888poker and Italian Poker Open (IPO) teams up online for the first time ever!
When our way of life suddenly takes a different turn that players are unable to play the usual live poker games, 888poker brings the IPO to their online platform, so that everyone who's interested can join and still have fun, right at the comfort of their own homes!
Italian poker pro Massimiliano "Max" Pescatori is currently selling his 2015 World Series of Poker Championship bracelet on eBay and will donate the funds as relief for earthquake victims in Amatrice, a town located in central Italy.
A big congratulations to Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren who ended up winning the EPT Sanremo Main Event yesterday for €476,100 and a SLYDE watch! Coren, from UK, was the first women to win an event on the European Poker Tour when she took down the EPT London Main Event in 2006.
Alessandro Bastianoni, 48, a relatively well known poker player in Italy, was found dead inside a luxury apartment in Miraflores, Peru on July 17th. According to local newspapers, authorities found a glass container with waste water mixed with poison gas next to his body and a briefcase containing $140,000 and a letter requesting that the money would be used to cremate his remains. His girlfriend, Colobian Yeinni Ospina, told the police that she last spoke to him on July 6.
"He told me he'd lost a lot of money and I could hear a profound sadness in his voice. I tried to cheer him up but it was useless," she said.
According to local newspaper 'The Republic', Bastianoni had competed in two live tournament series and racked up $600,000 in gambling debts shortly before his death. Medical examiners believe he died 10 days before he was found. In other words, he most probably committed suicide shorlty after calling his girlfriend.
Rocco Palumbo, who won Event #44 for $464,464 at the 2012 WSOP, is the latest World Poker Tour main event champion. The Italian poker pro overcame a field of 173-players to keep the Venetian title from leaving the country after defeating fellow countryman Marcello Montagner heads up. Mike Sexton was the biggest name on the final table and he finished in third place, his best WPT performance ever!
Giacomo Fundaro, from Italy, became the champion of the 2012 World Poker Tour Mazagan last Saturday, outlasting a field of 146 players to win his first WPT title and $143,207 + a $25k seat in the WPT Championship at Bellagio in May, 2013.
After a successful launch in Italy, PokerStars has now also released its mobile app to players in the United Kingdom as well. This means that players in Italy, England, Scotland and Wales now can play Hold'em and Omaha for real-money/play-money on PokerStars on their iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android devices.
According to PokerStars blog, more countries will be able to use this App in the near future. Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree is one of the persons who have tried out the new Mobile App. This is what she had to say about it:
"PokerStars Mobile is going to transform where and when I play poker - I now have access to the biggest tournaments and all my favourite cash games, even when I'm not in front of my computer. I plan to play all the upcoming UKIPT events and will now be able to play some poker when travelling to or from a tournament."
Gianluigi Buffon, 32, won the World Cup back in 2006 with his Italy. And right now he and the rest of the Italian team are preparing for 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Gianluigi is according to many one of the world's best and most successful goalkeepers ever. Even though Gianluigi probably is super busy with his football career, he still seems to have some spare time for other interests as well as he just signed with PokerStars and now will represent them (together with the rest of the team - Mats Sundin, Boris Becker, Orel Hershiser etc) in major poker tournaments around the globe.
"I want to accomplish a lot in life. And even though this contract means that I will have a very busy schedule, I still want to do it because I love to play poker. And to get the chance to play for the world's biggest poker site is both an honor and a challenge. I'm looking forward to play against the rest of Team PokerStars." says Gianluigi in an interview.
PartyPoker has just announced that they have signed the football player Francesco Totti. The fact that Totti is a living legend and one of Italy's most successful strikers ever, will for sure help PartyPoker get many, many new Italian football lovers to sign up and play poker at their site. Lets hope that Totti will play at least in a few major poker tournaments this year, so we get to know if he's as good at poker as he's at football.
"I have faced many challenges in my career and I always apply myself with skill, intelligence, loyalty and passion. You need all these abilities for poker and it is also a game that excites me and is a lot of fun. Thanks to PartyPoker, I am able to combine my passion for sport and the challenge of poker." said Totti
"He is one of the greatest football players of his generation - the question is now will he be one of the greatest poker players of his generation too? What Totti strives for he normally succeeds in achieving! He is a huge signing." said PartyPoker spokesman
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Italian poker pro Massimiliano "Max" Pescatori is currently selling his 2015 World Series of Poker Championship bracelet on 
A big congratulations to Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren who ended up winning the EPT Sanremo Main Event yesterday for €476,100 and a SLYDE watch! Coren, from UK, was the first women to win an event on the European Poker Tour when she took down the EPT London Main Event in 2006.
