 survived to Wednesday’s Day 2. Leading the pack as one of six players with six-figure chip stacks is Cristiano Guerra, proud renter of 148,700 chips.
One of Guerra’s most significant hands came during the last level of the night, Level 8. According to the PokerNews.com report, he and two other players contributed 2,600 chips each to the pot pre-flop and saw a flop of 8-9-2. Guerra and one player checked, while the third player in late position bet 6,000. The second player called, Guerra check-raised to 17,500, and the late position player shoved for 50,000. Guerra made the call after the other player got out of the way. Guerra revealed pocket 8’s for middle set, while the late position player turned over pocket Aces for an over pair. Deuces were dealt on both the turn and river, sealing the win for Guerra and sending his opponent packing.
Cristiano Guerra, as one might guess from both his name and the tournament’s location, is an Italy native, residing in Rome. According to database at TheHendonMob.com, Guerra has just about $500,000 in lifetime live tournament winnings, highlighted by five World Series of Poker cashes, two EPT cashes, and one World Poker Tour cash. His biggest score came in 2010 when he finished fourth in the Italian Poker Tour Venice Main Event, good for €59,000 ($75,819). His last live cash was in the Little One for One Drop Event at last year’s World Series of Poker.
It is going to take quite the turnout to beat last season’s Sanremo field of 797 players. With just 172 entrants on Day 1A, Day 1B is going to have to be more than three and a half times the size. The largest EPT Sanremo Main Event of all time, one that will not come close to being touched this year, was the one in Season 6, which fielded 1,240 players.
Day 1B will commence at noon local time on Tuesday. Those who miss both starting flights will still have the opportunity to register all the way up to the start of Day 2.
2014 European Poker Tour Sanremo Main Event – Day 1A Chip Leaders
1. Cristiano Guerra – 148,700
2. John Haigh – 130,000
3. Aku Joentausta – 125,500
4. Artem Metalidi – 101,200
5. Christian Caliumi – 101,100
6. Pawel Brzeski – 100,000
7. Yordan Dimitrov – 99,000
8. Julian Track – 97,300
9. Bruno Stefanelli – 97,300
10. Antonio Lafosse Fernandez – 88,700