Andrea Benelli

Born in 1981, Italian tournament specialist Andrea Benelli has been a regular figure on the European live circuit since 2008. He has numerous titles to his name including an EPT win, an IPT victory and a WSOP Circuit first-place finish. As of 2017, his live MTT earnings exceed $1,390,000.

Andrea’s first notable win came in 2010 after he took down the €3,500 No Limit Hold’em IPT event in San Remo. With momentum on his side, the Italian won two other tournaments that year – both coming in Nova Gorica.

He earned an EPT title in 2014 in Prague after he won the €500 NLH Turbo Deep-Stack event. Even though the buy-in for this event was small, it included extremely tough pros in the form of Dominik Nitsche and Marvin Rettenmaier who both made the final table. Andrea’s victory proved that he could do battle with and conquer the best players in the game.

In 2017, Benelli became the proud owner of a WSOP ring when he won a WSOP Circuit event on home soil in Campione d’Italia. The accomplishment took place in the €1,000 NLH Main Event and earned him a healthy five-figure score.

Despite all of these wins, the highlights of Andrea’s poker career have been from events that he did not emerge victorious in. He has come extremely close to winning an EPT Main Event on two different occasions – first in Deauville back in 2009 and later at San Remo in 2014. In the French outing, Andrea exited in fourth for a $291,462 payday and the largest of his career. The second opportunity for Andrea saw him get to enjoy a home advantage during the EPT stop in Italy in 2014. In a strange recurrence of fate, Benelli ended up finishing in fourth once again in a performance that earned him $231,421. It was Englishwoman Victoria Coren Mitchell that went on to seize the trophy in record-breaking fashion as she became the first person to win two EPT Main Events.

Andrea is still a frequent face on the European tournament circuit, though the majority of his live ventures as of late have been in Italy.