PokerStars Breaks Records at Casino di Campione

A stunning 2,423 entries doubled the million-Euro guarantee in Italy this weekend, as Adrian State of Romania won a top prize worth almost $400,000 on the Italian coast. In the enclave of Campione, surrounded by Switzerland but owned by Italy, State beat the local player Giorgio Soceanu heads-up to claim the title and a piece of PokerStars history.

Massive Field Breaks Records

Casino di Campione in Italy sits in an enclave surrounded by the Swiss canton of Ticino and played host to a dramatic conclusion on Sunday as Adrian State (pictured above) won the top prize of $396,350. Winning the first-ever PokerStars Open in Campione, State beat Giorgio Soceanu heads-up for the title, but it was still the best result of the runner-up’s career by far.

Coming into the final, all the players were talking about was the top prize and just how popular the event had been. For a new event, in a unique location, the turnout was a record-breaking one and as the final nine convened at the last table in the tournament, Spanish player Manel Montalban led the field with 111 big blinds, from the eventual winner State on 93 big blinds.

They still needed to lose another player to reach the official final table of eight players. It was an all-Italian clash as Salvatore Russo called off with the bigger stack and pocket kings after Francesco Legnaro shoved with pocket tens. No miracle occurred across the 9-9-6-7-5 board as Russo made a king-high flush to out the unfortunate LEgnaro one place short of the finale.

Russo Runs Out of Luck

With the final eight posing for photographs, the race was officially on to become the first PokerStars Open Campione champion – or in Italian, ‘Campione’. Andreas Putz was dominated to defeat with ace-five when State began his ascent to the summit with ace-ten, holding to reduce the field to seven players. Gaspare Sposato soon went out with ace-king, as on a flop of T-6-5, his shove was quickly called by his countryman Giorgio Soceanu with pocket aces.

Czech player Jakub Sterba was soon on the rail too, leaving in sixth place. All-in with king-six offsuit when short stacked, Sterba ran into State’s pocket kings, and couldn’t hit the required miracle as a board of T-8-3-5-T ejected him from the event. Soon, the field was reduced to four, as Salvatore Russo went from hero to zero chips. All-in with pocket tens, he couldn’t win a flip against Soceanu’s ace-jack of diamonds, as a board of K-Q-5-T-A flirted with redemption for the at-risk player on the turn before dashing those hopes to smithereens on the river.

With four left, State was often pushed by the aggressive Soceanu but retained an element of control and when the Romanian took out Spanish player Manel Montalban with king-queen ruling the roost over the Spaniard’s queen-jack, State piled up 32 million chips.

“This Tournament was Huge!”

Three players remained but not for long. Barnaba Perone was out in third soon after when his shove with nine-deuce offsuit didn’t even give him two live cards to hunt for when State called with king-deuce. A board of J-7-5-7-3 sent Perone home and gave State a better than 6:1 chip lead heads-up.

Soceanu initially dropped a little but doubled up with a nut flush as State’s two pair ended up doubling his opponent back to 18 million chips, as the Romanian remained 3:1 up with 54 million. The stacks were similar when State shoved with ten-eight of clubs. Soceanu called correctly with ace-nine and the Q-9-4 with no clubs made him a massive favorite to double his stack back to almost parity. But a king on the turn was followed by a jack on the river for a runner-runner straight for State as he became champion in Campione.

“I love it – the staff is amazing, they managed extremely well to finish the tournament in time [and] it’s a big privilege to win,” State said after victory. “This tournament was huge, and I have had a difficult period, running under EV. I was preparing a lot for this tournament, so when this win came to me, I was very happy. I gladly participate when I have free time, but I would like to spend more time at home with my wife and my little daughter.”

After winning the biggest title of his poker career so far, State has no excuse not to and will gladly be treating those closest to him after a spectacular win in the resort of Campione.

Photograph by Manuel Kovsca for PokerStars, the home of the European Poker Tour and NAPT Las Vegas