Friday, Oct. 17, 2008

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Benvenuti! PokerStars launches Italian site

Italians can now join Dario Minieri on PokerStars.it.

By Sarah Polson

Italy has opened up its doors to online poker sites, and PokerStars is ready to welcome Italian players with open arms. The poker site announced this week it has launched PokerStars.it, an Italian-only version of the site.

The new addition to the PokerStars lineup comes just days after the Amministrazione Autonome dej Monopoli di Stato in Italy granted PokerStars a license to offer online poker in the country. The license gives Italians a chance to play online poker tournaments with real money at PokerStars.it.

"PokerStars is proud to be entering a flourishing market with this new product. This is a ground breaking time for the online poker industry, and it's very exciting that the Italian market is pioneering this move," said Fabio Angeli Bufalini, PokerStars Italian country manager.

"This is the start of a global template which could potentially be adopted in other markets internationally in the next few years."

At PokerStars.it, Italian players will be able to take part in tournaments with fees varying from 50¢ to a maximum of €100.

"Players on PokerStars.it will have the opportunity to win their entry into famous international poker events - like the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas," said Dario Minieri, Team PokerStars member.

"These competitions require players to have the right mix of skill, training, concentration and luck."

Minieri, from Rome, Italy, was added to the Team PokerStars roster in 2007. He had already built a reputation in online poker as a monster at the tables who was able to accumulate enough player points at PokerStars to redeem them for a Porsche.

In 2005 he started taking on live events with the Italian Poker Championships, and in 2006, he cashed in the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final and then went on to finish in third place in the EPT Baden event that same year.

In 2007, he cashed in two World Series of Poker events, one of which was the Main Event. After the WSOP, PokerStars made him an official part of their team, and he has since gone on to make another final table in an EPT event as well as to win a WSOP bracelet during the 2008 series.

Minieri isn't the only Italian making a big splash in the poker world as a Team PokerStars pro. Luca Pagano got his start in poker stardom playing the game online as well. Since graduating to the live tournament scene he's racked up nearly $700,000 in tournament cashes. That includes several deep EPT cashes and WSOP cashes.

His latest achievement was to be named the EPT Player of the Year for Season 4 of the tour. During Season 4, Pagano had deep cashes at the EPT Dublin and the EPT Scandinavian Open. Then he ended the season by making the final table of the Grand Final, cashing out in sixth place.

Minieri and Pagano aren't the only Italian stars on the poker circuit. Italian poker fans can also look to Max Pescatori, Jeff Lisandro, Dario Alioto and Marco Traniello for home-country players to emulate.

With stars to look up to, a population hungry for the game and now the ability for the online poker industry to enter the market, Italy is primed for a poker boom.

According to PokerStars, market research estimated that during this first year of online poker being legalized, 500,000 accounts will be opened throughout the Italian online poker industry, creating an estimated €400 million market.

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