British pro Will Kassouf did not make the final day of the La Notte Degli Assi Main Event in Venice, but he still left with a bigger payday than most players who busted late. The reason was a new bonus mechanism called the "Caccia al Tesoro," or Treasure Hunt, which carried a €200,000 prize pool as part of the tournament's €1,000,000 guarantee. Kassouf drew the sole €50,000 top prize from the random draw, and reporting says he took home €56,600, slightly less than the third-place payout in the Main Event. The story is not only a fun anecdote about a famous player; it is an experiment in tournament design that could change how festivals structure Day 1 flights. If you follow live events, our tournaments page is a good companion to this analysis.
How the Treasure Hunt Worked
The Main Event at Casino di Venezia ran ten Day 1 flights (1A to 1I plus a Last Chance flight) and drew 2,630 entries. Players could enter any Day 1 flight an unlimited number of times, even after they had already qualified for Day 2, without giving up their existing chips. Anyone with chips left at the end of a Day 1 flight received a minimum payout of €900, and only the largest stack across all flights carried over to Day 2.
The Treasure Hunt layered a lottery on top. Fifty tickets were reserved for the draw. At the end of each Day 1 flight, the top five stacks earned a ticket. Because there were ten flights, a player could theoretically collect up to ten tickets by finishing in the top five of each. The draw took place on Sunday, October 18, just before Day 2 began at 2:00 p.m.
The prize ladder looked like this:
| Prize | Quantity |
|---|---|
| €50,000 | 1 |
| €30,000 | 1 |
| €20,000 | 1 |
| €15,000 | 1 |
| €10,000 | 2 |
| €5,500 | 3 |
| €2,000 | 4 |
| €1,500 | 12 |
| €900 | 25 |
That adds up to 50 prizes, one for every ticket, so every ticket holder was guaranteed at least €900. According to the report, the €30,000, €20,000 and €15,000 prizes went to Day 1 chip leaders, while the top €50,000 prize went to Kassouf. The structure is a hybrid between a freeroll lottery and a leaderboard bonus: your ticket is earned through skill (finishing in the top five stacks of a flight) but the prize is decided by luck.
Kassouf's Path to the Draw
Will Kassouf is known for his outspoken style and deep World Series of Poker runs, and in Venice he qualified for the draw at the last possible opportunity. He entered the Last Chance flight along with 187 other players and finished with 2,900,000 chips from a 200,000 starting stack, which put him fourth on the leaderboard and earned him a ticket. From there, he won the single biggest prize in the draw: €50,000. He did not reach the final day of the Main Event, but the report says he received €56,600, which was slightly less than third-place money. The article did not explain how that total divides between the Treasure Hunt prize and his tournament result, so it is fair to treat the total as reported rather than assume a breakdown.
The headline was described as follows: "Unbelievably, he managed to return from his trip to Venice with an absolutely massive score." It is a good illustration of how a lottery overlay can reshape the narrative of a tournament. Without the draw, Kassouf's story would be that of an early exit. With it, he is one of the biggest winners of the festival.
Why Organisers Try Bonus Formats
Casinos and tour organisers have several reasons to add side mechanics like this:
- Engagement across flights. When only the largest Day 1 stack advances, later flights can feel pointless to players who have already qualified. A ticket system gives them a reason to keep playing hard.
- Marketing hooks. A €50,000 top prize for a single drawn ticket is easier to advertise than a flat structure. The mechanic also generates storylines, like Kassouf's.
- Guarantee support. The €200,000 Treasure Hunt is part of the €1,000,000 guarantee, so the festival can promote a big headline number while spreading part of it across a lottery.
The report closes with a line that cuts to the key question: "Only time will tell if this bonus payout structure catches on."
Does It Help Players?
From a player's perspective, the verdict is mixed. On the plus side, the structure rewards chip accumulation, gives every ticket holder at least €900, and creates a path for a Day 1 flight that would otherwise end with nothing. A player who builds a top-five stack but later busts still has a prize to look forward to. For professionals who fire multiple bullets, the tickets add value to each entry, partly offsetting the cost of rebuy.
On the minus side, a lottery tilts the value of entries toward luck. A €50,000 prize drawn at random is essentially a lottery ticket attached to a skill-based tournament. Because so many prizes are at the lower end (25 of 50 prizes are €900), the expected value of a ticket is much lower than the headline suggests. Using the table above, the total of all fifty prizes is €200,000, so the average ticket is worth €4,000. That is a useful number for anyone considering how much extra equity a top-five Day 1 finish is worth. Treat that as a simple average based on the published prize ladder, not a statement about any individual player's expectation, because the distribution is highly skewed toward the smaller prizes.
If you want to understand the maths of expected value and variance, see our explainers on pot odds and equity, and our bankroll management guide for how to budget when you can re-enter.
Practical Takeaways
Read the structure before you register. The most valuable thing you can do at a festival is understand what each flight offers. In Venice, the lower-priced flights had cheaper rebuys, and the Last Chance flight had shorter levels of 20 minutes, which increases variance.
Count the tickets. Fifty tickets from ten flights meant five per flight. A player who could finish in the top five of several flights improved their chance at the €50,000, but doing so required skill and bankroll. Compare that to the cash games vs tournaments trade-off: tournaments provide structure and top-heavy payouts; cash games provide flexibility.
Do not forget the basics. Kassouf's story is a reminder that a deep run is not the only way to profit from a poker festival. But the best long-term strategy is still to build your skill, manage your bankroll and look for structures with positive expectation. Our poker strategy hub is a good place to begin.
Outlook
Whether the Treasure Hunt catches on will depend on feedback from players and organisers. For now, it has given Venice a memorable story and one of poker's most colourful characters a surprising payday. The €200,000 pool, the 50-ticket structure and the unlimited entries mechanism make this one of the more creative experiments of the autumn live season, and other festivals will likely watch closely.