The PokerStars Open Campione 2026 kicked off on Friday evening, while yesterday the PokerStars Open Warm Up took center stage, along with the second live satellite for the Main Event.
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PokerStars Open Campione 2026: 219 at the Warm Up
The highlight of the first Saturday of this PokerStars Open Campione 2026 was the Warm Up. The tournament, with a €275 buy-in, featured two flights: Day 1A in the early afternoon with 30-minute levels, and Day 1B in the evening with levels shortened to 20 minutes. Let’s see how they went.
Day 1A
Day 1A registered 124 paid buy-ins and, consequently, awarded 19 seats to Day 2, based on the rule that qualifies 15% of the field in each flight. Leading the pack is a Brazilian, Joao Benvenga, with a round half a million chips. However, there are also Italians in the top 10:
| POSITION | PLAYER | NATION | STACK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jean Benvenga | Brazil | 500,000 |
| 2 | Steinn Thanh Du Karlsson | Iceland | 406,000 |
| 3 | Luca Rullo | Italy | 273,000 |
| 4 | Lorenzo Negri | Italy | 261,000 |
| 5 | Aristidis Theodoridis | Greece | 249,000 |
| 6 | Carlo Jia Jie Vitti | Switzerland | 238,000 |
| 7 | Alessandro Segrada | Italy | 236,000 |
| 8 | Alessandro Boschi | Italy | 215,000 |
| 9 | Manuel Ferrari | Italy | 213,000 |
| 10 | Francesco Sabino | Switzerland | 184,000 |
Among others who qualified are Gianfranco Ironico (175k), Jurgen Onuzi (163k), Luca D’Alessio (149k), Francesco Caramazza (92k), Alberto Ghilotti (79k), Andrea Coalova (61k), Giada Fang (60k), and Roby Begni (36k).
Day 1B
There were 95 paying players for Day 1B, the second flight of the PokerStars Open Warm Up in Campione. 14 players qualified, while the final number of entries reached 219. Here are the top 10:
| POSITION | PLAYER | NATION | STACK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyee Sunny Browne | United Kingdom | 624,000 |
| 2 | Cosmin Ionut Enache | Romania | 280,000 |
| 3 | Vittorio Santaniello | Switzerland | 280,000 |
| 4 | Isa Senkal | Turkey | 264,000 |
| 5 | Chengzhou Zhou | Italy | 241,000 |
| 6 | Sigrid Dencker | Germany | 208,000 |
| 7 | Ettore Ricci | Italy | 178,000 |
| 8 | Andrea Piazza | Italy | 172,000 |
| 9 | Alin-Gabriel Grasu | Romania | 150,000 |
| 10 | Massimiliano Medagli | Italy | 126,000 |
Outside the top 10, there is only one other Italian player who qualified. This is Eduardo Mancino, 12th in the flight with 90,000 chips.
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Other Live Qualifiers for the Main Event
On Saturday evening, the second live satellite for the €1,100 Main Event of the PokerStars Open Campione 2026 was played, which will kick off on January 28th.
The format was still “win your seat at 100,000 chips,” corresponding to the €125 buy-in. There were 40 entries to the satellite tournament, with four qualifiers added to the six from the previous day:
- Giuseppe Chiaromonte
- Giuseppe Milioti
- Fabio Mangano
- Mile Lazic
PokerStars Open Campione 2026, Today’s Schedule: The Warm Up Begins!
The PokerStars Live Room in Campione d’Italia hosts the second day of the PokerStars Open today. The schedule includes the conclusion of the PokerStars Open Warm Up, which restarts with 33 players remaining and will crown a winner by tonight. In the afternoon, Event #6, a No Limit Hold’em with a €220 buy-in, will begin. At 8 PM, the third live satellite for the €1,100 Main Event is scheduled. In this case, given the €185 buy-in, the “win your seat” format is achieved when a player reaches 70,000 chips, not 100,000. Here are the details:
| DATE AND TIME | EVENT | BUY-IN | LATE REGISTRATION |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25/01/2026 14:00 | Event #4 – PokerStars Open Warm Up Day 2 – 40 min levels | €275 | Event closed |
| 25/01/2026 15:00 | Event #6 – NL Hold’em – Unlimited Re-Entry | €220 | Until 19:25 |
| 25/01/2026 20:00 | Event #7 – Qualifier to Main Event – Win Your Seat @ 70K chips | €185 | Until 22:55 |
Club del Poker Freerolls
Tonight, January 25th, starting at 9:30 PM on PokerStars, the last of three freeroll tournaments will be played, each offering 1 ticket for the Main Event worth €1,100, for a total of 3 seats. This is a “winner takes all” tournament: the winner of each tournament will secure entry into the prestigious Campione tournament taking place from January 28th.
To participate, simply:
- have an account on PokerStars
- be registered with Club del Poker, by entering your email in the form found on the page.
- know the password, which is sent via email on the day of the tournament.
On the same page, you will find the Club del Poker freeroll schedule.
| Date and time | Prize |
|---|---|
| January 25th at 9:30 PM | 1 entry for the PokerStars Open Main Event |
Here is the interview with Luca Pataro, winner of the first Club del Poker freeroll for the PokerStars Open ticket:
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Cover image: Manuel Ferrari (archive Danny Maxwell & RHL)
