Pavel Plesuv Wins 2023 World Series of Poker Millionaire Maker Event

Pavel Plesuv made World Series of Poker history in the 2023 WSOP $1,500 ‘Millionaire Maker’ no-limit hold’em event. The poker pro outlasted a field of 10,416 entries to become the first player ever from his home country of Moldova to win a WSOP gold bracelet. Plesuv came incredibly close to earning his first win at the series last year, falling one spot short with a runner-up showing in the $10,000 six-max event. This time around, he was able to seal the deal and walk away with the gold.

In addition to the hardware, Plesuv also took home a career-high payday of $1,201,564 for the win. He now has nearly $7.6 million in recorded tournament earnings, with more than $2.2 million of that coming from in-the-money finishes at the series.

This win also saw Plesuv earn 1,440 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was his second POY-qualified score of the year, having placed fifth in a $3,300 side event at the PokerTSars Caribbean Adventure back in January for $56,150 and 375 points. With this latest big victory, Plesuv has climbed inside the top 100 in the 2023 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

Plesuv is also a World Poker Tour main event champion, having won the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open $3,500 buy-in event for $504,820 back in 2018.

As previously mentioned, this event drew a massive field of 10,430 entries, the largest turnout event for a $1,500 buy-in poker event. As a result, the prize pool swelled to $13,905,360, with seven-figure paydays for both the champion and the runner-up.

After the two packed starting flights, it took another three full days of tournament play inside the Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas to narrow the field down to seven contenders for the final day. Plesuv held the lead to start, with just a bit shy of twice the average stack.

The first massive clash of the day saw Myles Mullaly raise from the lojack with pocket jacks. Andreas Kniep three-bet on this direct left with pocket tens, and Vitor De Souza Coutinho four-bet to 17,000,0000 with AK, leaving just 400,000 behind. Mullaly folded his jacks and Kniep moved all-in. Coutinho called and the board ran out 98324 and Kniep’s pocket tens danced through the raindrops to see him win the massive pot, eliminating Countinho in seventh place ($222,749). Check out a replay of the hand from PokerGO’s exclusive livestreaming coverage below:

Vitor De Souza Coutinho is eliminated in 7th place from the WSOP</a> $1,500 Millionaire Maker. <br><br>Myles Mullaly folds two jacks, and Coutinho cannot outrace <a href="https://twitter.com/andirayo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">andirayo‘s tens, and collects $222,749 for his run.

– Watch live here: https://t.co/BjnxfzMpCK pic.twitter.com/rZHAzFoseL

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) June 28, 2023

Mullaly’s tough go continued when his pocket eights clashed with the pocket aces of short stack Anton Smirnov not long Coutinho’s final hand. Mullaly then got all-in with A-5 suited against pocket nines for Florian Ribouchon. Mullaly flopped a pair of fives and the nut flush draw. He then turned an ace to improve to two pair, leaving Ribouchon in need of a nine on the river. The 9 rolled off the deck, ending Mullaly’s run in sixth place. He was awarded a career-best $287,522 payday for his efforts.

Smirnov was soon all-in and at risk again, this time with A-2 suited. instead of pocket aces. He was up against K-Q for Ribouchon, which flopped a pair of queens and improved to a king-high straight on the river to knock Smirnov out in fifth place ($373,524).

Kniep lost a big pot with top pair against the turned straight of Plesuv, falling to the bottom of the chip counts in the process. He managed one double up to pull himself out of the danger zone, and then picked up pocket aces in the small blind. He flatted the button raise of Ribouchon, only to have Plesuv jam from the big blind with A-2. Ribouchon got out of the way and Kniep quickly called. The flop gave Plesuv a gutshot straight draw to the wheel, which he promptly hit on the turn to leave Kniep hoping for a fourth spade on the river to give him a flush, or for a deuce to give him a chop. A blank on the end saw the sizable pot pushed to Plesuv, though, and Kniep was knocked out in fourth place ($501,182). This was the largest live tournament payday yet for the German, topping the $305,000 he earned as the 18th-place finisher in the 2021 WSOP main event.

Paul Gunness was the next to fall. He picked up A-3 in the big blind facing a committing raise from Plesuv from thew small blind. Plesuv called Gunness’ shove not much more and revealed Q-8. Plesuv paired his queen on the turn to leave Gunness in need of an ace on the river, but a ten rolled off the deck instead. Gunness secured $650,058 as the third-place finisher, his first-ever six-figure score.

Heads-up play began with Plesuv holding 222,700,000 to Ribouchon’s 37,400,000. The Frenchman was able to win a few pots early to chip up over 60 million, but he was still well covered by the time the final hand of the tournament was dealt. Plesuv min-raised from the button with KQ and Ribouchon three-bet to 5.4 big blinds with JJ from the big blind. Plesuv called and the flop came down K52. Ribouchon checked and called a continuation bet of 3.6 big blinds with his pocket jacks. The turn brought the K, improving Plesuv to rips. Ribouchon checked a second time and Plesuv moved all-in. Ribouchon called off his remaining 12.4 big blinds only to see he was in rough shape with one card to come. The 3 rolled off the deck on the end, securing the pot and the title for Plesuv. Ribouchon earned $1,003,554. The 2020 WPTDeepStacks Paris champion now has more than $1.5 million in lifetime earnings.

Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:

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Winner photo credit: WSOP / Hayley Hochstetler.