Great show and new record of paid players for the PokerStars Open Campione Main Event in its 2026 version. The casino in the Italian enclave in Switzerland is packed with poker players and VIPs of all kinds, for an event that is living up to all expectations.
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PokerStars Open Campione 2026: spectacle on Day 2 of the Main, 131 remain
The PokerStars Open Campione surpasses itself. The record of 1,423 paid players from last edition’s Main Event has been shattered, thanks to the 1,582 who populated the main tournament of this edition. The result is a prizepool of €1,518,720, thus well above the one million guaranteed, but above all, truly frantic and spectacular action at the tables.
Can a cooler happen with 72s on the bubble? The answer is yes
Our on-site reporters documented an incredible hand, to say the least, which occurred one elimination away from the bubble bursting. Frenchman Gregory Grech, winner of the WSOP Circuit Sanremo a few months ago, opens from early position and Andrea Torri defends his big blind with about 75 big blinds.
On the 7-7-3 flop, the action becomes unexpectedly frantic: check from Torri, continuation bet of 5,000 from Grech, raise to 15,000, 3-bet to 35,000, 4-bet to 120,000, and call. Then, what follows happens:
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Torri is incredibly out at -1 from the bubble, while many of you will be wondering what 73 and 72 suited were doing in that hand. In this case, unfortunately for Torri, the choice to defend the big blind turned into a bloody cooler.
After the hand just mentioned involving Andrea Torri, the bubble officially burst at the expense of Iranian Farbod Nazari. Then, eliminations followed at a very high pace, as always happens at this stage of the tournament, until the 131 players who earned their spot in today’s Day 3.
What is being played for today
The payout structure included 223 ITM places, from a minimum cash of €1,750 to a first prize of €250,440. Dario Sammartino did not make it, busting shortly before the bubble burst, while Filippo Candio finished ITM in 146th place. The Sardinian can still look back with satisfaction on this Campione trip, which marked his return to the scene.
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Below, however, is the payout for the 131 players who will return today.
| FINAL POSITION | PRIZE |
|---|---|
| 1 | €250,440 |
| 2 | €156,550 |
| 3 | €111,820 |
| 4 | €86,020 |
| 5 | €66,170 |
| 6 | €50,910 |
| 7 | €39,150 |
| 8 | €30,130 |
| 9 | €23,180 |
| 10–11 | €17,830 |
| 12–13 | €14,850 |
| 14–15 | €12,360 |
| 16–17 | €10,300 |
| 18–20 | €8,580 |
| 21–23 | €7,150 |
| 24–27 | €6,150 |
| 28–31 | €5,350 |
| 32–39 | €4,650 |
| 40–55 | €4,040 |
| 56–71 | €3,510 |
| 72–95 | €3,050 |
| 96–119 | €2,660 |
| 120–131 | €2,310 |
El Tanque ITM
Among the 92 players who cashed during Day 2, there are several well-known names in Italian poker. The aforementioned Candio, for example, but also Giorgio Bernasconi (134th for €2,310), Mario Perati (159th for €2,000), Gigetto Pignataro (205th for €1,750), but special mention goes to a non-professional player. We are talking about German Denis, whom football fans will remember as “El Tanque”. The Argentine striker, now naturalized Italian, was present at the event along with several other former footballers, but he defended himself very well at the tables, eventually finishing 174th for €2,000.
The Top 10
Here is the top 10, led by Romanian Costica but with Nicola Diaco still very high in chips. With him are also Arduini, the aforementioned Grech, and other Italians Pietroboni, Giglio, and Sorrentino.
| POSITION | PLAYER | NATION | STACK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Costica Ciprian Nanu | Romania | 1,401,000 |
| 2 | Nicola Diaco | Italy | 1,394,000 |
| 3 | Xavier Sitruk | France | 1,114,000 |
| 4 | Marius Alexandru Gicovanu | Romania | 1,057,000 |
| 5 | Lorenzo Arduini | Italy | 1,025,000 |
| 6 | Gregory Anthony Grech Luttke | France | 957,000 |
| 7 | Johann Schamme | Germany | 939,000 |
| 8 | Juri Pietroboni | Italy | 842,000 |
| 9 | Gaspare Giglio | Italy | 835,000 |
| 10 | Umberto Sorrentino | Italy | 769,000 |
Italians on Day 3
Below is the detail of ALL 75 Italians on Day 3 of the PokerStars Open Campione 2026 Main Event:
| POSITION | PLAYER | STACK |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Nicola Diaco | 1,394,000 |
| 5 | Lorenzo Arduini | 1,025,000 |
| 8 | Juri Pietroboni | 842,000 |
