Posted by British poker professional Will Kassouf pulled off an extraordinary score at the Casino di Venezia, securing a massive €50,000 top mystery prize in the €1,000,000 guaranteed La Notte Degli Assi Main Event despite busting well before the tournament reached its final day. While Italian pro Lorenzo Sabato ultimately captured the championship title and the €114,500 first-place prize after leading the final day wire-to-wire, Kassouf departed Venice with virtually third-place prize money thanks to a revolutionary promotional twist.
The “Caccia al Tesoro” Tournament Format
Held at the world’s oldest casino in Venice, the €1,000,000 guaranteed event attracted a field of 2,630 entries across 10 starting flights (Day 1A through Day 1I alongside a Last Chance flight). The tournament also broke from standard structures by varying buy-in costs and reviving traditional re-buys. The first four flights commanded a €400 buy-in with €300 re-buys, while the final six flights featured a €600 buy-in with €400 re-buys.
The centerpiece of the festival was the “Caccia al Tesoro” (Treasure Hunt). Organizers carved out €200,000 from the overall €1,000,000 guarantee to fund a mystery prize pool offering rewards ranging from €900 to €50,000. Exactly 50 tickets were minted for the draw, awarded exclusively to the top five chip stacks from each of the 10 opening flights.
Players were permitted unlimited re-entries and could enter subsequent flights even after already securing a Day 2 bag without surrendering their previously accumulated chips. Any participant surviving a Day 1 flight locked up a minimum cash of €900, and players advancing more than once brought only their largest stack into Day 2.
Kassouf Strikes Gold on the Last Chance Flight
Known across the poker landscape for his speech play and deep runs at the World Series of Poker, Kassouf entered the 187-entry Last Chance flight at the final possible moment. Starting with 200,000 chips, the British pro ran his stack up to 2,900,000, locking up fourth place on the flight’s leaderboard and securing his coveted Treasure Hunt ticket.
The 50 ticket holders assembled on Sunday, October 18, at 2:00 p.m. right before the start of Day 2 for the random envelope draw. Kassouf drew the sole top prize of €50,000. Although he failed to reach the final day of play, his envelope pull rivaled the €56,600 payout awarded to the tournament’s third-place finisher. Other top mystery prizes handed out to Day 1 chip leaders included envelopes containing €30,000, €20,000, and €15,000.
Evolving Tournament Dynamics
By heavily incentivizing end-of-flight chip leads over standard survival, the Venice structure dramatically transformed early-stage incentives and forced players to reevaluate baseline ICM poker tournament strategy during opening flights.
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With massive field sizes and overwhelmingly positive player reception in Venice, the innovative Treasure Hunt format offers live tournament organizers a compelling alternative to traditional mystery bounty structures moving forward.
Source: PokerNews Online
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