Player Interview: Dario Minieri

Dario Minieri is a lucky chap. Can you imagine a better way to start 2007 than driving through the streets of Rome in a brand-new Porsche before returning home to play a few hands of online poker?

OK, maybe throwing in a Miss Italy finalist would help – but knowing Minieri he might add that to his list of achievements in the years ahead as well.

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The 21-year-old Italian is a rising star of the online world – and he’s a prolific player, too. He accumulated so many FPPs (Frequent Player Points) on PokerStars in 2006 that they awarded him a Porsche.

"They asked me if I wanted to take delivery of it immediately or wait until January,” said Minieri when Poker Verdict caught up with him at home in Rome. “I decided to wait until January so it would carry a 2007 number plate. That way, if I decide to sell it, it should fetch a higher value.”

Good thinking, Dario. It’s that kind of shrewd analysis that’s helped him rack up $200,000 of winnings online and $50,000 in cash games - even though he went pro only seven or eight months ago.

“I started playing when I was 18 but only started taking the game seriously earlier this year. I was studying psychology at university but found I didn’t have a lot of time for exams because poker became my focus.

“When I was a beginner I played Italian poker – which is five-draw poker – before moving on to Texas holdem and other games such as Omaha. I’ve been playing online for just under three-and-a-half years.”

He might have played enough to earn a Porsche, but Minieri revealed that he doesn’t log on every day.

“Some days I’ll play for 10 to 12 hours, other days for three to four hours. And I have days off, too. On average I’d say I play around 40 hours a week."

His speciality game is high-stakes Sit ‘n’ Gos on nine-player tables – he reckons three-quarters of his $200,000 winnings online have come via Sit ‘n’ Go tourneys. “It works for me. The reason I like them so much it because it doesn’t matter how much money you’ve got sitting in your account. You play differently when you’ve got more money available. But Sit ‘n’ Gos work well. It’s the game I prefer.”

Ask Minieri who his favourite player is and he fires back an answer immediately.

“Brad Booth. He’s the best player I’ve ever seen. He plays in high stakes games; what a great player. I learned so many things watching him.

“He won’t know who I am. I’m just a young guy who played alongside him in a cash game once. He didn’t teach me by saying, 'Dario, do this, Dario, do that'. But just by watching him I learned so many skills that I’ve put into my own game.”

Despite being impressed by the likes of Booth, Minieri says online players need have no sense of inferiority when coming face-to-face to some of the most famous pros in the offline world.

“If you ask me, tournament players could learn a lot from online players. The online school is a very good school. It’s great practice - you learn how to play quickly and think about your own game a lot. I'd say a lot of online players could become wonderful live players.”

Minieri doesn’t have a favourite online player – “too many good ones to mention” – but describes PolPolPol, whom he recently faced at the EPT event in Baden, as “a cool guy, the funniest I ever met at a poker table.” No wonder Minieri has happy memories of the event - he finished third, picking up €125,780 to show his prowess. And that is just the beginning of a burgeoning tournament career.

“I’ve started to travel more and play in EPT and WPT events. Poker is getting bigger and bigger in Italy, too, so there are more and more offline tournaments there. I play in clubs around Rome now as well and I will continue playing in offline tournaments in 2007.”

Minieri says he’ll return to his psychology degree in three or four years’ time - “I want to be a psychologist as I like to know what people are thinking” – but until then you’re more likely to find him on PokerStars, the only site he uses, increasing his impressive bankroll.

Or driving round Rome in a Porsche, of course.