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Alessio Isaia of Italy was crowned the champion of the WPT Venice main event in the early hours of Wednesday morning following over 8 hours of heads up action. This marks the longest heads up finale of any World Poker Tour event in history.

523 players registered for WPT Venice, an event which just concluded in Venice, Italy at the Casino Municipale di Venezia. All contestants entered the event by paying the 3,000 Euro buy-in or winning satellite qualifiers.

It took a total of four days for the massive player roster to dwindle to eight-man final table, in which David Vamplew and Max Lykov were heavily favored as potential winners. Despite the fact that Vamplew and Lykov hold EPT titles, neither player finished in the top 2. Instead, Isaia, a 24-year old from Cuneo, Italy, engaged in a monstrous heads up session with Szabolcs Mayer to win the top prize of 380k Euros. In addition to his cash prize, Isaia received a $25,500 seat at the WPT Championship and a beautiful Tiffany bracelet.

Isaia has been a relative stranger to live tournament success in his five years as a professional poker player, and his record-breaking 8 hours 20 minute heads up session and WPT crown should change all of this. Previously, Isaia was mainly known for two final table appearances at the World Series of Poker.

After several final table swings, only Isaia and Mayer remained. At the beginning of heads up play, Mayer had a chip count four times higher than that of Isaia. Isaia quickly rallied before the dinner break to double up, and soon after took the lead. Mayer struck back with quads, doubled up and once again took the lead. In the end, however, it was Isaia who took control and finished the event after 3AM.

The next event on the WPT schedule will take place in Los Angeles in the form of the WPT Celebrity Invitational. The first level of play begins on February 19th.