570 players converged on the small municipality situated in Switzerland, contributing to a total prize pool of  €2,764,500. 88 players were destined to receive a paycheck, with the minimum being €7,500 and the maximum being €640,000. It was a five-day event and the line up was scintillating.

The relatively unknown Italian player, Davide Andreoni, was the Day 1a chip leader and the former EPT champion Nicolas Chouity headed the field at the end of Day 1b. Day 2 saw the emergence of Balazs Botond, the EPT regular finishing the day with 646,000 chips, and a commanding chip lead at the top of the table.

Day 3 started with 99 players and ended with the eventual winner, Jannick Wrang, topping the chip counts. It was an interesting and exciting day with no less than six former champions battling it out to become the first ever-double champion.

Day 4 was speed personified with only four hours of play invested before the final table was set. WSOP bracelet winner, Fabrice Soulier, had the chip lead with 3,480,000 but the final table was going to be tough with the likes of Wrang and Olivier Brusquest competing for the title.

The heads-up battle fell down to Jannick Wrang and, arguably the world’s best HU player, Olivier Busquets – Wrang eventually winning after 75-minutes of play.

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This is a very important question, and one you should be asking yourself continually during a game of poker. Your understanding of your opponent’s perception of your range will allow you to create a bluffing strategy. Board texture and equity also dictates your bluffing frequency, but your opponent’s perception of your range is key.

Let’s imagine that your opponent’s perception of your range is that it contains good solid hands. You know that your opponent thinks that you are a rock. You are playing in a three-bet pot on a monotone board and you hold the ace of that suit. If you believe they think you are a rock and you raise, then they cannot call your bet because they will believe you can only make this play with the nuts. Anyone looking at the World Series of Poker should remember this.

If the reverse is true then trying this play will be suicidal. You will get called light and find yourself bemoaning your opponent’s call, when in fact is was a good decision based against his perception of your range. So you should bluff more if your opponent’s perception of your range is strong and bluff less is the perception is one of weakness. Fans of poker need to bear this in mind.

“You can never bluff a bad player.”

This is a statement heard regularly and one that contains a good point. Not only do opponents create a perception that your range if strong or weak, but some opponent’s don’t have a perception of your range at all – something else you need to understand before making your move.

When our holdings are a bit stronger it is always handy to pay attention to the WTSD (went to showdown) statistic on your Heads Up Display (HUD). If an opponent has a WTSD of +30% then you want to be betting with good top pair hands.

As that number shrinks so does their bluff catching frequency so it is better to just stick to checking more to induce if they’re bet river frequency is high enough. To use this stat effectively you are looking for the regs stats to be 35% or higher and the fishes stat to be 50%+. Fans of poker online need to remember this.

The reason the % is much higher for the fish is because the bluff catching range is usually much wider than a regs range. Often any pair is good for a call, but if you check, they’ll just check those bluff catchers back and you lose a ton of value.

Another player type to look out for is the player that isn’t showdown prone and has a low river bet frequency. You’ll regularly find players going to showdown 24% and betting the river 24%. Since they’ll rarely bluff catch, and if checked too are unlikely to bluff or bet worse for value, a check/fold line must be given strong consideration.

The tournament will feature the top 100 performers from the 2011-2012 WSOP circuit. 17 event winners and 17 casino champions will join 66 players who have accumulated the most points due to their recent 2011-2012 WSOP circuit success, in an event that guarantees a $1,000,000 prize pool and a gold bracelet. http://poker.betfair.com/en/

In a true David v Goliath test that the WSOP is famous for, these 100 players will be joined by 100 of the world’s top WSOP performers from the 2010 and 2011 WSOP & WSOPE events. Each of these players will be able to pay the $10,000 buy-in to have their shot at this incredible title. http://poker.betfair.com/en/promotions/

Topping that list of eligible superstars is Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi. Also in the top ten are Ben Lamb, Shawn Buchanan, Phil Hellmuth, John Juanda, Chris Moorman, Jonathan Duhamel, John Racener, David “Bakes” Baker & Frank Kassela.

Day one will play out on the 6th July followed by Day two on the 7th July. The final table will be covered by ESPN on Wednesday, July 11th.

The last time the WPT held an event in this great casino another Italian won the event. Alessio Isaia overcoming Szabolcs Mayer in a gruelling 8-hour battle to take home the first prize of $518,382. So would it be third time lucky for the Italians?

After four days of pulsating poker the field had whittled down from 155 players to the final six, in an event that was not only being streamed live on the Internet, but also recorded for television coverage. Of the six players left in the final there were four Italians, one Dane and a Russian. So the odds were on for that third successive Italian victory. Fans of Betfair Poker Welcome Freerolls will have known this.

Andrea Dato was one of the names including amongst the four Italians. Dato had incredibly made back-to-back WPT Venice final tables, after finishing in fourth place in December. Dato proved to be one of the very best players in this tournament, but he fell short once more with a 3rd place finish.

The heads up battle fell to Rinat Bogdanov and Alessandro Longobardi and it lasted two hands. Bogdanov rivering a full house whilst Longobardi had hit top pair and the Italian stronghold had been broken.