Leo Taffe won the BetMGM Poker Championship on Tuesday at the PokerGO Studio near Aria.

Taffe, an online poker grinder from Michigan, defeated Mike Vanier heads-up to capture the $560,442 first prize.

Prior to Tuesday, Taffe’s largest live score came in February when he finished third in the $1,700 buy-in WSOP Circuit Cherokee (North Carolina) Main Event for more than $182,000.

Taffe entered the seven-player final table with nearly half of the chips in play and was responsible for four of the six eliminations as he picked up several big pocket pairs at opportune times.

On the final hand, Taffe held pocket aces and quickly called when Vanier went all-in after the turn with a pair of fives on a board of 10-4-5-K. Vanier earned $392,704.

Mo Zhou of China was third, and Stephen Song, the 2022 Global Poker Index player of the year, finished fourth.

The tournament drew 1,026 entries, three times the size of last year’s inaugural tournament, and smashed its $2 million prize pool guarantee.There were 94 BetMGM Poker online qualifiers in the field, including 13 who made the money. Among the notables were former major league infielder Jason Kipnis, who went out in 107th place ($6,534).

Contact David Schoen at [email protected] or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.