East Coast poker player Michael Espositofound himself in the hunt for the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event title, but it had been something that he has been building toward for several years. He entered the 2012 WSOP October Nine in sixth place with a stack of 16.2 million and finished in seventh place for $1.2 million.

Esposito, from Seaford, New York, has built an outstanding poker resume mainly on the tournament circuit of the Northeastern part of the United States. His first cash dates back to 2002 and it wasn’t in No Limit Hold’em, but rather in Seven Card Stud. At the 2002 World Poker Finals at the Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut, Esposito picked up his first cash for finishing eighth in a $2,000 Seven Card Stud event. He would come back the next year to finish in 16th place in another Foxwoods event.

Atlantic City is where Esposito has done a great deal of damage, coming in third in a $4,000 buy-in Seven Card tournament at the United States Poker Championship in 2003. Two years later, he would make the final table of the WSOP Circuit’s inaugural Atlantic City stop, finishing in ninth place for a $47,310 payday.

The 2012 WSOP Main Event was Esposito’s largest ever tournament payout.

This wasn’t the first time that Esposito has been on the WSOP stage, however. In 2006, he finished 540th in the Main Event and, in 2009, earned his second cash in a $1,500 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em tournament. Esposito’s third WSOP cash came in 2012 in one of the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em tournaments. For his tournament poker career, Esposito had earned $172,806 prior to the 2012 Main Event.

With 7.04 million in chips, Esposito was in the middle of the pack of the 27 players remaining in the 2012 WSOP Main Event entering Day 7. He’d have to contend with not only Daniel DeoxyriboStrelitz’ table-leading 12.79 million in chips, but also Russell Thomas‘ 9.985 million and Scott Abrams‘ 8.08 million.