Mamma Mia! On Thursday, PokerStars announced the launch of the Italian Poker Tour, which will debut on Monday, June 1st in San Remo. The inaugural tournament will crown a champion six days later.
PokerStars has collaborated with one of its sponsored pros, Luca Pagano, as well as Federpoker to bring the Italian Poker Tour to life. Pagano has been a force on the PokerStars-backed European Poker Tour (EPT). He took sixth in the Monte Carlo Grand Final during Season 4 for €337,000. In the EPT’s Dortmund stop during Season 5, he was back at a final table, finishing sixth and banking another €153,000. The final tables of Italian Poker Tour events can be seen on Italia 1 on “Poker1Mania.”
Fabio Angeli Bufalini, the Italian Country Manager for PokerStars, commented in a press release distributed by the online poker room, “PokerStars is really happy with the developments in live and online poker in Italy. The great success has been registered on the PokerStars.it website and the record breaking turnout for the San Remo leg of the PokerStars Season 5 EPT makes us hopeful that the PokerStars Italian Poker Tour will arouse huge interest in Italy and all over Europe.” San Remo debuted on the EPT schedule during Season 4. This year, a total of 532 players hit the felt in the picturesque Italian city, the second largest field of the season behind the 1,059 runners that turned out for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.
Satellites are available on PokerStars’ Italian website and start as low as €5 or 100 Frequent Player Points (FPPs). On Friday night, PokerStars will be doling out at least 10 San Remo packages in a special tournament on the world’s largest online poker site. Tonight, a €100 buy-in tournament awards at least one package. If qualifying online does not pan out, aspiring Italian Poker Tour champions can also play in €250 buy-in live satellites in San Remo. These start on Monday and run through Thursday, occurring daily at 9:00pm local time. The inaugural Italian Poker Tour event has a price tag of €2,200.
Wrapping up on Wednesday was the third leg of the inaugural PokerStars Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT), which originated from the Crown Casino in Melbourne. A total of 218 players took to the felts at the historic venue, which plays host to the annual Aussie Millions. In the end, Chris Levick, who, according to PokerStars, has “established a string of poker rooms and the highly successful Oz Poker Tour competition,” emerged as its champion and banked AUD $158,050. In the final hand, Heath Chick was all-in pre-flop against Levick and out in front with pocket queens against A-J. However, an ace on the flop put the eventual winner in the lead for good.
In addition to the ANZPT, EPT, and Italian Poker Tour, PokerStars also presents the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT), Russian Poker Tour (RPT), and Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT). According to PokerScout.com, which keeps tabs on online poker room traffic, PokerStars is the largest site in the world with a seven day running average of 23,400 cash game players. Its 24 hour peak is over 36,000 and, at the time of writing, which is midday Eastern Time, PokerStars is hosting 27,420 real money ring game players.
The site is flanked by four recent World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champions: Peter Eastgate (2008), Joe Hachem (2005), Greg Raymer (2004), and Chris Moneymaker (2003). Team PokerStars Pro also includes Daniel Negreanu, Go Daddy Girl Vanessa Rousso, and Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier. Two Italian poker superstars are part of the site’s fleet of sponsored players, Pagano and WSOP bracelet holder Dario Minieri, whose trademark scarf earned him the nickname “Harry Potter” by ESPN commentator Norman Chad.
No information on a follow-up tournament to San Remo was given. Stay tuned for the latest from the Italian Poker Tour and the world’s most prestigious live tournaments right here on Poker News Daily.