From our correspondent in Campione d’Italia
I am at the Casinò di Campione d’Italia to closely follow the first event of 2026 of the ISOP, Italian Series of Poker.
In tournaments like this, especially in the central phases of the day, a bizarre hand occasionally materializes. One of those that happened yesterday, however, was so peculiar that it raised more than a few eyebrows… but in the end, it was rewarded by fate.
Fortunately, I was near the table and managed to capture a good part of it:
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It must be said that this is a hand that left most, so to speak, with some perplexity. It’s a three-player hand: two of them will have to forgive me as I didn’t note their names.
Let’s try to briefly summarize the hand history: it’s the evening of Day1A of the ISOP in Campione, a tournament with a buy-in of €300 and an initial stack of 50,000 chips.
We are at blinds of 500-1,000, and from the cutoff, a player opens to 2,000 with a total stack of about 50,000. From the button, Gian Paolo Marchesi calls, shortstack, leaving himself with 9,000 behind. The player in the big blind also calls, with about 80,000.
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The flop is A 9 5 , and here things start to get interesting.
The big blind, in fact, bets first (in jargon, “donka“) 3,500. The player who had raised first, the one on the cutoff, calls. But the even more curious thing is that the good Marchesi decides to call again, leaving himself with next to nothing: the pot becomes about 17,000, and he is left with 4,500 behind.
The turn is a k
The player on the big blind checks, the cutoff bets 12,000, Marchesi calls for his last 4,500. The player on the big blind calls instantly.
The river is a 7
Double check, and we go to the showdown, which to my eyes is a bit singular.
Big Blind: j 9
Cutoff: Q Q
Marchesi: J K
It seems incredible, but despite such timid action… Marchesi wins the pot and triples up!
Hands like this are not seen every day, but when they happen, they become the perfect reminder of how much poker can surprise. Between strategy, intuition, and an inevitable dose of unpredictability, it is precisely episodes like these that make each tournament day different from the previous one.
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