The temperature is rising at the PokerStars Live Room in Campione d’Italia, which yesterday saw the Main Event of the PokerStars Open Campione 2026 kick off. Excellent numbers, with 533 paid players after just two flights and 169 already qualified for Day 2.
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PokerStars Open Main Event: almost 400 on Day 1A, Diaco in the lead
A good start, as they say. The PokerStars Open Campione is back, almost eleven months after its debut, and has immediately recorded excellent numbers. Day 1A, which started late yesterday morning, registered 399 buy-ins of €1,100, generating a list of 114 players who earned access to Day 2.
The best of all is the Italian, but resident in Switzerland, Nicola Diaco, who looks down on everyone else with 366,100 chips. Lahami, Chiaromonte, De Marco, and Ironico are the other Italians in the top 10:
| POSITION | PLAYER | NATION | STACK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nicola Diaco | Switzerland | 366,100 |
| 2 | Mustafa Simsek | Turkey | 316,000 |
| 3 | El Mostafa Lahami | Italy | 310,400 |
| 4 | Giuseppe Chiaromonte | Italy | 284,000 |
| 5 | Zoran Stojanovic | Serbia | 278,000 |
| 6 | Andrei-Sorin Spataru | Romania | 256,100 |
| 7 | Silviu Baltateanu | Romania | 210,000 |
| 8 | Eugenio De Marco | Italy | 194,600 |
| 9 | Gianfranco Ironico | Italy | 186,800 |
| 10 | Farbod Nazari | Iran | 179,900 |
The other Italians
Outside the top 10, there are exactly fifty other Italians qualified through Day 1A of the PokerStars Open Campione Main Event 2026. Among them are several well-known names from the Italian poker scene, both past and present. Below is the detailed list:
| POSITION | PLAYER | STACK |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Wissam Ouertani | 175,100 |
| 13 | Manuel Valduga | 161,000 |
| 17 | Giovanni Magliari | 155,000 |
| 19 | Giorgio Bernasconi | 152,000 |
| 20 | Andrea Agnoletto | 151,400 |
| 25 | Alexander Luciani | 144,200 |
| 26 | William Mancini | 140,000 |
| 31 | Alessandro Mighetto | 133,300 |
| 32 | Michael Desiderio | 131,000 |
| 34 | Michele Guerrini | 124,300 |
| 45 | Federico Savi | 105,900 |
| 47 | Henri Lamai | 100,200 |
| 48 | Giuseppe Milioti | 100,000 |
| 49 | Tommaso Bonini | 99,700 |
| 51 | Vasyl Palandiuk | 96,200 |
| 52 | Andrea Rocci | 95,500 |
| 53 | Marco Bassanelli | 93,700 |
| 54 | Alberto Parenti | 92,500 |
| 56 | Michele Manucci | 91,100 |
| 58 | Nicola D’Anselmo | 87,400 |
| 60 | Gabriele Lepore | 87,100 |
| 66 | Davide Schianchi | 83,500 |
| 68 | Diego Testa | 82,100 |
| 69 | Andrea Marotta | 81,900 |
| 70 | Jessi Pelasgi | 81,300 |
| 71 | Daniele Antonioli | 78,100 |
| 72 | Riccardo Monti | 77,800 |
| 76 | Andrea Dal Bo | 76,100 |
| 77 | Michele Albertini | 75,300 |
| 78 | Claudio Daffinà | 75,100 |
| 79 | Luigi Albanese | 74,300 |
| 80 | Alessandro Giordano | 71,400 |
| 83 | Giuseppe Vulcano | 70,200 |
| 84 | Francesco Delfoco | 66,000 |
| 85 | Andrea Passerini | 65,800 |
| 87 | Nicolò Molinelli | 65,300 |
| 88 | Ruggero Magri | 64,700 |
| 90 | Samuel Ravazzani | 64,000 |
| 93 | Antonio Aquila | 61,200 |
| 94 | Luca Delrio | 60,100 |
| 95 | Francesco Landi | 58,000 |
| 97 | Donato Frasci | 54,100 |
| 98 | Ettore Ricci | 54,100 |
| 99 | Natale Polizzotto | 51,600 |
| 103 | Alessandro Salvemini | 46,400 |
| 104 | Antonino Venneri | 39,600 |
| 109 | Basilio Sangiorgi | 22,500 |
| 113 | Marcello Miniucchi | 16,000 |
