Kevin Calenzo Wins World Series of Poker Circuit Caesars Palace Main Event

Kevin Calenzo topped the 662-player field in the World Series of Poker Circuit Caesars Palace main event, earning the $197,451 first prize, his first WSOP Circuit gold-ring, and 840 Card Player Player of the Year points. The 28-year-old pro joined a list of prior Caesar’s Palace WSOP Circuit winners that includes notable pros like Allen Cunningham, Justin Bonomo, Andrew Lichtenberger and Cory Carroll.

Calenzo has been playing full-time since 2003, splitting time between Las Vegas and his native New Hartford, NY. This is his third tournament title, bringing his total lifetime earnings to $743,488.

The main event was a $1,600 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament with a total prize pool of $963,210. Calenzo entered the final table in the middle of the pack, and had to overcome some stiff competition on his path to victory. Joining him in the final ten were two former multiple WSOP gold bracelet winners, Jeff Madsen and Dutch Boyd, as well as 2011 gold bracelet winner Sean Getzwiller. All three of these seasoned pros eventually fell, leaving Calenzo heads-up with Ian Mack, a 33-year-old physician from Garden City, NY.

When heads-up play began, Calenzo enjoyed a slight lead on Mack, but a cooler on the second hand gave Mack a solid chip advantage. After over an hour of play, Calenzo worked his way back into the match, eventually sealing the deal when his K8 out flopped the A4 of Mack with all of the money in preflop.

Mack earned $122,183 for second place, while Calenzo was awarded one of the two pre-paid seats into the $1 million guaranteed WSOP Circuit National Championship, which will be held in Las Vegas at the end of this season. The other seat was awarded to Gary Bolden, who accumulated the most overall points for the entire Caesars Palace series, with two tournament wins.

Here is the complete payout and POY point information for the final table:

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