Italy's Ermanno Di Nicola has added his name to the roster of World Series of Poker bracelet winners by taking down Event #5 of the WSOP Europe festival, €550 No-Limit Hold'em Colossus on Wednesday. Di Nicola claimed the event's first-place payday of €200,000 after surviving a roller-coaster start to the final day.
Di Nicola began the Colossus' Day 3 among the event's leaders but suffered early hits that left him in short-stack territory. Then, all in for his tournament life with ace-jack, he fell far behind Elia Salerno's flopped set of threes, but hit a runner-runner turn and river to make a Broadway straight. From that unlikely hand Di Nicola continued to surge and ultimately finished off the win by busting Poland's Alain Saka during heads-up play.
Di Nicola's first WSOP bracelet win capped a great event for Italian players. Only Poland's Saka, who earned €115,000 as the runner-up, prevented Italy from achieving a podium sweep. Angelo Marrone placed third for €87,000, while Alessandro Predaroli finished fourth to collect €66,000.
Third final table in three years for Di Nicola
In a statistical oddity, Di Nicola has cashed only three times at the WSOP Europe during his career, but all three cashes have come in final-table runs. In 2021's WSOP Europe series, Di Nicola went deep in both the €2K and €5K pot-limit Omaha events. Di Nicola made the deeper of his previous two PLO final tables in the €5K PLO tourney, where he finished third, just days after placing eighth in the €2K PLO tourney.
