24 October 2022 (Pompano Beach, FL) - The 2022/23 World Series of Poker Circuit has now crowned a new champion at the Isle Casino in the $1,700 Main Event as Mike Chiappetta, from Boca Raton, Florida, emerged victorious, claiming his first WSOP Circuit ring.
The newly crowned winner bested a 726-player field to take down the lion's share of the $1,099,890 prize pool, collecting $200,196 for this feat, along with a seat into the 2023 Tournament of Champions. This win marks Chiappetta’s largest poker victory.
Although the Floridian only plays as a hobby, he has an impressive resume with over $800,000 in live earnings. His game is starting to make gigantic strides this year as this is his sixth final table of 2022.
“I’ve been running pretty good this year. Made some changes to the game and it’s working out.”
Chiappetta bagged the chip lead of his flight and managed to keep building on Day 2, eventually taking a seat at the final table.
The final day started with 7 players returning and Chiappetta was sitting in the middle of the pack. He didn’t waste any time though and surged towards the top early, as he kept winning pot after pot within the first level of the day.
That’s when he shifted into an aggressive mode and the run-good followed as he was responsible for five of the six eliminations of the final day.
“I switch gears a lot, it depends on the situation. I’ve always had that aggression. I used to be reckless, now I control it a little.”
Bracelet winner James Calderaro seemed to constantly be near the top of the leaderboard throughout the final table and it would only be proper fitting for them to be take part in the heads-up match for the title.
The playing field was evened out when the heads-up battle started, and they swapped the chip lead back and forth, but Chiappetta eventually took a lead that he wouldn’t look back from after turning a queen-high flush against Calderaro’s jack-high flush.
“That hand was huge. I think that was a big momentum, mentally, for both of us.”
Indeed, his stack continued to trend upward, and he closed it out a few hands later when he flopped a flush against Calderaro’s aces and nut flush draw and held.
Official Final Table Results:
1st – Mike Chiappetta - $200,196
2nd – James Calderaro - $123,731
3rd – Rafael Reis - $90,744
4th – Eric Yanovsky - $67,399
5th – Anibal Salazar - $50,705
6th – David Tuthill - $38,644
7th – Matthew Zarcadoolas - $29,841
8th – Steve Karp - $23,353
9th – Evan Beard - $18,523
Final Day Action
Matthew Zarcadoolas came to the final table second in chips, but he lost multiple pots in a row and was the first player destined to hit the rail in seventh place when he ran his jacks into Chiappetta’s aces.
The next casualty was David Tuthill. Tuthill came to the final day as the shortest stack and couldn’t get much going his way. His run was over in sixth place when he saw ace-king against Chiappetta’s sevens and couldn’t hit.
Short stack Anibal Salazar was sent to the exit in fifth place when he three-bet jammed with a pair of threes against Yanovsky’s eight seven but couldn’t hold.
The next victim Eric Yanovsky. Eric Yanovsky put up a good fight during the day but his jacks couldn’t stay ahead against Rafael Reis’ ace-jack in an all in preflop situation. He was left with less than a big blind and was eliminated the very next hand in fourth place.
Rafael Reis headed to the exit in third place when he put his last chips at risk with top two pair but couldn’t stay ahead as Chiappetta rivered a straight.
James Calderaro was the final elimination of the day when he three-bet jammed on the flop with aces and the nut flush draw only to see Chiappetta’s flopped flush. He couldn’t improve and had to settle for the runner-up score instead.
That wraps it up for the Isle Main Event of the 2022-23 circuit season. Stay tuned to WSOP.com for the results of the remaining events.