Giuseppe Caridi Wins the PokerStars Festival London Cup for £18,000

Every poker player has a dream – just ask Kalidou Sow who was in the process of taking down the Main Event – but for Italian amateur Giuseppe Caridi that dream was to lift one of the coveted $30,000 Platinum Passes which will send the lucky holder on an all-expenses paid trip to mix it with the big boys in next year’s $25K buy-in PokerStars Caribbean Adventure – and now Caridi has one!

"I came to London because of the Platinum Pass, it was absolutely the reason I'm here,” said Caridi after taking down the £330 buy-in London Cup ahead of 329 other hopefuls. "It's an amazing thing, it's a dream of my life. I'm going crazy," said the man who is a drinks distributor back home in his native Italy – and from the video below it’s clear just how much this meant to him.

It certainly wasn’t Caridi’s first final table, despite his amateur status the Reggio Calabria man having more than $120,000 in poker winnings to his name, including a $49,000 runner-up finish in the 2015 IPT event in Saint Vincent. A PokerStars ‘spade’ trophy, however, has been top of the 46-year olds wishlist for a decade now…

"I've been chasing a Spade for a while, I'm so super happy," said Caridi after seeing off his rivals for the trophy and telling reporters at the scene of his victory that both the money and trophy were important “…but more the Spade than the money”, adding that:

“It's a personal goal achieved after 10 years of playing poker. The trophy will go on a plinth in the middle of my living room along with the Platinum Pass."

Stating that: "I was the most aggressive player at the final table and I was able to apply a lot of pressure," Caridi acknowledges he’ll need something more to compete in the Bahamas with the world’s best next year in the PokerStars Players Championship, and will turn to the man who introduced him to poker, fellow Italian Alessandro Minasi.

"I'm going to get some coaching from Alessandro,” the ecstatic winner told Ick Wright of PokerStars. “Mentally it's going to very tough, it'll be my first high roller. I'm a very instinctive player, I'm going to need coaching in how to remain focused and not be too instinctive or make rash decisions."

Final table results