Dario Minieri

Born in Rome, Italy in 1985 Dario Minieri has proven himself as one of Italy’s best all-round poker players. Minieri is one of many poker players who began by playing the card game Magic: The Gathering, and he began playing in international tournaments at the age of 16. Minieri then noticed that many top players were moving away from Magic: The Gathering in favour of the monetary rewards of poker, and so he immersed himself in learning the game, spending much time online.

After some initial success, including a $12,000 score online in a $10 re-buy tournament, Minieri decided to attempt to turn professional, and dropped out of school, where he was studying psychology.

Minieri soon became interested in the live tournament scene, with his first major cash coming in 2006 at The Big Double EPT Baden where he finished 3rd for €125,780. Third place has proven to be an unlucky position for Minieri, however, as he has finished 3rd at two other EPT events: San Remo and Warsaw in 2008. He is unlikely to be completely disappointed though, as these third places have banked him over $750,000.

In 2007 Minieri went deep in the World Series of Poker Main Event, and was the chip leader at the end of day 3, though he was unfortunately unable to convert this lead, as he finished in 96th place. He didn’t have to wait long to experience WSOP success though, as he won a bracelet the following year. This bracelet came in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold ‘Em Six-Max event, where he outlasted over a 1,000 other players to take the $528,418 first place prize.

Dario Minieri is a Team PokerStars sponsored pro and plays regularly on the account, having acquired the SuperNova elite VIP status previously. He became the first player to buy a car with accumulated frequent player points on PokerStars when he purchased a 2007 Porsche Cayman S.