Christopher Campisano Wins World Series of Poker Europe Mini Main Event

Frederic Marechal came into the final table of the 2024 World Series of Poker Europe €1,350 no-limit hold’em mini main event as the clear chip leader, and at one point in heads-up play held more than a 3:1 chip advantage over Christopher Campisano. But in poker, as with many things, it ain’t over til’ its over. Campisano fought back, reeling off multiple double ups to overtake the lead and then close out the win. As the champion, the Italian player earned a career-high $236,819 payday and his first WSOP gold bracelet.

Prior to this massive victory, Campisano’s top recorded core had been a $5,624 cash for placing 29th in a €1,100 buy-in event at the Eureka Rozvadov series this spring.

Campisano was also awarded 960 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win, enough to move him within reach of the top 600 in the 2024 POY race standings presented by Global Poker.

This event attracted 1,286 entries across four starting flights, falling just short of beating the €1.5 million guarantee. The top 195 finishers earned a share, with multiple knockouts in rapid succession just ahead of the bubble resulting in multiple players splitting a min-cash.

Plenty of big names cashed in this event, including three-time bracelet winner Anson Tsang (148th), recent pot-limit Omaha bracelet winner Vivian Saliba (90th), bracelet winner Tobias Peters (69th), bracelet winner Stephen Nahm (25th), Florian Duta (23rd), and recent PLO event fourth-place finisher Alen Sabic (18th).

The final day began with eight remaining and Marcechal sitting on more than a third of the total chips in play. The Belgian was not involved in any of the first few knockouts of the day, but still remained in the lead at the first break in action despite not having a hand in eliminating Luc Ramos(8th – $34,466), Luigi Pignataro (7th – $41,792), or Frederik Thiemer (6th – $52,004).

Marachel did win a preflop coin flip with K-Q against the pocket jacks of Andreas Krause (5th – $66,545), flopping a pair of kings and rivering a flush to narrow the field to four.

Campisano picked up pocket aces and called the all-in of Xiaohua Yang, who had three-bet shoved over Marechal’s open from under-the-gun with K-J. Marechal got out of the wall and the overpair held up for Campisano. Yang earned $87,302 as the fourth-place finisher.

Dimitrios Anastasakis held the lead for a bit during three-handed play, but eventually lost a key all-in with K-Q agains the A-7 of Marechal. An ace-high runout left Anastasakis on fumes, and he was eliminated soon after by Marechal. The Greek player was awarded $117,494 for his third-place showing.

Campisano entered heads-up play with 74,200,000 to Marechal’s 54,400,000, but the lead soon changed hands. Marechal won a big pot fairly early, rivering top pair of jacks after drawing to a straight on the flop and turn. Campisano had been betting with ace high and a gutshot, but slowed down on the river and the sizable pot was sent to Marechal after both players checked on the end.

Campisano won his first all-in with Q6 besting A5, then held with AJ against K6. The next big clash pitted Campisano’s flopped top pair of jacks against Marechal’s open-ended straight draw and overcard. The turn and river brought blanks and Campisano took a 2:1 lead of his own.

In the final hand, Campisano shoved from the button for 17 big blinds effective with K9. Marechal called with A3 and the board came down Q62K3 to give Campisano a flush for the win.

Marechal earned $161,561 as the runner-up, by far his largest live tournament score yet.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Winner photo credit: WSOP, Kings Resort Rozvadov / Tomas Stacha.