Italy's own Alessio Isaia, claimed the top spot today in the World Poker Tour Venice main event, a €3,300 buy-in No-Limit Hold ‘em tournament that earned him €380,000- nearly $520,000 USD- plus a free entry into the WPT World Championship later this year.

Isaia outlasted a total field of 523 players to grab this year’s Venice title, including a final table that held both European Poker Tour Kiev champion Max Lykov and recent European Poker Tour London main event winner David Vamplew. 

Vamplew had earned over $1.4 million last September in the London EPT event, and was well on his way to another major title, coming into this final table first in chips, but it was Hungary’s Szabolcs Mayer who actually proved to be the most difficult obstacle for Alessio to overcome, forcing him into a record long heads-up battle that lasted nearly 8 and a half hours.  For the marathon long second place near miss, Szabolcs Mayer earned over $312,000.

The top eight payout positions of the World Poker Tour Venice main event were as follows:

1st.  Alessio Isaia €380,000

2nd.  Szabolcs Mayer €228,990

3rd.  David Vamplew €149,910

4th.  Emmanuel Rodrigues €101,960

5th.  Adrien Camille Garrigues €73,180

6th.  Luca Fiorini €57,830

7th.  Max Lykov €43,370

8th.  Renato Paolini €31,960


For more information on the WPT Venice main event visit the PartyPoker.com blog.