PokerStars Open Campione 2026: Favotto flies live too, he leads with 15 left

The circle tightens around the PokerStars Open Campione 2026 Main Event, which will resume today with 15 players left and a chip leader who wants to prove he’s back at the top live, after doing so online by winning the Sunday Million: Giorgio Favotto.

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PokerStars Open Campione: Favotto flies (also) with aces, he’s leading with 15 left!

We all know that in live poker tournaments, luck is an indispensable companion to move forward. However, if good fortune in showdowns is accompanied by talent and knowledge of the game, then it can become a deadly “combo”.

You will remember Giorgio Favotto, winner of the Sunday Million a few months ago, under the nickname “Turbofolklore”, but the Milanese player wants to leave his mark live as well, and already during Day 3 yesterday, he was in a good position. Then, at level 20,000/40,000/40,000, the Frenchman Luttke opened to 80,000 with k 9 from utg+1, but on the hi-jack sits Giorgio Favotto with a a who 3-bets to 195,000. Things get very interesting when the Slovak Marek Tatar wakes up with k k on the button. We all know how this hand will end, but it’s interesting to see “how” it will happen.

Tatar 4-bets to 575,000, causing everyone to fold except Favotto. The Italian thinks and then goes all-in, called almost instantly by his opponent, for a giant pot of 5.5 million chips.

To Tatar’s problem, who has one less K available because Luttke had one, is added the monotone flop of hearts, which makes him drawing dead already at the turn 5 6 9 j . As a result of this “cooler of coolers”, Favotto eliminates Tatar and climbs to over 6 million. By the end of the day, the millions in chips will become 7,425,000, keeping him as chip leader with a margin. The Swiss player Nuhiu is quite far behind, second with 5.2 million.

The chipcount

15 players will take their seats at Day 4 today, 11 of whom are Italian. Besides Favotto, there are Pedrotti, Brandes, Petruzziello, Olivieri and De Marco in the top 10. Outside the top 10, however, are Mancuso, Pietroboni, Arduini and Palandiuk. Speaking of the latter, the Italian of Ukrainian origin had himself been chip leader for long stretches of the day, but lost some important pots, yet remained in the tournament, albeit with the smallest stack.

Play will resume from here:

Italians eliminated on Day 3

While Palandiuk is still in contention and will resume with about 12 big blinds, many others have had to abandon their dreams of glory. A long live tournament like the PokerStars Open Main Event in Campione d’Italia requires a player to adapt to the “weather,” resisting negative episodes (or possibly avoiding them) and making the most of the positive ones. Sometimes things take a very promising turn, but then the outcome is not as hoped. Take Nicola Diaco, who had finished Day 1 as chip leader and was among the very first at the end of Day 2. However, Diaco was then eliminated in 76th place.

Shortly after, one of Italy’s most famous poker couples was also eliminated: Giada Fang in sixty-second place, Alessandro Giordano in seventieth.

Read also: PokerStars Open Campione: Record Main Event, Bubble Bursts, and 131 Advance to Day 3

Luca Stevanato was the last of our players to be eliminated and also the last player eliminated overall before the end of Day 3, when his AJ clashed with the AQ of an opponent. For “Steva,” a four-figure prize, as can be seen from the details of the prizes received by the Italians eliminated during Day 3:

What’s at stake

These are the prizes remaining to be awarded, for each position.

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PokerStars Open Second Chance: Jafaripur wins over Estrada, “Preda” 3rd with a deal

Yesterday, another great tournament concluded, the PokerStars Open Campione Second Chance, with 563 entrants and a prize pool of over 270,000 euros.

Diego Testa, chip leader at the end of Day 1, managed to reach the final table but was eliminated immediately. Galanti and Torquato (a great comeback for him) were eliminated in seventh and sixth place, and with five players left, the remaining players decided to make a deal. “The average stack was too low and one hand could have changed a lot,” Alessandro Predaroli, the only Italian left at 5 players and finally third, told us. The Swede Jafaripur took the trophy, beating the Spaniard Estrada, who is the top winner of the tournament due to the chip counts at the time of the agreement. The final table:

Here is the interview of our reporters with Alessandro Predaroli after the final table with a deal.

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PokerStars Open Campione 2026: the final day schedule

This beautiful festival concludes today, February 1, 2026. There is obviously great anticipation for the

Cover image: Giorgio Favotto (Manuel Kovsca & Rational Holdings Limited)

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