| 9 | Gaspare Giglio | 835,000 |
| 10 | Umberto Sorrentino | 769,000 |
| 11 | Vasyl Palandiuk | 742,000 |
| 13 | Abaz Bushi | 740,000 |
| 15 | Ciro Petta | 726,000 |
| 16 | Pietro Nicastro | 677,000 |
| 18 | Giada Fang | 606,000 |
| 24 | Fondos Eduard | 534,000 |
| 25 | Michele Brandes | 527,000 |
| 29 | Thomas Olivieri | 482,000 |
| 30 | Luca Accornero | 477,000 |
| 31 | Paolo Compagno | 473,000 |
| 35 | Alessandro Giordano | 445,000 |
| 36 | Renzo Pedrotti | 444,000 |
| 39 | Giorgio Favotto | 425,000 |
| 40 | Orazio Bruno | 424,000 |
| 43 | Augusto Botti | 417,000 |
| 44 | Giancarlo Borghi | 413,000 |
| 45 | Vincenzo Fiorino | 401,000 |
| 46 | Luca Amoruso | 400,000 |
| 48 | Alessandro Confalone | 374,000 |
| 50 | Claudio Di Giacomo | 350,000 |
| 53 | Andrea Salamone | 335,000 |
| 55 | Nicola Di Chio | 325,000 |
| 57 | Dario Mancuso | 300,000 |
| 58 | Alessio Vichi | 297,000 |
| 61 | Luca Stevanato | 292,000 |
| 64 | Andrea Dal Bo | 286,000 |
| 68 | Michele Perego | 277,000 |
| 69 | Nicholas Traini | 277,000 |
| 71 | Riccardo Lombardi | 270,000 |
| 72 | Gianluca Cabitza | 265,000 |
| 73 | Giuseppe Milioti | 264,000 |
| 74 | Giuliano Galliana | 258,000 |
| 76 | Davor Lanini | 251,000 |
| 77 | Vincenzo Suriano | 251,000 |
| 78 | Francesco Congiu | 250,000 |
| 79 | Ettore Ricci | 249,000 |
| 81 | Antonio Buonanno | 242,000 |
| 82 | Andrea Bottinelli | 241,000 |
| 83 | Eugenio De Marco | 232,000 |
| 84 | Stefano Baroni | 227,000 |
| 85 | Federico Calo | 224,000 |
| 87 | Leonardo Manna | 224,000 |
| 88 | Andrea Pedruzzi | 214,000 |
| 89 | Vincenzo Petruzziello | 214,000 |
| 92 | Francesco Tesone | 210,000 |
| 93 | Filippo Marcolini | 206,000 |
| 94 | Stefano Massi | 206,000 |
| 95 | Marco Galli | 193,000 |
| 97 | Gabriele Lepore | 184,000 |
| 99 | Lorenzo Esposito | 182,000 |
| 102 | Edoardo Accornero | 176,000 |
| 106 | Leonardo Rizzi | 168,000 |
| 107 | Igor Saia | 167,000 |
| 109 | Morad Mlah | 164,000 |
| 111 | Massimo Armenio | 157,000 |
| 112 | Liberato Savino | 156,000 |
| 113 | Fernando Colazzo | 146,000 |
| 114 | Giuseppe Chiaromonte | 144,000 |
| 116 | Davide Marchioro | 136,000 |
| 118 | Filippo Bechini | 125,000 |
| 119 | Carlo Catelani | 122,000 |
| 120 | Luca Bernardi | 121,000 |
| 122 | Gianfranco Ironico | 103,000 |
| 123 | Paolo Calculli | 97,000 |
| 125 | Michele Guerrini | 83,000 |
| 126 | Ettore Esposito | 81,000 |
| 127 | Daniele Bassutti | 80,000 |
| 128 | Roberto Manfredi | 79,000 |
| 129 | Natale Polizzotto | 78,000 |
| 131 | Claudio Daffina | 74,000 |
PokerStars Open Campione: the Second Chance is also here with Testa… in the lead
Yesterday, the Second Chance also kicked off, a €550 buy-in tournament that attracted a notable field of 563 paid players. Day 1 concluded with the bursting of the bubble, which sent 79 players into the money (and to Day 2). Leading the pack is clearly Diego Testa, with almost 800,000 chips, while this is the top 10:
| POSITION | PLAYER | NATION | STACK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Diego Testa | Italy | 795,000 |
| 2 | Max Jafaripour | Sweden | 566,000 |
| 3 | Axat Tulsidas Mawji | England | 510,000 |
| 4 | Francesco Galanti | Italy | 494,000 |
| 5 | Dario Quattrucci | Italy | 447,000 |
| 6 | Sami Barghouthi | France | 426,000 |
| 7 | Felice Bucci | Italy | 419,000 |
| 8 | Sergio Benso | Italy | 399,000 |
| 9 | Piero Protti | Italy | 398,000 |
| 10 | Chengzhou Zhou | Italy | 390,000 |
PokerStars Open Campione 2026: the schedule for January 31
Today, Day 3 of the Main Event and Day 2 of the Second Chance resume, but watch out for the Super High Roller at €4,975, which promises fireworks. Last but not least, the Mystery Bounty Cup at €400 buy-in, which offers two flights today, one at 1 PM and one at 6:30 PM. The detailed schedule:
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| DATE AND TIME | EVENT | BUY-IN | LATE REGISTRATION |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31/01/2026 12:30 | Event #13 Day 3 – Main Event – 60 min levels – €1M GTD | €1,100 | Closed |
| 31/01/2026 12:30 | Event #20 – Super High Roller – Unlimited Re-Entry | €4,975 | Until 18:50 |
| 31/01/2026 13:00 | Event #18 Day 2 – Second Chance – 40 min levels – Unlimited Re-Entry | €550 | Closed |
| 31/01/2026 13:00 | Event #21 Day 1/A – Mystery Bounty Cup – 30 min levels – Unlimited Re-Entry | €400 | Until 19:20 |
| 31/01/2026 18:30 | Event #21 Day 1/B – Mystery Bounty Cup – 20 min levels – Unlimited Re-Entry | €400 | Until 22:10 |
Cover image: the bubble burst (Manuel Kovsca & RHL)
