The WPT Venice Grand Prix Final Table

Seat 1 – Andrea Dato – 1,591,000

Andrea Dato is an up and coming star of the Italian poker world. Ostensibly a six-max cash game player, Dato recently changed his tact and started to play live multi-table tournaments and it has turned out to be a good decision. After a couple of cashes in the IPT events Dato finished in 3rd place in the WSOP playing in a $1,500 NLHE Triple Chance event earning $138,044.

In December Andrea Dato entered WPT Venice and finished in 4th place for $57,872, meaning that this impressive run to the final table gives him back to back WPT Venice final tables.

Dato has been a pro for only three-years and will have Dario Alioto giving him  support on the rail. Dato starts as the chip leader but does have the dangerous Simon Ravnsbaek to his direct left.

Seat 2 – Simon Ravnsbaek – 922,000

Simon Ravnsbaek is one of the most revered professional poker players in Denmark. His attendance at the final table of the WPT Venice Grand Prix is his second WPT final table appearance, after finishing in 3rd place in last seasons WPT Vienna for $241,263 – both televised events.

Ravnsbaek has been one of the most aggressive players throughout this tournament, and his battles with Andrea Dato and Marcel Bjerkmann have been fantastic. Ravnsbaek started Day 4 as the chip leader but was overtaken by Dato after he eliminated the dangerous Jason Wheeler at the death.  Ravnsbaek has direct position on Dato and very early yesterday ran five bet bluff shove on him so we think that will be a key battle.

Seat 3 – Andrea Carini – 347,000

26-year old Andrea Carini has been a professional poker player for the past four year earning his living as a heads up online player. Before reverted to this great game, Carini worked as a chef and so he should be no stranger to feeling heat.

Carini has $88,000 in live tournament earnings, with most of his cashes coming in Italian events. Carini has had his devoted girlfriend Maria Lanni watching him every day, and she will be in the front row as he takes his seat in his first ever major final table appearance.

Seat 4 – Rinat Bogdanov – 907,000

Rinat Bogdanov is one of the many poker players who earns his living as a financial trader. The man whose favourite hand is pocket kings flew into Day 4 just underneath the radar. Then as Day 4 started he exploded into this tournament firstly eliminating Jeremie Sochet and then taking chunks from Jason Wheeler to thrust him into the top three spots.

Bogdanov has very little live tournament experience with just a few minor cashes in Cypriot events, making this final table performance as his greatest achievement to date.

Seat 5  – Gianluca Trebbi – 343,000

Gianluca is our oldest player at the final table at the ripe old age of 32!

With $235,504 in live tournament earnings, Trebbi knows his way around the live felt. His biggest ever cash was for $102,875 after finishing in 2nd place in an Italian €2,000 event.

Trebbi found a big stack very early in the tournament but since then he has gone a little quiet, with the exception of one particular hand. It was on Day 3 against Simon Ravnsbaek where Trebbi burst into life from nowhere. He ran a five bet bluff shove against Ravnsbaek who was sat holding pocket kings. Trebbi had to show the woeful [9c] [8d] and when the flop came down [4d] [3d] [2c] Trebbi was seemingly out of the door. But the poker gods had other plans for Trebbi and after the [8c] turn and [9d] river hit the felt Trebbi stabilised and found his way to the final table.

Seat 6 – Alessandro Longobardi – 558,000

Alessandro Longobardi has had the television camera thrust into his face before. He spent some air time on the feature table at EPT Barcelona in 2010 where he finished in 16th place for $31,436. In 2009, Longobardi had a deep run in the WSOP Main Event finishing in 176th place for $36,626. All in all Longobardi has amassed $331,081 in live tournament earnings.

He probably has one of the worse seats at the final table, with the aggressive big stacks of Dato and Ravnsbaek to his direct left. Longobardi has been a gambler all of his life and was a professional sports bettor before taking up poker ten year ago.

You have two ways to keep up with the action today. You can either read the live updates or catch the live stream. Both events will be streamed with a 30-minute delay.