PokerStars Open Campione Main Event: disappointment Italy, win for Swiss Nuhiu

This second and beautiful edition of the PokerStars Open Campione concludes with a Main Event that once again eludes Italian players, despite a massive presence on the final day. The Swiss Nuhiu wins, who always finds himself on the right side of the cards.

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PokerStars Open Campione Main Event 2026: tactical final table, then Nuhiu unleashes

The main tournament of the PokerStars Open Campione 2026 started with 15 players left, 11 of whom were Italian. Unfortunately, on the road to the final table, five of the six eliminated were all ours. Here is the sequence of eliminations and the relative reward:

Tactical final table: two hours of “study”

The final table begins with Renzo Pedrotti as chip leader with 10.8 million, thanks to the hand that eliminated the Swiss Heinsdorf in tenth place. Giorgio Favotto follows with roughly the same stack as the start of the day (almost 7 million), followed by the Frenchman Stanchev and so on.

It starts with great balance and, for at least two hours, the chips practically never go into the middle. Brandes starts well with AA but, indeed, Stantchev manages to lose minimally with AK. The Indian Tanmmay Jhunjhunwala is not so lucky, finding himself all-in with AK vs AA of Petruzziello, who eliminates him and takes the lead.

Favotto shock: out in two hands

Much was expected from Giorgio Favotto, but he is surprisingly the eighth-place finisher. Fatal for “turbofolklore” was first a cooler AK vs AA of Nuhiu that left him short, then he tried to recover with a pair of 10s against AQ of Brandes all-in preflop, but Michele hit an A on the turn, eliminating his opponent. Favotto struggles to hide his bitterness, and it’s understandable, but with those matchups, survival was practically impossible.

The turbofolklore belongs to Nuhiu

We then lose Olivieri, who has less than ideal timing with 8 9 , running into Nuhiu’s dominant k 10. The Italian hits a two-way straight draw on the flop, but the draw doesn’t materialize, condemning him to exit in sixth place.

Nuhiu is now on a rampage, also eliminating Pedrotti, who puts his 4bb in with KT, being called by the Swiss with T4. That it was the Swiss’s day could already be guessed, with the 4 on the turn becoming a heavy clue.

Indeed, it is Nuhiu again who takes out yet another opponent, once again Italian: Michele Brandes. The latter opens with less than 10bb with a 3 , Nuhiu can’t hold back and puts him all-in with j 7 , and the board mockingly favors him: q 4 10 9 k .

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Fondos also falls and it’s a three-way deal

The Swiss takes a break, and Stantchev takes charge of the next elimination. The Frenchman has a pair of queens dominating the poor Fondos, who had tried with AT, without finding any help from the board.

With three players left, the remaining players agree to split the prize pool, and the lion’s share naturally goes to Nuhiu, who at the time of the deal had 20 million, against Petruzziello’s 16 million and Stantchev’s 11 million. The three guarantee themselves €182,000, €167,000, and €150,000 respectively, leaving €18,300 for the winner’s trophy.

Heads up: Petruzziello turns it around, then…

They remain heads-up when Stantchev opens to 800,000 with a k , Petruzziello calls with 10 j , but Nuhiu puts everyone all-in with 5 5 . The Italian obviously steps aside, and Nuhiu wins the pot with the first card of the flop, which is a 5 .

The heads-up therefore sees Elvir Nuhiu start with a lead of 29 million against 18, but Petruzziello manages to turn the situation around. Then, however, the unexpected happens. Nuhiu opens to 1,000,000 with a a , Petruzziello 3-bets to 3 million with q 4 and doesn’t believe Nuhiu when he 4-bets to 6,500,000, putting him all-in. The Swiss can’t believe his eyes and they go to showdown, which obviously rewards him, sending him to 40 million against 8. Petruzziello gets a double-up but then it all ends with an all-in preflop between Nuhiu’s a 7 and Petruzziello’s k 5 . The final board of this PokerStars Open Campione Main Event is 10 a 3 2 9 .

PokerStars Open Campione: Elvir Nuhiu wins the Main Event!

Here is the payout for the final table:

Petruzziello’s immediate interview

In the immediate interview, Vincenzo Petruzziello explains some of the reasons for what happened in the final stages of the tournament.

For him, who a few years ago won a Sunday Million under the nickname “jakuzaboy”, it is still a monumental performance, especially considering his time away from playing poker.

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Cover image: Elvir Nuhiu (Manuel Kovsca & RHL)