Chris Brewer, a 30-year-old poker player, got the largest payout in his career on Sunday after winning $5,293,556 and his first bracelet in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $250,000 Buy-In High Roller. The high-stakes pro beat 68 opponents and admitted after the event that he was lucky to be the last player at the final table.
He said that the odds favored him throughout the tournament's last day. Also, he informed Natalie Bode from PokerGO that he had aspired to win the event for a long period due to its prestige and huge top prize.
Brewer has competed in a few tough competitions, like the 2021 Super High Roller Bowl Europe and Super High Roller Bowl. Yet, his pocket kings lost to Doug Polk's pocket queens in the semi-finals of the 2023 WSOP $25,000 Heads-Up Championship.
Even so, Brewer has 4,617 total POY points now and $8,521,187 in year-to-date POY winnings. He improved his position in this year's race to sixth place.
Paris and Horseshoe held the tournament for three days, and it had a $17,181,000 prize pool that the leading 11 players shared. Phil Ivey burst the money bubble on Day 2. Players who cashed included Alfred Decarolis and Ben Heath.
The Top Nine Finalists' Awards
- Chris Brewer – $5,293,556; 720 POY points and 800 PGT points
- Artur Martirosian – $3,271,666; 600 POY points and 600 PGT points
- Martin Kabrhel – $2,279,038; 480 POY points and 500 PGT points
- Alex Kulev – $1,632,005; 360 POY points and 450 PGT points
- Chances Kornuth – $1,202,318;300 POY points and 400 PGT points
- Dan Smith – $912,022;240 POY points and 274 PGT points
- David Peters – $712,953; 180 POY points and 214 PGT points
- Brandon Steven – $574,899; 120 POY points and 172 PGT points
- Steven Veneziano – $478,663; 60 POY points and 144 PGT points
The Final Table's Action
Brewer was in the middle of the chip standings, and Chance Kornuth was the first player when Day 3's action kicked off. The latter used two pair to face Steven Veneziano's top pair.
Veneziano failed to recover his chips despite going all-in on a flop and left the table in ninth place. Brandon Steven followed Veneziano in eighth place after Martin Kabrhel collected some of his chips.
David Peters got busted in the seventh position after Kornuth's A-8 suited beat his A-9. Three players had huge holdings in the next hand. Dan Smith used pocket kings to raise from under the gun, while Brewer used pocket jacks to make a three-bet.
Artur Martirosian used pocket queens from the big blind to move all in before Smith called. Smith finished sixth place after Kabrhel's 10-6 suited dominated his A-Q suited. Kornuth, Kulev, and Kabrhel exited the tournament in fifth, fourth, and third place.
Brewer drastically reduced the chip gap between him and Martirosian. The former dominated the latter in the event's last hand and sent him packing in second place.
