Team PokerStars Pro, Salvatore Bonavena has finished in runner up position in the 2012 Italian Poker Tour (IPT) Main Event, claiming €95,000 in winnings. The head-up match between Bonavena and fellow Italian, Riccardo D’Antoni took place on Monday 19^th November at the Perla Casino in Nova Gorica, Italy and saw Bonavena just miss out on claiming his second ever IPT title.

Bonavena entered the all Italian final table with an average stack of 950,000 and the most experience under his belt out of all eight players. The IPT Main Event marks the fourth final table Bonavena has reached in his domestic poker tour, including the last four IPT seasons. Out of those four Main Event final tables he has finished fourth, third, second and first. Bonavena claimed the championship at the European Poker Tour (EPT) Season 5 in Prague, along with €774,000 in winnings. Overall, he has amassed close to $2,500,000 throughout his live tournament career.

Despite not being able to add the 2012 IPT Main Event championship to his list of successes, Bonavena still enjoyed an impressive performance during the heads-up match. In the final hand, and after a four bet shove from D’Antoni, Bonavena moved all-in for the chip lead holding an A♠K♣ hand, giving him a dominating Ace. D’Antoni looked as if his A♣T♠ would not be enough to beat Bonavena, however a 10 on the turn allowed him to create a pair. When the river produced nothing to Bonavena’s favour he fell out in second place, leaving D’Antoni to collect the title and €155,000 in winnings.

The 2012 Italian Poker Tour Main Event final table results are as follows:

The Italian Poker Tour will be returning 10^th – 14^th January 2013 in Campione. Qualifying satellites will be available on the PokerStars client soon and will offer successful players a seat in the tournament for a fraction of the buy-in cost.