The 2022 World Series of Poker International Circuit Caribbean has crowned another champion and Canada’s Nicola Basile earned his third career WSOPC gold ring in Ring Event #7 $300 Seniors NLHE. Basile staged an incredible comeback on the final table to emerge victoriously and denied Trinidad’s Martin Ryan back-to-back victories much to the delight of his boisterous Canadian rail. The celebrations of Basile could be heard throughout the entire Casino Royale on Sint Maarten and he claimed the biggest slice of the $29,250 prize pool in a field of 117 entries.
For his efforts, Basile earned the top prize of $8,250 while Ryan had to settle for a payday of $5,050, narrowly missing out on yet another victory on the WSOP Circuit. Among the finalists were also the two Canadians Richard Figiel and Ray Carter, as well as Austria’s Peter Hajszan. A total of 16 players cashed in the event after John Yocca and Tracy Hutton were knocked out on the money bubble on separate tables and split the $500 min-cash.
Final Table Result $300 Seniors Event:
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in USD) |
| 1 | Nicola Basile | Canada | $8,250 |
| 2 | Martin Ryan | Trinidad & Tobago | $5,050 |
| 3 | Gary Lapier | Canada | $3,650 |
| 4 | Richard Figiel | Canada | $2,650 |
| 5 | Ray Carter | Canada | $2,000 |
| 6 | Shawn Rice | United States | $1,500 |
| 7 | Peter Hajszan | Austria | $1,150 |
| 8 | Steve Lopes | United States | $950 |
| 9 | Chew Sue | Aruba | $750 |
The final day commenced with 19 hopefuls still in the mix and that number was reduced almost immediately when Rigo Vangarelli jammed a suited king in the very first hand to Ray Carter. It was the start of a short-lived period leading up to the money bubble as Daniel Fogt and Jean Souprayenmestry departed in quick succession.
Nicola Basile dominated the early stages to become the chip leader while Martin Ryan scored an early double up and then switched into his usual mode of accumulating chips with several medium-sized pots. Over on the other table, John Yocca and Shawn Rice tangled in a private duel across multiple hands and Rice eventually had the best of it. Yocca then ran eights into the queens of Rice as one of the bigger stacks but earned half of the min cash when Tracy Hutton saw her kings cracked by the ace ten of Lopes on the other table.
Moise Salloun started the day with the chip lead but took multiple hits to settle for a min-cash, followed by Canada’s Kelly Fiske. Olivier Robveille then saw his kings cracked by the ace-king of Steve Lopes as the local resident left the tables with a shaking head. Nick Bennett would bow out next and Carter doubled through Didier before the latter became the final table bubble boy.
Ryan entered the final nine with the lead and almost immediately went into cruise control after a spectacular double knockout. Lopes’ pocket aces and the pocket queens of Chew Sue were looked up by the ten-time WSOPC ring winner with queen-ten suited in a preflop contest. Three spades on the flop gave Ryan a flush and the commanding lead.
Peter Hajszan had laddered up two spots with his very short stack and became the next casualty a few minutes later. He was one of three casualties in the span of just ten minutes as Rice and Carter followed next. Ryan had flopped two pair and turned a full house with ace-four against the ace-jack of Rice and jammed the river to get called by the American, further extending his massive lead. For Carter, the exit came in rather cruel fashion when his flopped two pair was cracked by the nine-seven suited of Gary Lapier when the open-ended straight draw improved on the river.
Richard Figiel had reached his third final table of the series and fourth cash in as many events but the elusive victory escaped the Canadian. His stack went on a roller coaster ride and once short he found an ace but Lapier dealt the final blow with pocket nines. Three-handed play wasn’t kind to Lapier, who quickly became the shortest stack and then hit the rail against Ryan to set up heads-up play with a commanding lead for the player from Trinidad.
Basile doubled once but was still chipped down in quick succession. He then survived with pocket nines against ace-seven suited for the last three and a half blinds, dodging the overcard, flush draw and gutshot of Ryan. Soon after, Basile was at risk with king-four and Ryan looked him up with jack-ten to flop two pair. However, running fours let the Canadian erupt in celebration and the momentum changed entirely. Another two double ups followed and suddenly it was Basile with a massive lead.
The next open shove by Basile for an effective 11 blinds was called by Ryan with king-eight suited and he was ahead preflop versus jack-nine. However, Basile’s run good continued as the jack hit right away to secure his victory, triggering a boisterous celebration and applause from the entire tournament room.
