Italian lawyer claims PartyPoker.com Premier League Poker IV spot - 11/02/2010

44-year-old Giovanni Safina, a civil lawyer from Palermo, Sicily, has won a place in the elite $100,000 PartyPoker Premier League IV at the M Resort in Las Vegas. Safina, who invested only €100 to reach such heights, made his way to Vegas through an online satellite at PartyPoker.it and now takes his place in a line-up that features poker superstars Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, JC Tran, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Vanessa Rousso, Roland de Wolfe, David Benyamine, Phil Laak, Luke Schwartz and the newest member of Team Party Tony G. After beating 15 other online qualifiers, Safina now has the chance to compete for a monster $1.5 million prize pool against the elite.

Giovanni Safina will take on the stars in the Premier League

“This is the very first time I have been to Las Vegas,” said Giovanni, who only discovered no limit hold’em in 2007. “Poker is purely a hobby for me though I have won €25,000 online before. To reach the Premier League was always my goal and I am incredibly happy. I have believed in myself since the beginning – yes, I got short-stacked at times but I always knew that with poker anything is possible.”

“I am a huge poker fan and have seen all the players I will be competing against on television. It is going to be so emotional sitting down with them for the first time but I will keep myself in check.” It is no surprise that Giovanni may be a little intimidated as his famous opponents have earned over $47 million in live tournaments alone!

“It feels like I have been chosen from up above,” he added. “I am yet to call my wife - I just know she will not be able to believe it.” Safina has one son, Leonardo, who is two years old, and has a birthday on the 18th February. “Any money I make from this opportunity will be split in half. Half will go to my family and half I will use as a bankroll to fund more poker play. It is so unbelievable that I have got to this stage simply from playing on PartyPoker.it.”

The runner-up was 27-year-old Miguel Proulx, a veteran of previous PartyPoker.com Million events and a computer science and finance graduate from Quebec. Italy also took third place and all 16 online qualifiers are still in contention for the $100,000 Team Party contract.

Full information on all the hands and online qualifier eliminations can be found at: http://blog.partypoker.com/premier-league-iv/partypoker-qualifier-giovanni-safina-wins-the-100000-premier-league-seat.html

The PartyPoker.com Premier League IV now has 11 players in the line-up with one more seat to be determined tomorrow before the main action gets underway on Friday. One player will come from the six handed Team Party heat and Brazilian star Felipe ‘Mojave’ Ramos goes in as chip leader, followed by Remy Biechel, Bodo Sbrzesny, Ian Frazer, Ambassador of Poker Mike Sexton and special guest Dragan Galic. Full information can be found at http://blog.partypoker.com/premier-league-iv/live-poker-blogging-premier-league-poker-playoffs.html

A media reception took place at the M Resort tonight. Phil Hellmuth entered with a large entourage and exclaimed: “Tony G is in a lot of trouble. This tournament is triple stack and that means you need to have a lot of skill!” Tony’s latest musings on the world and the Premier League can be found at: http://blog.partypoker.com/tony-g/i-am-environmentalist-not-a-gas-guzzler-like-phil-hellmuth.html