It's Day 1b of the WPT Prime Cyprus Championship, and after speaking with Matt Savage yesterday about how WPT Prime allows players to combine poker with the opportunity to travel the world, we found one player doing precisely that.
Italian Priamo Carta notched the biggest result of his career earlier this year, winning the WPT Prime San Remo Championship and he's now in action here at the Chamada Prestige Hotel & Casino.
While Carta looks to add a second WPT Prime title in three months to his poker resume, we spoke with the Italian about his poker journey and how much he's enjoying the ride.
Carta says he's been fascinated with poker for many years but has only really played it in his free time. Having decided in May 2024 to pay more attention to poker, his efforts were rewarded with victory at WPT Prime San Remo.
"A couple of years ago, I started to really invest more time into studying the technical side of poker," Carta told PokerNews. "I still have a lot to improve; I know this. But I'm motivated because poker is such a very complex game.
"I still have a lot to improve; I know this. But I'm motivated because poker is such a very complex game"
"I had my first cash in May this year, and cashed there, and then it continued in San Remo. I only played the Main Event, but the result motivated me a lot. Not just to continue developing my skills, but to travel and play more events."
Since then, Carta has travelled to Slovakia and Estonia to play, notching up cashes at both destinations, and now is in Cyprus for the inaugural WPT Prime Cyprus festival.
"The venue is unbelievable; it's a great location," he said. "I'm still in love with San Remo, not only because I'm Italian! But Chamada is a great hotel with a great poker room. Everything is very professional.
"As players, we have no complaints about anything! Everything's perfect here."
Now he's fully settled into life as a travelling poker player, Carta says he's had time to relax and realize what's important in life.
"I've really been enjoying being able to travel and changing location. Independent of poker, I've learned that something that's very special and has very big value in your life is time. And when you change locations, instead of staying at home and doing the same stuff all the time, your day runs differently."
"I've really been enjoying being able to travel and changing location"
"You find that time runs more slowly. This is a life value that I'm investing in, and this is what I like."
The added time has seen him once again return to the WPT festival, although he admits that he was unsure of what to expect prior to the San Remo festival.
"[San Remo] was my first WPT tournament and I didn't really know what kind of value this sort of event has with the WPT involved. But now, coming [to Cyprus], I see this is something very special. WPT tournaments and WPT events are very special for every poker player.
"I've enjoyed it a lot. This will not be my last WPT event for sure."
Carta arrived at WPT Prime Cyprus on the second day of action but eschewed some of the side events in favor of the Championship.
"The luck factor is very high in side events. I'm not saying it frustrated me, but you get tired if you're playing these tournaments until 5 am before the Main Event. In the past, I've played tournaments with fast structures, but the Main Event structure is very deep, and you can play good poker from the beginning until the end."
Although there is still plenty of poker to be played between now and the WPT World Championship — both here in Cyprus and at other WPT stops around the world — Carta is already eyeing up the festival at the end of the year, having won a seat to the event with his San Remo win.
"Of course, I'm going to play it! Maybe even the WPT Prime event there too!"
WPT Global understands its players want to travel the world, offering players an easy way to win tournament packages called WPT Passports.
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| $1,500 or more | 2x $11 MTT tickets, 2x $110 Sunday Slam tickets, 1x $25 Global Spins ticket, and 2x $10 Global Spins tickets |
