Sergio Castelluccio

One of the most successful players to ever come out of Italy, Sergio Castelluccio began his poker journey playing cash games. However, he soon transitioned into the tournament scene and fully committed to this format in 2009. Since then, his storied career has been characterised by big cashes which have been overshadowed by a few what-could-have-been moments.

His biggest score in his career came in 2012, when Sergio had a deep run in the EPT Monte Carlo €10,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event and cashed for $528,102. Going into four-handed play as the chip leader, the Italian was surprisingly the first of the four out the door – missing out on the whopping $1,782,343 top prize that American Mohsin Charania took home.

A year later, Castelluccio came extremely close once again to the pinnacle of cash prizes in poker – the WSOP Main Event title. This time, his luck run out in fourteenth place and he was left with $451,398 as a consolation prize. On this occasion, it was another American in the form of Ryan Riess who took the opportunity for a seven-figure score away from the Italian.

Don’t be fooled by these near-misses though. Sergio has still claimed a number of titles in his lucrative career. These include an IPT Main Event title in 2010 (cashing for $257,314), a 2015 WSOP circuit Main Event victory in Campione for $127,159, and most recently a WPT trophy from Brussels in the €1,100 Main Event where he won $110,590.

Castelluccio’s career has been defined by consistently large cashes, for he has accumulated more than fifteen five-figure scores and five six-figure prizes between 2009 and 2017. Now with well over $2,000,000 in live tournament winnings, Sergio definitely deserves the recognition as one of Italy’s best.