Candio ended Day 1 with roughly eight times the starting stack

Just two months after the World Poker Tour’s last trip to the Italian city of Venice, the series is back, but this time the event is bigger and better.  The WPT Grand Prix de Venice at the Casino di Venezia Ca Vendramin Calergi is the second European event of Season X to be filmed for the US television season, so all the big personalities like Vince Van Patten, Mike Sexton, and the Royal Flush Girls were on hand for opening day festivities.  Marianela Pereyra was also present in Venice for Day 1 action.  The Italian stop is her first time filling in as the WPT anchor while Kimberly Lansing is on maternity leave.

Joining the WPT gang for the €4,950 buy-in event were 155 players, including Sexton, James Dempsey, Fabrice Soulier, Scott Montgomery, Melanie Weisner, Kara Scott, Roberto Romanello, Tony Guoga, and reigning WPT Venice champ Alessio Isaia.

While the Italian Isaia was one of 67 players to bust out over the course of Day 1 action, another noteworthy Italian rose up the ranks.  The 2010 November Niner Filippo Candio ended Day 1 on top of the chip counts with 227,900 chips from the 30,000-chip starting stack.  Candio spent the last chunk of the day sparring with another Day 1 big stack, Marcel Bjerkmann, but Candio prevailed while Bjerkmann ended with an above average 68,500 chips.

A good 50,000 chips separates Candio and the player who ended the day second in chips, Gabriele Lepore.  Lepore bagged up 172,000.  Andrea Dato, who finished fourth at the December WPT Venice event, rounds out the top three counts with 121,700 chips.

Other notables returning for Day 2 action include Nicolas Levi (96,300), Dario Alioto (84,000), Guoga (78,800), James Akenhead (78,000), Romanello (43,900), Scott (35,700), Weisner (31,100), and Sexton (24,200).  When play resumes on Tuesday, blinds will start at 400/800 ante 100.

Isaia was not the only player to hit the rail over the course of Day 1.  Other early eliminations included Dempsey, Soulier, Rupert Elder, Scott Montgomery, Todd Terry, Max Pescatori, and Arnaud Mattern.

Prize pool information for the tournament has not been released, so it is still unclear how many of the 88 Day 1 survivors will make the money and how much the winner of the event will be taking home.

Here are the top ten chip counts from the end of Day 1 of the WPT Grand Prix de Venice Main Event:

1. Filippo Candio – 227,900
2. Gabriele Lepore – 172,000
3. Andrea Dato – 121,700
4. Andrey Gulyy – 107,600
5. Danilo Donnini – 105,200
6. Dario De Paz – 103,700
7. Alexander Popp – 101,900
8. Mustapha Kanit – 99,600
9.  Nicolas Levi – 96,300
10. Matteo Amore – 89,900

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