Congrats Francesco!

In his first live event as an Everest Poker-sponsored player, Italy’s Francesco de Vivo made quite the impression. On Sunday, February 21, Francesco finished second in Copenhagen, cashing €303,000 ($411,000).

For the first three days, Francesco was card dead, but he survived, battling back from the short stack several times to make it to the final table as chip leader at the end of Day 4.

After outlasting seven other players and reaching a chip lead of nearly 9 to 1, Francesco lost a heartbreaking series of showdowns as Sweden’s Anton Wigg caught many big starting hands and flops, eventually winning the heads-up battle after three and a half hours.

Francesco is proud of his performance at the EPT Copenhagen brought to you by PokerStars.com, especially because he does not consider himself a specialist in heads-up play. "I won a lucky showdown, that's true, but my opponent got an incredible rush of good hands, so I think we were equal on the luck factor. It is a shame I did not win the showdown when he was so short-stacked!”

“But this second place is a dream for any poker player and I would not change anything!"

This is the best finish in any international event by a Live the Dream Team member, as well as one of the biggest international achievements in the history of Italian poker. This year alone, Francesco has demonstrated considerable skills in coming back after bad beats.  

Francesco, the 2007–2008 Italian Champion, was one of the 21 Live the Dream finalists. In an unexpected change of events, Ronny Pickard pulled out of the selection for personal reasons. Francesco was then selected as 10th recipient of a $100,000 year-long sponsorship with Everest Poker.

“For me, Copenhagen was just the beginning. It was my first tournament as a sponsored Everest Poker player. I am very proud to wear the Everest Poker logo and I know Everest Poker is proud of me."

Francesco was not the only member of the Live the Dream Team who made a memorable debut in Copenhagen. Denmark’s Thomas Froslev finished in 30th place, cashing 70,000 DKK ($12,814).