Italy Represented in This Year's WSOPHeading into Day 4 of the 2007 WSOP (World Series of Poker), Italy could be proud that its native son, Dario Minieri, sat with the largest chip count of 2,398,000.
A prolific online player with PokerStars, Dario, 22, is no stranger to live tournaments either - finishing 22nd in the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo last March for $16,800, and 543rd in this year’s WSOP for $22,26, according to PokerPages.com. Young Dario Minieri resides in Rome, Italy.
Fellow European, Gus Hansen, who we profiled the other day as the chip leader, was the last of the million plus chip holders, positioned at a respectable 11th place hading into Friday's play.
Despite a crackdown on Internet poker representation in this year's WSOP event, many online poker rooms have managed to get their big name players (and smaller fishes like Minieri) in the spotlight thanks to their exceptional play and sometimes their antics.
PokerStars made a name for itself years back when sponsored player, Chris Moneymaker, won the 2003 World Series of Poker. That is widely seen as the new era in World Series of Poker popularity.
PokerStars rival, Ultimate Bet, a major sponsor of the Gambling911.com website, made one of the biggest splashes in this year's WSOP with the "great car crash" and grand entrance before crashing and burning at the tables - all within a 24 hour period.
 Playing With FireRedKings.com - the Cypress-based online poker room, is one of many that caters to European players including those from Italy.
Featuring some of the biggest bonuses of any online poker room, RedKings.com listed 14001 players online at the time this piece was published.
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Here were your top 10 chip leaders heading into Day 4 of the 2007 World Series of Poker:
Dario Minieri 2,398,000
Jeff Weiss 1,533,000
Jon Kalmar 1,410,000
Hevad Khan 1,319,000
Kenny Tran 1,175,000
Steven Jacobs 1,127,000
Brock Parker 1,089,000
Robert Neitrayan 1,058,000
William Spadea 1,057,000
Nicolas Atlan 1,057,000
Gus Hansen 1,044,000
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Ace King, Gambling911.com
Originally published July 13, 2007 10:53 am ET
