A 22-year-old poker pro, Jelassi flew down from Sweden specifically to play in the event and ended up as the only non-Italian at the final table. The prize for taking the title out of Italy and back home to Sweden? A sweet €170,000.

The IPT is catching fire. Just a few months ago when the tour kicked off, 255 players signed up. This time, the event had nearly 370 players fighting for a prize pool that eclipsed €700,000.

Here's the man that got the lion's share.

Having seen a Swede win a title in Italy, the whole Italian Poker Tour has decided to go somewhere else for the next event. October 8-12, the IPT will be kicking off Nova Gorica, Slovenia.For more on that €2000 + €200 tourney, keep an eye on the Italian Poker Tour home page.

But no one expected this - 218 players showed up to play Day 1A yesterday, with even more bound to turn up for today's 1B. Such was the interest, they queued from the reception desk, down the hall and out in to the street and the Italian sunshine as they waited patiently to part with the €2,000 + 200 required to take a place around the felt.

They had the chance to not only take a shot at a big event, but to do so against some of the game's biggest names. Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden was one of those playing yesterday, and he survived to come back to tomorrow's Day 2 with his 20,000 starting stack intact.

Also through is Team PokerStars: Italy player Simone Ruggeri, and Stefano Puccilli, who won the debut PokerStars IPT event in San Remo. But one of the early casualties was Dutchman Constant Rijkenberg, winner of the EPT San Remo event in April. In total, 86 players survived the day.

Today's Day 1B will be a tough one, with the likes of Team PokerStars Pros Dario Minieri - keen to do some damage on his home turf - and Marcel Luske stalking the field.

The first IPT event in San Remo was a huge hit, with banker Stefano Puccilli walking off with the first prize of €120,000 after a punishing 14-hour final table. Well over 100 players will head to beautiful Venice to play today's (Thursday) and tomorrow's day one flights, with a day 2 on Saturday and the final on Sunday.

While some will be coughing up the €2,000 + 200 to play at Venice's Casino Ca'Vendramin, many more players have secured their seats by qualifying on PokerStars.

They'll be up against some of the biggest names in the game, including Team PokerStars Pros Dario Minieri, Marcel Luske, Johnny Lodden, Vanessa Rousso and Chad Brown. Also around the felt will be members of Team PokerStars: Italy - Filippo Candio, Simone Ruggeri , Pierpaolo Fabretti, Nicola Fedeli and Elena Ichim.

If you'd like to find out more, please keep an eye on our IPT website, available here in English, and over here in Italian.

Ciao!

It's all guns blazing in the desert of Las Vegas but there's business to be done in Italy beforehand...

Stefano Puccilli, a 37-year old banker, has become the first PokerStars Italian Poker Tour (IPT) champion after fighting passed more than 250 players to win the inaugural event in San Remo.

Twenty-two players made it to day three to fight for the lion's share of the nearly €500,000 prize pool. It took nine and half hours to make it down to the eight-handed final table. The only Team PokerStars Italy Pro remaining in the field, Nicola Fedeli, exited in 10th place.

It took another six hours to see the final hand. Puccilli got it all-in pre-flop with pocket eights versus a naked ace, only to see a [Jc] [Ah] [Qc] flop. Then the [9d] popped up on the turn and opened up a few more outs for Puccilli. The the miracle: the [10s] fell on the river and the game was Puccilli's. The banker banked 120,000 Euros for the win.

Puccilli has only been playing poker for four years and found his way into the game like many others, having watched televised poker with friends. He eventually outgrew games with friends and started playing on PokerStars, a path that led him straight to San Remo and glory.

If you'd like to play in the next IPT event, you might want to wax up your gondola. Venice, Italy will host the next IPT tournament July 23-26.

The World series is all well and good, and may rightly dominate the poker spotlight right now. But if you're Italian the place to be is San Remo, and the start of the brand new
PokerStars Italian Poker Tour which has kicked off across the Atlantic.

The first stop of the PokerStars Italian Poker Tour found players right back in San Remo, Italy, host of one of the most popular stops on the European Poker Tour. More than 250 players settled in for some Italian action today. After nine levels on day one, 110 players remained.

In action today, the brand new Team PokerStars Pro Italia. The fresh faces on the tour include Filippo Candio, Pier Paolo Fabretti, Simone Ruggeri, Nicola Fedeli, and Elena Ichim.

Among the faces in the Italian crowd was none other than Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier. Armed with an Italian dictionary and a love for the host country, Mercier is marching into day two with 70,000 chips.

At day's end, Daniele Amatruda is resting on more than 200,000 chips, good for the chip lead and a good night's rest. Italian poker fans will probably also recognize some of the names still in contention:Gianni Giaroni, Daniele Mazzia, Alessandro De Michele, Giorgio Bernasconi, Sergio Castelluccio, Massimo Di Cicco, Simone Rossi, Marco Figuccia, Michele Di Lauro, Stefano Moresco, Simone Coppari, Matteo Pecorella, Danilo D'Ettoris.

Day 2 kicks off on Sunday. Good luck to all the players still in the hunt.