Salvatore Bonavena has been transformed from an unknown Italian poker player into a man whose name will be heading the news columns of poker outlets the world over for the immediate future.
He became the latest man to taste EPT glory and in doing so, he not only picked up the PokerStars EPT Prague title, a large pay packet of €774,000 and all the usual plaudits. He also became Italy's first EPT champion. A huge throng of passionate Italian supporters loudly cheered their man on to the title as he defeated compatriot Massimo Di Ciccio heads-up to take down the trophy.
Salvatore doesn't speak English, but we snuck a quick interview with him nonetheless, using all the communicative powers at our disposal!
Congratulations Salvatore! How does it feel to be the first Italian EPT Champion?
It was a dream for me, like most poker players have I think. I didn't actually know that I was the first Italian EPT Champion. It still hasn't sunk in that it has happened ... at the moment it still feels like a dream!
In a final filled with exciting hands and dramatic twist and turns, what for you were the key moments?
The Q-3 hand [where Salvatore picked off a triple-barrel bluff from Chen with bottom pair] was a very important moment for me. It was a psychological blow for Chen, and it gave me the mental strength to think I could win!
Do you have poker heros, or people you look up to in poker?
Well, I don't really follow the big games in poker. I have only been playing since 2006 so I am still learning lots about the game. But people like Dario Minieri, Gino Alacqua, Claudio Rinaldi are the players who I know best. They introduced me [to] and taught me about the game and for me they are like my mentors and my family.
That is how it works in Italy. The family is very important and these people have helped me so much.
Well, thanks for talking to us Salvatore. I know your wife is desperate to speak to you, and you are keen to run off and have a winning cigarette, so we'll let you go and enjoy the moment.
Congratulations once again!
Thanks!
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Italy has waited a long time to have an EPT champion. Dario Minieri has threatened to take down EPTs on several occasions and most thought he would be the man to break their long-standing EPT duck.
Instead it fell upon a relative unknown in Salvatore Bonavena to win the title, but the sight of hundreds of Italians cheering on a man draped in the red, green and white colors of their nation showed that for Italy, it's been worth the wait.
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