Seat 3: Carlo De Benedittis, 35, from Campobasso, Italy; living in Paris – PokerStars.fr qualifier – 685,000 chips
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Carlo De Benedittis won his package to EPT Deauville on PokerStars.fr for a total investment of €20. Winning the package was already his biggest result ever so making it to the final is, in his words, astonishing. He said: “Honestly, when I won the package, I looked at it and it said, ‘Hotel for eight nights’ and I was thinking to myself: ’What on earth am I doing to do for eight nights?’”. The 35-year-old is from the town of Campobasso in southern Italy but now lives in Paris where he’s a purchaser for the Smurfit Kappe paper company. He’s been playing poker in home games with friends since he was 15 and online for around ten years. His only other big score was making the live televised final of PokerStars.it’s All Stars of Poker contest in 2010. He bust in the first round. He’s here in Deauville on his own but his mother, twin brother Andrea and older brother Luca are following the action on EPTLive - and teasing him relentlessly on whatsapp. He’s was all in fairly early on Day 5 but survived a one-outer against chip leader Koutoupas for a crucial double-up. Every day since he got to Deauville, he’s made it a mission to get nearer and nearer the sea; today he dipped his toe in. It was freezing but he’s now thinking that he might have to go for a swim tomorrow to keep up his good luck.