Seat 1: Luca Pagano - 984,000
Luca Pagano is no stranger to the EPT circuit. This final table marks the fifth of his career in EPT events and twelfth cash. Out of all of those deep runs, Pagano’s best finishes include sixth-place at both the 2008 EPT Monte Carlo and 2009 EPT Dortmund where he earned €337,000 and €153,000, respectively. Although the majority of Pagano’s tournament winnings come from Europe, he does have three cashes to his name in WSOP events.
He got his start after depositing on PokerStars and working his bankroll up to a hefty sum of money. Now, Pagano is one of the most recognizable faces is all of the poker community. He’s even one of the lucky members that can call themselves part of Team PokerStars PRO, where he represents his home country of Italy.
Pagano currently sits in second on the EPT’s all-time Tournament Leader Board. The current number one slot is being held by Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, but come the end of this final table, Pagano could overtake Grospellier if he does well enough. It looks as though he’ll need a sixth-place finish or better to jump into the pole position.