The story of Roberto Romanello is an unlikely one, which makes it all the more interesting when you calculate his phenomenal success on the felt. Romanello originally had no interest in poker, certainly no aspirations to play professionally, yet over the last few years, he has racked up an impressive $2.4 million in live tournament earnings.
Roberto at the EPT
Roberto hales originally from Italy, but as a child his family relocated to Wales where he still resides in Swansea. There he grew up with a strong interest and athletic ability for soccer. A fateful injury benched Romanello for three months in 2005, leaving him confined to his home without much to do but watch sports on TV. Little did Roberto know, destiny loomed in televised coverage of the World Series of Poker.
The more he watched the WSOP unfold, the more intrigued he became with the game. It wasn’t long before he turned his attention to online poker, and within two weeks he had won a satellite tournament that awarded a prize package to the World Poker Tour. This was his first live tournament, and nothing came of it profit-wise, but it set forth a new path before Roberto Romanello’s life, and with it a new professional career on the horizon.
Unable to return to the sport he had always loved, Roberto became more and more serious about his poker prowess. In 2006, he made his way to Las Vegas and bought his way into the WSOP Main Event where he finished in the 312th position for a prize of $38,759.
Romanello returned to Europe and saw further success, taking 1st place in a NLH event on the Barcelona leg of the EPT. The Welsh player took home $55,308 for this one, followed by another $13k for a 7th place finish at the Grosvenor Grand Prix in October.
Roberto steamrolled his way through 2007 with 10 more live tournament cashes worth a total of $140k between UK tourneys and the Bellagio Cup in Las Vegas. 2008 wasn’t quite as eventful for Romanello as far as live tournaments go, seeing only 3 cashes worth $55k, but his year got a lot brighter when he signed on as a Full Tilt Pro at FullTiltPoker.com.
2009 would prove to be much more lucrative for the Welshman. He started the year with a $200,000 victory, taking 1st in a NLH event at the European Open V, followed by 6 more cashes that amounted to more than $310k. Among these were 3 bubble finishes in the 2009 WSOP—one a 9th place exit for $38,424 in a heads-up tourney—and a 7th place spot in a PLO event at the WSOP Europe for $48,583.
Roberto Romanello was finally getting some real attention as a worthy Full Tilt Pro and a markedly successful international poker player, but 2010 would be the real turning point in his career. Things started on par with the previous year, opening in February with a big money finish at the EPT Copenhagen Championship worth $109,869 for 6th place. Six more menial cashes followed before he found himself at the final table of the EPT Prague Championship on December 13, 2010. Romanello’s skills were finally revealed indubitably to the world as he finished out the table, claiming the 1st place prize of $918,089 and the renowned EPT Title. He finished the year with $1.07 million banked.
In March of 2011, he would finally see success at a WPT tournament; not just success, but a phenomenal outcome as he whittled his way through the field in the championship event, claiming the WPT Title and just over $200k. He finished the year with the most cashes of his career to date, 15 in all, totaling nearly a quarter of a million dollars.
There is no question that Roberto Romanello has found his true calling in a professional poker career, earning $2.44 million since 2005 in live tournament winnings and countless more in his online excursions at FullTiltPoker.com. His prodigal poker exploits are growing at an exponential rate and he has rightfully attained the classification of international superstar of poker.