In this latest (and first) edition of “truth in advertising,” the 2015 World Series of Poker’s sixteenth event, the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Millionaire Maker did actually create a millionaire (or technically, multiple ones, depending on the net worth of the individual players going into the tournament…but I digress). Tuesday night, Adrian Buckley won the third running of the specially-named event, banking $1,277,193.
The Millionaire Maker debuted in 2013 as part of the WSOP’s (and the poker industry’s in general) attempt to court more recreational poker players. Historically, the other-worldly prizes also came with other-worldly price tags. Many top pros don’t even pay $10,000 all on their own – they often have backers – so there has been little opportunity for casual players to ever have a shot at life changing money. The Millionaire Maker changed that, giving people a chance at a seven-figure payday for just a $1,500 buy-in. $1,500 isn’t chump change, but in the world of big poker tournaments, it’s cheap.
The first Millionaire Maker saw 6,343 register before Benny Chen won the whole thing and almost $1.2 million. The event exploded the next year, as nearly 8,000 players signed up, making winner Jonathan Dimming more than $1.3 million richer. This year’s event was right in between the previous two, with 7,275 runners.
There were 17 players remaining in the field going into yesterday’s action and for as big of a tournament as it was and at such a relatively low buy-in, there were several big name players still alive. Erick Lindgren, Olivier Busquet, Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger, and Mike Sexton all had their sights set on the final table and of those four, only Lichtenberger didn’t make it.
That made it quite the uphill climb for Buckley, who had never even cashed in a WSOP event before. And that’s not to mention that going into final table play, he only had ten big blinds remaining in his chip stack. But chip up he did and despite the chip lead changing hands a few times during the heads-up match with Javier Zarco, it does not appear that Buckley was in real trouble too often as the end of the tournament drew near.
His closest brush with elimination when heads-up came when he was facing a 2-to-1 chip deficit and was all-in with A-K. Zarco only had A-3, but a 3 flopped, so it looked like Zarco was going to win the title, but a King was dealt on the turn, keeping Buckley alive and in good shape.
The final hand was academic. Zarco was all-in with pocket Sixes, Buckley called with Tens, the community cards helped neither of them, and Buckley had both his first WSOP cash and first bracelet.
“This is one-hundred percent surreal,” Buckley told WSOP officials afterward. “This has been a crazy few days. It was the run of the century.”
2015 World Series of Poker Event #16: Millionaire Maker $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em – Final Table Results
1. Adrian Buckley – $1,277,193
2. Javier Zarco – $791,690
3. Olivier Busquet – $589,569
4. Randy Pfeifer – $441,465
5. Mohammad Siddiqui – $333,038
6. David Miscikowski – $253,093
7. Erick Lindgren – $193,675
8. Justin Pechie – $149,238
9. Mike Sexton – $115,890
