Gioco Digitale WPT Venice Carnival Final Table: Let's Meet the Players

Seat 1: Alessio Isaia – 708,000 (30BB)

There are many talented players who have won multiple World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Event titles, but none of them have ever won two on the same tour, and that is a feat that Alessio Isaia sets out to achieve today.

With over $2m in live tournament earnings Isaia is one of the most successful live tournament players in Italian history.

His big breakthrough came in 2011 when he navigated his way through 523 players to take the title at Season IX WPT Venice, after the longest heads-up match in WPT history.

Isaia took that momentum into the Season IX stop in Vienna, where he bubbled the final table en route to back-to-back final tables, before finishing a respectable 20th position at WPT Bratislava the same year. His most recent WPT success came in Season XI when he finished third at WPT Malta.

Isaia had a great day yesterday eliminating Sveva Libralesso and Antonio Bernaudo to take the chip lead from Sam Trickett before losing a few vital pots towards the end of the day.

Seat 2: Maurizio Saieva – 347,000 (14BB)

Maurizio Saieva is the table rock.

He spent the large majority of the penultimate day folding down to a 10-15BB stack and then doubling up, or picking up pre flop single raised pots, with enough frequency to see him make it to the final table.

31-year old Saieva is married and has been playing poker for eight years – seven as a professional – after being introduced to the game by his friends.

His largest cash to date came at the 2009 World Series Poker (WSOP) Main Event where he finished 149th place, and he has closed out a tournament before with victory in a side event at the Italian Poker Tour (IPT) in San Remo back in 2010.

Look for Saieva to be moving all-in during the early stages of the final table.

Seat 3: Andrea Dato – 1,364,000 (57BB)

Not only does Andrea Dato come into this final table as the chip leader, but also incredibly it’s his third WPT Venice final table after making back-to-back visits in Season X.

Dato had to make do with fourth and third in that Season and he will be hoping that his chip lead will provide enough support to push him several steps deeper today.

34-year-old Dato has been playing poker professionally for four years and has amassed total live earnings of over $800,000, and is also a feared online six max cash game player courtesy of a lot of online training from his favorite poker player Phil Galfond.

Dato had a solid performance yesterday, picking up most of the pots that he played in and dodging most of the spots that didn’t fall his way. He was the man responsible for cementing the final table places after eliminating Michele Sigoli in seventh place when his [Ah] [3h] found aces on the flop and turn to cut short the hopes of Sigoli’s pocket tens.

In 2012, Dato was awarded for his superlative performances with the Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year award.

Seat 4: Mario Vojvoda – 643,000 (27BB)

The 39-year old Croat, and married father of two, Mario Vojvoda, was one of the pivotal characters in the penultimate day of action.

He came from nowhere to secure back-to-back eliminations, first edging out Diego Zieter KK>QQ, and then eliminating the experienced Jan Sjavik in an incredible hand that saw the pair all-in on the flop with Sjavik ahead with only King high. Vojvoda had caught him bluffing but only held the draws himself with [Tc] [9c] but was fortunate enough to spike a nine on the turn to douse the flames of The Balrog.

His most important moment came when Sam Trickett moved all-in for 24bb over a Vojvoda open and every pro at the table was hoping that the Croat would have the experience to make the right call.

In the end he called with ace-ten, Trickett won the hand with ace-jack and comes into the final table second in chips, which will have a huge bearing on where this title ends up this evening.

Vojvoda works in a telecommunications company and qualified for this event through a $300 Super Satellite.

His favorite poker player is Sam Trickett.

Seat 5: Sotirios Koutoupas – 344,000 (14BB)

Sotirios Koutoupas comes into this final table in fantastic form after winning the EPT Deauville Main Event in January, two years after finishing second in the EPT Main Event in Prague.

He has amassed over $1.5m in live tournament earnings, in just two years of being a semi-professional poker player, where he balances his time between the tables and helping to run the family business back home in his native Greece.

His route to the final table has been like a roller coaster with fearless play, some great spots of skill and huge slices of luck carrying him into this final table.

Koutoupas eliminated three players during the penultimate day of action. Max Pescatori was the first to be eliminated after running pocket queens into the pocket aces of Koutoupas, and then a huge slice of good fortune when Koutoupas called an all-in from Steve Watts and his pocket kings, holding king-jack, only to find his 9% chance of success after flopping two Jacks. Finally, he eliminated Ivan Gabrieli with pocket kings proving too strong for pocket nines.

Koutoupas is the all time money earner in Greek poker history.

Seat 6: Sam Trickett – 911,000 (38BB)

From Gas Fitter to Europe’s top live tournament money earner, Sam Trickett, is one of the most recognisable players in the world of poker.

And yet despite earning close to $20m in live tournament earnings, and coming out of the big cash game in Macau as a long term winner, he still hasn’t managed to win one of the big three major titles.

He will never get a better chance.

Trickett stormed out of the traps in the first three levels of the penultimate day where he took the chip lead by the scruff of the neck and threatened to run away with this tournament. Then after a series of huge lay downs by the man known as ‘Tricky’ he soon found himself moving all-in with a stack size hovering between 10-15BBs.

Then came that pivotal hand against Mario Vojvoda to give Trickett a new lease of life and the look on the rest of the players faces when they saw the showdown hands says it all for us. He is the most feared and respected player at this final table and has all the attributes to win this thing, but will he get the luck?