Esposito goes all-in, places 7th

A 44-year-old commodities broker concerned about flooding in his neighborhood from Superstorm Sandy has been eliminated in seventh place at the World Series of Poker main event.

Michael Esposito was nursing a short stack of chips for much of play Monday night in Las Vegas, then went all-in with an ace-jack.

He was called by Greg Merson with ace-king, and Merson’s better hand held through.

Esposito, of Seaford, N.Y., won $1.26 million for finishing in seventh place.

Top prize in the poker tournament is $8.53 million.

Moments before, poker professional Robert Salaburu was ousted after a river queen gave chip leader Jesse Sylvia a higher pair.

Salaburu called an all-in test from Sylvia with pocket sevens, which looked good initially against Sylvia’s queen-five.

But Sylvia hit an unlikely card on the final community card, busting Salaburu from the no-limit Texas Hold ’em tournament.

Salaburu wins $971,360 for eighth place, while the higher finishers will each win at least $1.25 million.

The finalists will play until only three players remain, then the three top finishers will settle the title today.