Luca Pagano

Luca Pagano (born 28 July 1978 in Treviso) is an Italian poker player who finished third place in the Barcelona Open, a European Poker Tour (EPT) event, in 2004. Since then he has reached six more EPT final tables, finishing in the money 20 times, placing him top of the EPT All-Time Leaderboard. He has also placed in two events at the 2006 World Series of Poker.

He was a Team PokerStar PRO member for almost 15 years and, as of 2017, his total live tournament winnings exceed $2,200,000.

Biography Pagano attended the information-science branch at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice; quickly his managerial skills took over and the nightlife family-run business was profitably administrated. The big love for poker comes a little later, during a trip in Slovenia where he played a game in the Casino of Nova Gorica.

He has been a professional poker player since 2004, the year he achieved a third-place finish at the European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona Open. His subsequent career trajectory saw him competing in major international tournaments across prominent global cities, leading to his appointment as the primary Italian representative for Team PokerStars Pro. In May 2017, Pagano and PokerStars reached a mutual agreement to conclude their professional partnership.

Pagano recorded multiple tournament finishes and accumulated a substantial bankroll. He also achieved a high number of in-the-money placements in Italian poker.

Together with poker, Pagano is an entrepreneur, Angel Investor, TV commentator and host, main host of the Italian talent and reality show La Casa degli Assi, sponsored by PokerStars and co-owner of Italian professional eSports Team QLASH.

European Poker Tour In the European Poker Tour, Pagano gained 20 ITM placements with 7 Final Tables. Despite the strong perseverance, he never scored any first place; his best EPT result is third place in Barcelona in 2004.

On 11 September 2008, Pagano was awarded by the European Poker Tour Awards as "The Player of the Year".

Pagano holds the first position in the EPT All-Time Leaderboard with 5.500 points, right before French player Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, and holds the second position in the EPT ITM Rank Score - he is the first, however, among Italians; the Global Poker Index has estimated his winnings in about $2,212,339.

Date City Event Position Prize 18 September 2004 Barcelona EPT Barcelona €1,000 Main Event 3° $24,500 16 February 2005 Deauville EPT Deauville €2,000 Main Event 8° $17,492 10 March 2005 Warsaw EPT Vienna €2,000 Main Event 14° €5,750 16 September 2005 Barcelona EPT Barcelona €1,000 Main Event 24° €7,800 19 January 2006 Copenhagen EPT Copenhagen DKr 30,000 Main Event 24° DKr 47,776 26 October 2006 Dublin EPT Dublin €5,000 Main Event 13° $25,563 30 October 2007 Dublin EPT Dublin €7,700 Main Event 24° €10,210 19 February 2008 Copenhagen EPT Copenhagen DKr 47,750 Main Event 27° DKr 84,346 12 April 2008 Monte Carlo EPT €10,000 Monte Carlo Grand Final 6° $533,253 10 March 2009 Dortmund EPT Dortmund €5,000 Main Event 6° $198,900 28 April 2009 Monte Carlo EPT Monte Carlo €10,000 Main Event 55° €31,000 20 October 2009 Warsaw EPT Warsaw PLN 25,000 Main Event 4° $128,930 1 December 2009 Prague EPT Praga €5,000 Main Event 6° €100,000 11 January 2010 Paradise Island EPT PCA World Cup of Poker NLH 6° $2,000 20 January 2010 Deauville EPT Deauville €5,000 Main Event 72° €10,900 1 May 2010 Nova Gorica All Stars of Poker €5,000 NLH 1° €220,000 11 August 2010 Tallinn EPT Tallinn €4,000 Main Event 26° €8,000 28 August 2010 Vilamoura EPT Vilamoura €5,000 Main Event 52° €7,263 13 December 2010 Prague EPT Praga €5,000 Main Event 43° €10,000 20 March 2011 Hinterglemm EPT Snowfest €3,500 Main Event 50° €6,000 7 January 2012 Paradise Island EPT PCA $10,000 Main Event 30° $46,000 31 January 2012 Deauville EPT Deauville €5,000 Main Event 7° €110,000 10 October 2013 London EPT UKIPT £10,000+300 NL High Roller 7° £60,930 14 February 2016 Dublin EPT €50,000+300 Main Event 17° €25,820 12 December 2016 Prague EPT €2,000+200 Eureka high Roller 83° €4,825

Italian Poker Tour

On 1 August 2011 wins for the first time the Italian Poker Tour Sanremo step, gaining a trophy and €210,000 of prize.

As May 2017, at the time of the split from PokerStars, he holds the 8th place in the "All Time Money List" of HendonMob, for a global earnings of $2,212,339.

Date City Event Position Prize 23 September 2010 Nova Gorica IPT Nova Gorica €2,000 Main Event 12° €8,200 28 July 2011 Sanremo IPT Sanremo €2,000 Main Event 1° €210,000 29 April 2013 Sanremo IPT Sanremo €5,000 Main Event 4° €8,000 30 November 2014 Sanremo IPT Sanremo Grand Final €900 Main Event 20° €2,400 21 October 2015 Malta IPT Malta €1,000 Main Event 87° €2,210 15 May 2016 Saint-Vincent IPT St-Vincent €1,000 Main Event 9° €5,500

Pokerstars Festival PokerStars Festival since 2017 replaces the Italian Poker Tour format. Data City Event Position Prize 28 January 2017 London PokerStars Festival £990 Main Event 104° £1,690

World Series of Poker Pagano's best placement in the World Series of Poker was in 2006, in the $1.500 Seven Card Stud event, where he finished in 40th place.

Data City Event Position Prize 28 June 2005 Las Vegas WSOP $2,000 Main Event 56° $3,945 5 July 2006 Las Vegas WSOP $1,500 7 Card Stud Main Event 40° $2,610 18 June 2008 Las Vegas WSOP $1,500 Main Event 149° $3,340

Poker related activities Pagano co-hosted, together with sport commentator Giacomo Valenti, the famous TV show "Poker1Mania", aired, from 2007 to 2013, late night on Italian public television; the show was the first of its kind featuring the professional game of poker in a less technical language and earned a big audience consensus.

Pagano organizes poker events by the Venice Casino, by the detached branch Ca' Noghera, by the Casino Sanremo, Casino Saint-Vincent, Aosta Valley and Nova Gorica.

In mid 2014, Pagano hosted the first edition of talent and reality show La Casa degli Assi, original format by PokerStars produced by Magnolia Italy; this reality was aired for the first time on a terrestrial satellite TV channel and secondly re-aired on the public television, at night.

In March 2015, Pagano hosted the second edition of the talent show, aired late night on public television.

eSports In 2016, Pagano co-founded the Italian professional esports organization QLASH alongside poker player Eugene Katchalov.

QLASH won the Best Italian Team award at the Italian Esports Awards in both 2020 and 2021, and in November 2020 entered a partnership with AC Milan to form AC Milan QLASH.