Manuel Ferrari

Manuel Ferrari is an Italian professional poker player who broke out in 2025–2026 with three PokerStars-branded titles in just over a year, culminating in his breakthrough win at the 2026 PokerStars EPT Barcelona Main Event. A long-time mid-stakes grinder rather than an established high-stakes name, Ferrari’s win in Barcelona was his first seven-figure tournament score.

Manuel Ferrari Quick Facts

A note on a couple of these figures: GPI rankings and all-time money list positions change frequently as new tournament results get logged, so treat the exact numbers above as accurate at time of writing rather than fixed.

Background

Ferrari is from Caldonazzo, a town in Italy’s Trentino region at the edge of the Dolomites. His recorded cashes on Hendon Mob’s database date back to 2018, though one PokerNews profile from June 2025 describes him as having played since 2010, likely reflecting the gap between casual/home play and his first officially tracked tournament results. For most of his career he competed at mid-stakes events without major headline results.

The Breakout Run: 2025–2026

The Campione win made Ferrari the first player to win both a PokerStars Open Main Event and a PokerStars Open High Roller title. EPT Barcelona 2026 was his third career EPT Main Event appearance and his first time cashing in one, a field of 1,823 entries that made it the seventh-largest EPT Main Event in the tour’s 22-year history.

Ferrari held the chip lead for three consecutive days heading into the final table, then closed out a three-way deal with Lukas van Eeden and Jose Criado worth over €900,000 each before winning the remaining prize and trophy with ace-queen against van Eeden’s king-six.

In His Own Words

Speaking to reporters after the win, Ferrari said it hadn’t fully sunk in yet, adding that winning an EPT title had been a dream of his since he was very young. On the decision to make the three-way deal rather than push for better terms, he was candid about being tired and slightly behind in chips at the time, saying he decided it was better to accept and move toward closing out the tournament.

Earnings Breakdown

Before Barcelona, Ferrari’s career earnings stood at roughly $579,671 across around 55 recorded cashes. The EPT Barcelona win alone added over $1.1 million, pushing his total career live earnings to $1,750,528, the large majority of his lifetime total coming from this single result.

Recognition

The win earned Ferrari 2,160 Card Player Player of the Year points, a significant jump in the 2026 POY standings for a player who wasn’t previously a fixture in that conversation.

Final Thoughts

Manuel Ferrari’s rise is a genuine underdog story in modern tournament poker: a mid-stakes grinder with a relatively modest résumé who turned three PokerStars-branded tournaments into a career-transforming stretch inside about fourteen months. The Barcelona win alone reshaped his standing among Italy’s all-time money leaders and demonstrated, once again, that EPT Main Events remain one of the few places in the game where a lesser-known player can still reach the very top in a single week.

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