🇧🇬 Slaven Popov wins IPO Sanremo 2025!

Entries 3.432

The Main Event of the Italian Poker Open - IPO 2025 - in Sanremo came to an end around 10:30 p.m., after collecting a remarkable 3,432 entries. The title goes to Bulgarian player Slaven Popov, who, after a deal was made 4-handed, takes home €162,808 — including the €20,000 left aside for the winner — along with the trophy and the prestige of winning one of the most important tournaments, if not the tournament, in Italy.

The Final Day began with Andrea De Vincenzo leading the chip count, followed by Guido Secchieri and Eugenio Peralta. However, it was the seventh-place chip holder, Bulgarian Slaven Popov, starting with just 8 big blinds, who managed to climb all the way back and eventually reach the final heads-up against another underdog, Gaspare Giglio, who had started in sixth place.

Popov sealed the win with an A♦ 10♣ against A♠ 6♦, with no surprises on the board, securing the title. It’s true — we’ve already revealed the ending. But now, let’s take a moment to look back at what happened at the final table. Here's the starting grid:

1. 🇮🇹 Andrea De Vincenzo – 39,400,000 – 66 BB

2. 🇮🇹 Guido Secchieri – 34,050,000 – 57 BB

3. 🇮🇹 Eugenio Peralta – 22,850,000 – 38 BB

4. 🇮🇹 Mikel Calò – 17,075,000 – 28 BB

5. 🇮🇹 Andrea Benelli – 8,650,000 – 14 BB

6. 🇮🇹 Gaspare Giglio – 7,650,000 – 13 BB

7. 🇧🇬 Slaven Popov – 4,950,000 – 8 BB

8. 🇧🇬 Dimitar Toshev – 2,700,000 – 5 BB

The tourney

The first player to be eliminated was Dimitar Toshev, who earned €32,200, followed by Mikel Calò. The surprise of the tournament, Calò ran into a few unfortunate showdowns, the last one seeing his queens fall to Popov’s pocket aces. Still, the €30,900 prize is a great consolation, as are the €40,600 pocketed by Andrea Benelli, who, despite his heroics the previous day, couldn’t make it past sixth place.

Eugenio Peralta finished fifth for €35,500. He had started the day third in chips and ended his run with dignity in what was truly a fantastic IPO performance.

Once down to four players, a deal was struck based on ICM, with Slaven Popov holding the chip lead, followed by Guido Secchieri, Andrea De Vincenzo, and Gaspare Giglio. The discussion lasted about twenty minutes, with Guido Secchieri being the most hesitant to agree. In the end, they settled on a deal that left €20,000 and the trophy for the eventual winner.

Andrea De Vincenzo was the first to exit post-deal, earning €109,000. Guido Secchieri followed in third for €138,307. That left Popov and Giglio heads-up. After about thirty minutes of battle, the Bulgarian came out on top. As mentioned, he takes home €162,808, while Giglio collects €96,427 for his runner-up finish.

If you want to rewatch all the action from the Final Table, just click Play in the box below.

Winner's interview

Here’s what the emotional and deserving champion had to say right after his hard-fought victory.

Winning this tournament means a lot to me, especially right now. I’ve had some tough years with poker — things weren’t really going my way, and I was starting to feel a bit down. But I never stopped believing that a moment like this would eventually come, and it arrived exactly when I needed it the most.

I’ve been playing professionally for a long time, probably around twenty years. This victory, without a doubt, was the shot I needed. It doesn’t change everything, but it gives me something really valuable: peace of mind. I’ll probably play a bit more now, of course, but I already play quite a lot. The biggest difference is that I’ll feel more relaxed at the tables. When you’ve got some money behind you, the whole experience changes — you don’t feel the same pressure.

When we reached the final four, we made a deal. I was okay with that. Actually, one of the other players really wanted it, and I didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere. For me, winning was what truly mattered. Once the deal was made, I felt like I had nothing to lose, and I could just go for it.

There were a few turning points in the tournament. Honestly, I was short-stacked most of the time. Even when I reached the final table, I was one of the short stacks. One tough moment was last night — in the last level of the day, I lost a big pot and was left with very few chips. But I managed to double up and make it to Day 4. Then today, early on, I hit a five on the river that gave me a massive boost. That hand changed everything — it felt incredible.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to come back at the end of the month for the next event in Sanremo — I’ve got a wedding to attend. But we’ll see. It’s always a pleasure to play in Italy. I love the food, the weather, the people — just everything about it. This wasn’t even my first IPO; I played one in San Marino a while ago.

I really liked the structure of the event. I even shared some feedback with the floor staff. The only thing that bothered me a bit was the 15-second preflop action timer. Some dealers activated it a little too quickly, and it added unnecessary pressure. I’m fine with time banks, but when you’re deep in a big tournament like this, you need to stay calm and think through your decisions without feeling rushed.

Now it’s time to celebrate — first with my friends here, and then with my family once I’m back home.

Results

🇧🇬 1° Slaven Popov – 162.808€ dopo deal

🇮🇹 2° Gaspare Giglio – 96.427€ dopo deal

🇮🇹 3° Guido Secchieri – 138.307€ dopo deal

🇮🇹 4° Andrea De Vincenzo – 109.000€ dopo deal

🇮🇹 5° Eugenio Peralta – 53.500€

🇮🇹 6° Andrea Benelli – 40.600€

🇮🇹 7° Mikel Calò – 30.900€

🇧🇬 8° Dimitar Toshev – 32.200€

EPO Mystery Bounty: Shehadeh takes down the trophy!

The €1,100 EPO Mystery Bounty has also come to an end, drawing over 250 entries and awarding the winner €30,000 — plus, of course, the collected bounties. The title went to Andrea Shehahdeh, already a champion of the EPO Italian Poker Open Main Event and now also winner of the second edition of the EPO European Poker Open Mystery Bounty.

It was a tournament that players clearly enjoyed, as highlighted in the post-win interview with Shehahdeh, available now on our Instagram channel. A strong start for the new format introduced by PKLive360 in this 2025 season.

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