The 2023 World Series of Poker Paradise is underway in the Bahamas and, after a tentative start, the money has started to flow. Two events are in the books, which barely brought out enough players to crack the guarantees that were placed on the tournaments. That has changed with the first “big money” tournament of the WSOP Paradise schedule, the GGPoker High Roller Championship, with the big names hitting the felt at the Atlantis and shattering the guarantee.
Two Bracelets Awarded
The fifteen-event schedule is awarding official WSOP bracelets, so winning any tournament on the roster is going to be a big deal. The WSOP tried to build suspense with these early events – the $1500 Mystery Millions and the Millionaire Maker in Paradise – by putting a $5 million guarantee on each offering. In the end, those tournaments were barely able to eke over the guarantee, saving WSOP officials a bit of face.
In Event #1, the Mystery Millions, 3446 entries put up the $1500 buy-in to take their shot. Throughout the five Day One flights, the numbers crept upwards, but there was the chance that they would have an overlay (something that is unheard of for WSOP tournaments). On the fifth flight, however, the players were able to push over the break-even mark.
The pros are trying to do their part, jumping into events that they probably wouldn’t normally enter. While Phil Hellmuth drew his usual attention in making a deep run in the tournament, it was Maria Ho who made the biggest noise, storming to the lead at the final table. She would come up short in her efforts for a WSOP bracelet, however, getting knocked out by the eventual champion Jin Hoon Lee in third place.
1. Jin Hoon Lee, $420,000
2. Max Pinnola, $257,100
3. Maria Ho, $200,000
4. Konstantin Maslak, $160,000
5. Drew Scott, $127,000
6. Thomas Santerne, $101,000
7. Kartik Ved, $80,000
8. Davidi Kitai, $64,000
9. Hyunsup Kim, $51,000
In Event #2, it was a similar story, but with a different approach. The $1500 Millionaire Maker started online with GGPoker, drawing in 3496 entries from their virtual warfare. That was enough to eclipse the $5 million guarantee that the WSOP and GGPoker had placed on the event, generating a prize pool of $5,233,000. 100 players from that tournament made the trek to the Bahamas to take part in the live side of the hybrid event, with a spirited final table heads-up battle highlighting the event.
The final table played out over nearly sixteen hours, with an international final table coming together in the end. Seven countries were represented – the U. S. and France each with two players, and Brazil, Lithuania Norway, Poland, and Ukraine with one – joining the fray. In the end, it was Brazil’s Allan Mello capturing the million-dollar first-place prize over Ukraine’s Nazar Buhaiov, making Mello’s trip to the Caribbean well worth his time!
1. Allan Mello, $1,000,000
2. Nazar Buhaiov, $593,500
3. Morten Norland, $263,500
4. Maksim Vaskresenski, $158,500
5. Maxime Parys, $128,000
6. Clemen Deng, $103,500
7. Kasparas Klezys, $81,100
8. Arnaud Enselme, $65,000
9. Roland Israelashvili, $50,000
GGMillion$ Shatters Guarantee
Bucking the trend of the earlier events, the GGMillion$ High Roller Championship didn’t have any issue in drawing in a sizeable field, even with its $25,000 buy-in and $10 million guarantee. Over two-Day Ones, 533 entries have stepped to the fore and, with an online component to the tournament, the prize pool generated cracked the $13 million mark. It also drew out the sharks to the water in the Bahamas, looking to claim what would be a sizeable first-place check.
Of the 67 players who have been at the Atlantis competing, Jason Koon led the Day 1A combatants (13 players will come from the online competition and play on Thursday’s Day 2). Koon amassed a big stack of six million chips to vastly outpace fellow Day 1A players Fedor Holz and Artur Martirosian. Day 1B was paced by Renat Bohdanov, who will take a seat in the Top Five as action commences on Thursday.
1. Jason Koon, 6.0 million*
2. Fedor Holz, 4.73 million*
3. Artur Martirosian, 4.67 million*
4. Renat Bohdanov, 4.105 million
5. Daniel Smiljkovic, 3.86 million
6. Jun Obara, 3.705 million
7. Klemens Roiter, 3.15 million*
8. Damian Salas, 2.9 million
9. Brandon Wilson, 2.8 million
(* – indicates Day 1A player)
Of particular note in this event is Stephen Song, who currently holds the tenth-place slot on the leaderboard. Song is the defending champion of the World Poker Tour’s WPT Prime event, which will be held at Wynn Las Vegas. Will Song be heading back to Las Vegas following this High Roller tournament to contest for another title, or will he remain in the sun of the Bahamas and forego trying to defend his championship in the WPT Prime?
There are plenty of questions as to what players are going where. Those decisions are being made now, as both the WPT World Championship and the WSOP Paradise ramp up their action.
