La Notte degli Assi 2026: Lorenzo “BovediRoma” Sabato wins the Main Event in Venice

From October 11 to 19, La Notte degli Assi was held at the historic Casinò Ca’ Vendramin Calergi in Venice. The Main Event drew a total of 2,630 entries across ten qualifying flights. After nine days of tournament action, Italian poker pro Lorenzo Sabato prevailed in the heads-up match against Emanuele Biscaro. The two finalists had previously agreed to a deal in which 5,000 euros and the trophy would go to the eventual winner.

258 players made it to the second day of the tournament, thereby securing a spot in the money. Ultimately, the final 21 participants qualified for the final day. Lorenzo Sabato, known in the online poker scene by the nickname “BovediRoma,” was already among the tournament’s dominant players even before the final day. After winning a coin flip against Kate Badurek and eliminating Lulei Hu, he ended the second day of the tournament with 83.6 million chips as the clear chip leader. Sabato continued his run on the final day as well. Although Enrico Esposito briefly took the lead, the eventual champion remained within striking distance and rebuilt his stack as the tournament progressed. Among others, he eliminated Emilio Izvira, who went up against Sabato’s aces with a pair of queens.

After Mariusz Czech and Sabrina Corrias were eliminated, the remaining players entered the decisive phase. Nicola Brughitta and Matteo Lazzaretto missed the podium. Enrico Esposito ultimately finished third. With ace-king, he lost to Sabato’s pair of nines, setting up the heads-up match. In the final showdown, Sabato faced Emanuele Biscaro. The player from Rome started with a significant chip lead of about 2.3 to 1. After about 20 minutes, the two agreed to an ICM deal, which redistributed the prize money.

In the decisive showdown, it ultimately came down to a clash between Biscaro’s K-6 of hearts and Sabato’s Q-J. Biscaro initially had the better hand with king-high, but the board gave Sabato the decisive win. The community cards were J-10-6-A-9. With his pair of jacks, Sabato secured the victory and with it the remaining bonus as well as the trophy for La Notte degli Assi 2026. The results show a total of 114,500 euros for Sabato and 98,500 euros for Biscaro. Enrico Esposito, who finished in third place, received 56,600 euros.

Sabato was already among the well-known players during the early years of the Italian online poker boom. Between 2011 and 2014, he cashed in numerous international tournaments, including events on the World Series of Poker, the European Poker Tour, the Italian Poker Tour, as well as the PCA in the Bahamas and the Aussie Millions in Melbourne. One of his biggest successes to date came in 2012 in Barcelona, when he won the Main Event of the Estrellas Poker Tour and received 200,000 euros for his victory. After a quieter period, Sabato returned to the live tournament scene in 2020.

British poker pro William Kassouf made also headlines “La Notte degli Assi”. Known for his appearance in the 2016 WSOP Main Event, he qualified for Day 2 via the “Last Chance Turbo” and finished that starting flight in fourth place with 2.9 million chips. The following day, Kassouf had even more reason to celebrate: he was selected as the winner of the 50,000-euro grand prize in the “Caccia al Tesoro” draw. The special promotion featured a total prize pool of 200,000 euros, distributed across 50 individual prizes. Eligibility was limited to the top five finishers from each of the ten starting flights.

For more information, visit the Casino Venezia website.