Andrea Dato Reflects on WPT Venice Win as He Chases $3.1M

The World Poker Tour made six stops in Venice over the course of five seasons, and there was perhaps no player more closely associated with that particular stop than Andrea Dato.

The Italian pro made three of those six final tables, culminating in a WPT Venice victory in Season 12 in what turned out to be the final WPT event ever held at Casino di Venezia.

That victory took place more than 10 years ago, but the memories seemed as strong as they’d ever been on Thursday night as Dato thought back to that moment. He had just bagged up chips as one of the final 16 players in the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas, vying for a first-place prize of over $3.1 million, but there was a twinkle in Dato’s eye as he mentally traveled back a decade to the night when he won his first major title.

“I will never forget that,” said Dato. “It was such… not from a money point of view, because I made bigger wins than that, but just winning the trophy at that time was so important for me.”

There was so much to that moment in March 2014. It was a WPT title, it was the biggest cash of Dato’s life to that point and he sealed the WPT Venice title on his third try by defeating Sam Trickett heads-up. Trickett, at one point the No. 2 player on poker’s all-time money list, was less than two years removed from his runner-up finish in the $1 million buy-in WSOP Big One for One Drop.

And yet Dato, who started heads-up play down by a 3-to-1 disadvantage, came back and experienced his long-sought triumph in Venice.

“Playing heads-up with Sam Trickett made it even more valuable,” said Dato. “Now, of course, I’m not chasing the trophies so much as I was when I was younger. Now I do it because I like the game, and for the money, but that night… it was very special.”

Dato has enjoyed some bigger cashes since that night at Casino di Venezia. Later on in 2014, he set a new high score of $481,299 with a fourth-place finish at EPT Barcelona, and over the last two years he’s made two additional EPT Main Event final tables, including another career-best $652,200 as the runner-up at EPT Cyprus in 2023.

But even with everything that’s come before – the magic of WPT Venice and his more recent European successes – nothing quite compares from a financial standpoint to the opportunity that stands before Dato in this moment.

With 16 players left, Dato is guaranteed $176,000 – already the third-biggest live tournament cash of his career. One more elimination bumps that up to $215,000, and a fourth career WPT final table appearance on Saturday would officially lock up a new high water mark for Dato at $665,000. Millions of dollars lie beyond that point.

There were nerves along the way the first time Dato engraved his name on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup in Venice. This time around, though, at 45 years old and having been through the tournament grind for as long as he has, not even the possibility of $3.1 million and a second WPT title seems likely to phase Dato as each decision carries more and more weight from here on out.

“I’ll tell you the truth – lately, like in the last year, I’m running so good everywhere – tournaments, cash games, everywhere,” said Dato. “I feel like, I’m happy, of course, but I’m not as excited or nervous as I’m supposed to be. I just try to do my best in every moment. That’s it. No goals. No [thoughts of the] trophy. Just every moment, I make the best move. That’s it.”