| 114 | Claudio Bottai | 14,500 |
| 115 | Luca Stevanato | 13,200 |
Day 1B
The second flight of the day was Day 1B, which started in the late afternoon with levels lasting 20 minutes each. 134 players entered this more turbo flight, but only 54 of them managed to bag chips at the end of the 10 scheduled levels. Frenchman Luttke was the best, Galliana the best of our players with Cortellazzi in a good position for a strong Day 2, as were Hu, Di Giacomo, and Ribolla. The top 10:
| POSITION | PLAYER | NATION | STACK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gregory Anthony Grech Luttke | France | 249,900 |
| 2 | Andreas Stanislaus Peter Staschewski | Germany | 217,800 |
| 3 | Giuliano Galliana | Italy | 196,100 |
| 4 | Ben Yehoshua | Israel | 182,700 |
| 5 | Andrea Cortellazzi | Italy | 166,600 |
| 6 | Petre Bogdan Ionescu | Romania | 132,200 |
| 7 | Lulei Hu | Italy | 126,700 |
| 8 | Mile Lazic | Switzerland | 119,400 |
| 9 | Claudio Di Giacomo | Italy | 116,000 |
| 10 | Paolo Ribolla | Italy | 110,000 |
The other Italians
Half of the 54 players qualified for Day 2 from this Day 1B are Italian, meaning a total of 54 players. You’ve just seen five of them in the top 10, while these are the other 22, again with several interesting names:
| POSITION | PLAYER | STACK |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Riccardo Saraniero | 104,300 |
| 14 | Gioacchino Dell’olio | 90,000 |
| 15 | Thomas Parrotta | 89,300 |
| 17 | Andrea Finucci | 86,100 |
| 18 | Daniele Intermite | 83,400 |
| 19 | Andrea Torri | 83,100 |
| 31 | Stefano Massi | 81,100 |
| 24 | Vincenzo Petruzziello | 63,600 |
| 26 | Sergio Benso | 62,000 |
| 27 | Francesco Tesone | 61,800 |
| 28 | Giampaolo Puglia | 60,700 |
| 31 | Raffaele Castellano | 55,500 |
| 34 | Alessandro Righetti | 52,000 |
| 36 | Aiguo Xu | 49,000 |
| 38 | Muhamet Perati | 45,100 |
| 39 | Pasquale Vinci | 43,500 |
| 40 | Giancarlo Borghi | 43,100 |
| 41 | Luca Guglielmoni | 41,200 |
| 46 | Ferdinando Ferdinandi | 29,700 |
| 51 | Alessandro Collauto | 17,200 |
| 53 | Benedetto Sutera | 13,000 |
| 54 | Daniele Sacchi | 9,700 |
PokerStars Open Campione 2026: today’s schedule
Today, the PokerStars Live Room’s schedule mirrors that of the previous day, with two Main Event flights, each with a different structure. Day 1C will have full blind durations, while the evening Day 1D will again be offered in turbo mode. A satellite for the Main Event is also scheduled. Here are the details:
| DATE AND TIME | EVENT | BUY-IN | LATE REGISTRATION |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29/01/2026 13:00 | Event #13 – Main Event Day 1C – 60 min levels – €1M GTD | €1,100 | Until 30/01/2026 15:10 |
| 29/01/2026 13:00 | Event #17 – Qualifier to Main Event – Win Your Seat @ 70K chips | €185 | Until 15:55 |
| 29/01/2026 20:00 | Event #13 – Main Event Day 1D – 20 min levels – €1M GTD | €1,100 | Until 30/01/2026 15:10 |
Assopoker is present in Campione!
We remind you that Assopoker is present in Campione d’Italia with its reporters Giorgio Sigon, Davide De Luca, and Marco Varrone among the tables of the PokerStars Live Room. Here is the interview with Daniele Portolano, qualified for the PokerStars Open Main Event through the freeroll of the Club del Poker. Unfortunately for him, things did not go as hoped…
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Cover image: Muhamet Perati (Manuel Kovsca & RHL)
