King's Resort in Rozvadov, once just a place where Christopher Campisano shuffled cards and dealt hands as an unassuming dealer, has transformed into the battleground where he etched his name into history.
What was once his workplace has become an arena where he was crowned a world champion, a stage where every card turned was a step closer to destiny. The dealer's seat is long behind him — the champion's throne now belongs to Campisano.
After being all-in and at risk four times during the final table, three of which came during heads-up play, Campisano defied the odds to capture his first bracelet and the €213,350 top prize in Event #3: €1,350 Mini Main Event of the 2024 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE), by overcoming Frederic Marechal in a fascinating heads-up battle.
| Place | Name | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christopher Campisano | Italy | €213,950 |
| 2 | Frederic Marechal | Belgium | €145,550 |
| 3 | Dimitrios Anastasakis | Greece | €105,850 |
| 4 | Xiaohua Yang | China | €78,650 |
| 5 | Andreas Krause | Germany | €59,950 |
| 6 | Frederik Thiemer | Germany | €46,850 |
| 7 | Luigi Pignataro | Italy | €37,650 |
| 8 | Luc Ramos | Switzerland | €31,050 |
*the top fourteen payouts include a €10,350 WSOPE Main Event ticket
"I don't believe it. I feel good, very good," said an elated Campisano after realizing he'd become the latest WSOP bracelet winner.
"When I won with ace-three against ace-queen, I thought, ‘OK, maybe this is my tournament.’ I hit a lot of hands today," he said, referring to several key all-in moments where he was at risk but managed to survive.
Campisano reflected on the tense heads-up play, admitting he thought the dream might be over when he was a nine-to-one underdog. But after securing that crucial first double-up, he felt his chances shift and knew he had a shot.
"I thought maybe the dream was over, but after that first double-up, I knew it was possible."
With a grin, he shared his plans for the night. "I’ll celebrate with my friends—they’re here, and I live here too. I play almost every day, so next up is the Main Event, and I already have my ticket!"
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When play got underway, the shortest stack at the table was Luc Ramos, who had just eight big blinds to work with. Unfortunately for Ramos, he didn't even have time to get his seat warm as in the opening orbit, he shoved with ace-eight and failed to improve against the ace-king of Xiaohua Yang.
Luigi Pignataro started the day second on the leaderboard but quickly dropped down the rankings in the opening level to put himself among the shorter stacks. An opportunity arose for the Italian player to double up with pocket queens, but what wasn't on his agenda was Dimitrios Anastasakis picking up pocket kings. As the board brought no change, Pignataro was eliminated in seventh place.
The solid pace of eliminations continued when Yang picked up his second knockout of the final table after sending Germany's Frederik Thiemer to the rail. Yang's button raise with pocket jacks was shoved on by Thiemer from the small blind with ace-eight. A jack on the flop effectively sealed the fate of Thiemer, and he departed in sixth.
Campisano was then in a troublesome position after shoving with ace-three and running straight into the ace-queen of Yang. The hat-trick of eliminations for Yang was never completed, however, as Campisano flopped trip treys to keep himself in contention.
Andreas Krause saw his chip stack sliding in the wrong direction and ultimately shoved pocket jacks for four big blinds. Marechal made the call with king-queen and rivered a flush, which sent Krause out in fifth.
Marechal started to pull away from the field, but Campisano almost evened out the top two stacks after busting Yang in fourth. Yang had three-bet shoved king-jack but was in horrific shape against the pocket aces of the eventual champion. Despite flopping a flush draw, Yang couldn't find any of his outs on the turn or river, which brought play down to three-handed.
Three-handed play was a gruelling battle, with all three players taking turns at the top of the counts. A pivotal hand occurred between Campisano and Marechal where the latter five-bet shoved ace-ten and got the Italian player to fold ace-queen in what would have been the biggest pot of the tournament.
Marechal then triple-barrel bluffed with a missed straight draw, and was called down by Campisano who had flopped a pair of aces.
As Campisano started to edge away as chip leader, the two shorter stacks played an all-in pot, leaving Anastasakis with just two big blinds. Marechal had shoved from the small blind with ace-seven, and the Greek player made the call with king-queen from the big blind. An ace-high flop sealed the double-up for Marechal and was the beginning of the end for Anastasakis.
Despite managing to double up once, Anastasakis' queen-six was left drawing dead on the turn after he got the chips in preflop against Marechal, who had ace-jack.
Campisano took a slender chip lead into heads-up play but was soon a two-to-one underdog when Marechal connected with the river during Level 37. Over the next few hands, Marechal extended his lead to nine-to-one and looked to be in cruise control on his way to the title.
However, Campisano didn't give up and came from behind to double up with queen-six against the ace-five of Marechal, which set the wheels in motion for an unlikely comeback. The next hand, Campisano doubled up again with ace-jack against king-six, which reduced the deficit to just two-to-one and sparked the duel back into life.
Marechal saw another opportunity to win pass him by when his open-ended straight draw bricked against Campisano's top pair, which put the Italian player in the lead, one that he would not relinquish again.
In the final hand of the night, Campisano shoved with king-nine suited, and Marechal put in his last seventeen big blinds with ace-three. Campisano flopped a flush draw, turned a king, and rivered a flush to win the pot and the title.
It was a tough run of cards for Marechal, who had plenty of opportunities to snag the bracelet. However, the deck wasn't on his side tonight, so he had to settle for the runner-up spot.
