Weiran Pu Wins 2023 World Series of Poker $5,000 Six-Max No-Limit Hold’em Bracelet

Weiran Pu came out on top of a 1,199-entry field to win the 2023 World Series of Poker $5,000 no-limit hold’em six-max event, earning $938,244 and his first gold bracelet for the win. Pu was the fifth player from China to win a title at this year’s series, and the 11th in the history of the WSOP.

This was by far the largest live tournament score yet for Pu. Prior to this victory, his top finish had been a $190,320 win in a 2018 Poker King Cup Macau side event with a buy-in equivalent to roughly $2,100 when rendered in US dollars. Pu now has more than $1.5 million in recorded earnings.

In addition to the title and the money, Pu was also awarded 1,920 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his second POY-qualified final-table finish of the year, having placed fourth in a €2,200 buy-in event at the European Poker Tour Monte Carlo festival for $149,544 and 480 POY points back in April. With 2,400 total points, Pu is now ranked 46th in the 2023 POY race standings presented by Global Poker.

The sizable turnout resulted in a prize pool of $5,046,200, which was paid out among the top 180 finishers. Several notables ran deep in this event, including bracelet winner Leon Sturn (35th), EPT champion Artur Martirosian (34th), top POY cointender Ren Lin (27th), two-time bracelet winner Georgios Sotiropoulos (21st), three-time bracelet winner Ryan Leng (12th), bracelet winner Danny Tang (11th), bracelet winner Daniel Lazrus (8th), and WSOP POY race leader Ian Matakis (7th).

The final day began with three-time bracelet winner Norbert Szecsi in the chip lead and Pu in the middle of the pack.

Vitor Dzivielevski (6th – $153,485), brother of three-time bracelet winner Yuri Dzivielevski, was the first to fall, with his K-9 suited unable to best the A-Q of bracelet winner Tyler Cornell. Australia’s Angelina Rich then ran pocket fours into the pocket kings of Pedro Garagnani to finish fifth ($209,666). This was the second-largest score for Rich, trailing only the $304,386 she earned as the 2015 Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian main event winner.

Pu surged into the lead when his A-6 held up against the A-2 of Garagnani after the chips went in on an ace-high flop. A few low cards on the board kept Pu’s kicker in play and Garagnani was eliminated in fourth place ($289,819).

Cornell was the next to hit the rail. A battle of the blinds escalated until he four-bet shoved AJ from the small blind. Pu called with AA and held to send Cornell home in third place ($407,040).

Heads-up play began with Pu holding 38,200,000 to Szecsi’s 21,800,000. The final hand was a preflop cooler, with Szecsi running AQ into the AK of Pu. Szecsi raised on the button and responded to Pu’s three-bet with a shove. Pu called and held through a KJ7Q8 runout to lock up the pot and the title. Szecsi was awarded $579,892 as the runner-up, growing his career earnings to more than $5 million in the process.

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

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Winner photo credit: WSOP / Spenser Sembrat. Rich photo credit: PokerGO / Enrique Malfavon.