Day 2 WPT Venice Grand Prix: Triumvirate of Italians at the Top

The previous two World Poker Tour events to be held in the wonderful floating city of Venice were won by Italians, so we should not be surprised that the triumvirate current heading the chip charts at the WPT Grand Prix are all from the home country.

The man crushing the field yesterday was Filippo Candio. Candio first thrust himself on the world stage when he finished in 4th place in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event in 2010, earning a colossal $3,092,545. Candio spent most of Day 1 having a little battle with the former Sunday Million and WCOOP champion Marcel Bjerkmann and his aggressive style accrued 227,900 chips.

In second place with 172,000 chips is Gabriele Lepore. The Italian has $275,658 in live tournament earnings earned over a three-year period as a pro. Lepore has two WSOP and three EPT cashes to date but he is yet to have cashed in a WPT event.

Lurking in third place is Andrea Dato. Dato is a familiar name on the tongue of the media because of his impressive 4th place finish at WPT Venice just a few short months ago. In addition to that fantastic score, he also finished 3rd in a WSOP event in the summer – Dato has earned $340,590 in live tournament earnings in a career dating back to 2006.

We reported yesterday that 88 players survived Day 1, but the chip count list supplied by the Tournament Director shows 89 survivors so apologies for that. Names to look out for today include Mustapha Kanit, Nicolas Levi, Simon Ravnsbaek, Dario Alioto, Tony J and James Akenhead.

The WPT Champions Club is represented by Guillaume Darcourt and Roberto Romanello and the Club WPT qualifier Steve Marsh is also in the Day 2 starting field albeit a little short with 16,200 chips.

Action starts at 13:00 (CET)