Sam Stein had to settle for second place after Tom Marchese scooped the top prize at the North American Poker Tour event.

Online poker specialist Tom Marchese has won a North American Poker Tour event in Las Vegas, beating Sam Stein in the final match-up to claim the top prize of C$875,000.

Stein had to settle for second place winnings of C$552,000 despite leading going into the last day's play on a final table of eight players.

Marchese, who is only 22, has only been playing poker for two years and had previously won just C$370,000 from online tournaments.

After the event had finished, the winner said he was feeling "great".

"I was all the way down to three million at one point and was ready to go out in fourth, but in the end, it all worked out," he commented.

The win in Las Vegas will mark Marchese out as a young player to keep an eye on after he triumphed over a field of 872.

Eric Blair, who led the tournament going into day four, was the first player to be knocked out on the final table and finished in eighth position to win C$63,000.

World Series of Poker bracelet winner John Cernuto, who has earned more than C$1.6 million from poker, finished in seventh place with winnings of C$110,000.