World of Poker: Italy

Italy has spawned several notable poker professionals. Jeff "Iceman" Lisandro was actually born in Australia but lives in Salerno, Italy. He won a Lake Tahoe WSOP circuit event in 2005, and cashed 17th in the WSOP main event that year for $659,730. As for poker players who are actually Italian: Luca Pagano is part of Team PokerStars and has cashed five times at European Poker Tour events, including third at the Barcelona Open in Season 1. Max "The Italian Pirate" Pescatori won a bracelet in one of the $2,500 No Limit events in the 2006 World Series, cashed six times in the 2005 Series and has cashed three times on the World Poker Tour. Marco Traniello cashed a staggering seven times in the 2005 Series and took 30th in the Season 4 WPT Five Diamond event at Bellagio, also in 2005.

Italian poker players will soon enjoy unprecedented online poker freedom as of January. Online gaming within Italy will soon be fully legal thanks to the Decree on Liberalization, Article 38. Already, major European sites such as Ladbrokes, Betfair and William Hill are chomping at the bit to get involved in this new frontier. In fact, a full 17,000 licenses for online casinos and poker rooms will be auctioned off soon. Other European countries may follow Italy's lead before too long.

Brick-and-mortar poker in Italy is thriving, despite only a few casinos countrywide and only three of these offering the game.

First up is one of the most interesting cases. Casino di Campione is the largest employer in the exclave Campione d'Italia. This exclave uses currency and many other elements of Swiss culture. Because it's an exclave, it's not subject to VAT, nor the tax laws of Italy or Switzerland, making it the ideal location for a large casino. Casino di Campione offers limit Hold'em and Omaha.

One of the most popular casinos for tournament poker in Italy is Casino di Sanremo. It's got its own dedicated website, pokerinitaly. com, and offers constant tournaments and cash games, with buy-ins ranging from €200 to 1000. This website also has a lively forum for Italian poker fans and an online poker site that matches the real-life casino. "In our casino, we offer Poker Telesina all'Italiana (Five Card Stud) and Caribbean Poker," says Marco Fiore, marketing manager for Casino de la Vallée. "We will be probably able to start with Texas Hold'em, both no-limit and pot-limit, at the end of January 2007."

Note that Telesina has several important differences from traditional Five Card Stud. First, the deck is 32 cards from ace to seven - what's known as a "French" deck. It's a six player max game. Here are the rules:

All players ante. One card down and one card up is dealt and then a betting round. The high card puts in the bring-in - twice the ante. Then, three face-up cards are dealt, with a betting round after each. Then, a sixth card called the "Vela Card" is a community card in the center, face up. The fifth round of betting happens here. In Telesina, a flush beats a full house, but other hand rankings remain the same.

"€250 at Caribbean, pot limit to Telesina," Fiore says when asked about betting limits. The range of tournament buy-ins? "Regarding tournaments, we organized just one last October - the buy-in was €1,000 for the main event. The next tournament will be held from February 27 to March 3."

"We will start, the day of the tournament, on Thursday - Sunday, at 5 p.m.," Fiore says. "There are two tables for Caribbean, five for Telesina, and tables will be four for Texas Hold'em."

Casino de la Vallée does not have a dedicated poker room, according to Fiore. Instead, poker is played in the main, 3,000 square meter gaming area.

Fiore believes that poker in Italy is right on the cusp of success. "For us, at the moment, it is a potential business. The attention for Texas Hold'em is growing up very fast in Italy, due to the advertising done by online gambling and satellite TV."

"As I said before, we are not able to estimate the business, but, during the tournament, we came to understand that Texas Hold'em is particularly welcome among young people," he says. "This means that for traditional casinos, it will be a great opportunity to start with a turnover of the customers."

You heard it here first - there may be a major event in Italy before too long, if deals can be worked out. Here's what Fiore says: "No WPT or EPT event for the moment has been hosted in Saint-Vincent, but we are in contact with the organizers. We hope to reach some agreement in the near future."

It may just be time for another Renaissance in Italy. "I am sure that Poker, first of all Texas Hold'em, will generate a real revolution in the casino trend, if they will be able to get the opportunity to change the offerings in the gaming areas," says Fiore.