Event #3: $1,000 Mystery Millions - No-Limit Hold'em

Event #3: $1,000 Mystery Millions of the 2023 World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas is now in the history books. After 48 levels of grueling play, battling through the monstrous field of 18,188 players and a final eight-handed feature table in the spotlight, Tyler Brown is the champion taking home a cool $1,000,000 and a coveted WSOP bracelet.

Those lucky enough to make it through one of the four day-one flights were eligible to win the mystery bounties that were put into play on Day 2. For every knockout earned, a player had the opportunity to draw for one of the many bounties on offer ranging in value from $1,000 to $1,000,000. With an overwhelming amount of entries this year generating a massive bounty prize pool, the WSOP was able to offer not one but two $1,000,000 bounties to play for.

Shant Marashlian was the first player to become a millionaire after pulling the first grand prize bounty early on Day 2 of the event.

Patrick Liang shortly followed as he secured a combined total of $1,025,000 across two bounty pulls from the chest. Rather generously, Liang also decided to gift $1,000 to every player at his table when he won the million.

Other notable bounty recipients included Klint Tevaearai and Eric Baldwin who were the winners of the $500,000 and $250,000 bounties respectively.

Many notable players in the field who busted included Matt Glantz (49th), who was the recipient of the $1,000,000 bounty in 2022 and former WSOP Main Event champion Martin Jacobson (532nd) who both made it through to Day 2. Chris Hunichen (14th) also had a deep run busting well into Day 3 of the event as well as Dan Shak (seventh) who reached the final table.

Mystery Bounty Payouts

Day 3 was played down to one table of ten players who battled it out until only eight remained and the official final table was decided. The players were moved to the feature table and the livestream covered the play down to a winner and their bracelet presentation.

Event #3: $1,000 Mystery Millions Final Table Results

Not long after the final table kicked off, the first elimination came in the form of Tam Ho exiting in eighth for $121,683 as he lost the most crucial flip of his tournament journey. The pocket fours of Steven Thompson held against his ace-ten, providing the first bust out of this final table.

In seventh place fell Dan Shak, the most celebrated player left in the field. Shak found himself all in holding pocket eights against the pocket jacks of Guang Chen. While Shak managed to flop more outs as he held the eight of hearts on a monotone board, the turn and river did not oblige, and Shak was eliminated for $154,940.

Tauan De Oliveira Naves was the sixth-place finisher at this final table as he got the chips in front holding ace-jack against the ten-nine of Thompson. However, Thompson pulled ahead on the turn and remained that way, sending Naves to the rail for $198,320.

Out in fifth place was Rhian Fineis, who landed on the wrong side of a coin toss as his ace-jack came up against the pocket tens of Tyler Brown. Failing to connect to the board, Brown's tens held, and Fineis exited in fifth with $255,210 for his efforts.

Exiting in fourth was Thompson, whose queen-six couldn't get there against the ace-five of Chen, sending him home for $330,150. Upon Thompson's exit, the Horseshoe got a little quieter as his energetic rail left alongside him, celebrating Thompson's deep run.

Ryan McKnight departed in third place for $429,360. Chen was the beneficiary of his chips as McKnight got it all in with queen-six dominated by the queen-ten of Chen. This got the heads-up match underway.

The heads-up battle between Brown and Chen only lasted three hands. The majority of chips fell into the hands of Brown after a life-changing hero call with just ace high gave him a dominating chip lead and setting him on the home straight for his first WSOP bracelet.

It was not long after that the heads-up match was settled. Brown's queen-seven pulled ahead of Chen's ace-jack to win $1,000,000 and the bracelet.

Winner's Interview

Brown clearly has an extensive background in Pot Limit Omaha, as five of the six live cashes he has to his name included some form of PLO. In regards to his newfound success in No Limit Hold'em, Brown humbly stated, "I've played tournaments here and there, I've got, ya know, some idea of what I'm doing, but obviously, I'm a lot stronger PLO player. There were a lot better Hold'em players than me in this field, I obviously got insanely lucky with 18,000 people".

Although, luck can't be the only factor to attribute to Brown's success: "A lot of my study came four or five years ago," Brown commented, "I took almost two years off poker, decided to come back at the end of last year, early this year, and it's been unbelievable in these last six months".

With a huge, tournament-defining hero call under his belt, Brown simply commented, "It was good for the live stream".

Having made two WSOP final tables in succession, the first being the $5,000 No Limit Hold'em/Pot Limit Omaha event, Brown was pleased to remark, "These are the only WSOP events I've ever played".

This certainly won't be the last we hear from Brown in the 2023 World Series as he continued, "Given where I am now, Player of the Year seems like a decent opportunity, so I could see myself firing a lot". With his eruption onto the live poker circuit in 2023, this certainly confirms speculation that Tyler Brown is one to watch.

That concludes PokerNews' coverage of this event, but the 2023 WSOP is far from over. Be sure to tune into PokerNews each day, as we bring you all of the action from every one of the bracelet-awarding events.

Tyler Brown raised to 29,000,000 from the button and Guang Chen called in the big blind.

The flop was     and Chen checked to Brown who continued for 18,000,000. Chen check-raised to 72,000,000 and Brown called after about 45 seconds.

The turn was the   and Chen shoved for effectively 227,000,000.

Brown went into the tank for about 90 seconds before he called all in for that amount with just   .

"You're good," said Chen, who showed   .

Brown's ace-high call was indeed ahead and he held up through the   river to take a massive lead.

Tyler Brown	668,000,000	410,000,000
Guang Chen	61,000,000	-410,000,000

Ryan McKnight shoved for 77,000,000 in the small blind holding    and Guang Chen made the call with    in the big blind.

Ryan McKnight:   
Guang Chen:   

Chen had McKnight dominated and in bad shape heading to the flop. Nothing changed on the     flop though the   turn did provide some chop outs for the at risk player. The   river completed the board, failing to save McKnight from a third-place finish.

Heads-up play between Chen and Tyler Brown will begin after a short break, with Chen holding the lead.

Guang Chen	471,000,000	140,000,000
Tyler Brown	258,000,000	-10,500,000
Ryan McKnight	0	-92,000,000

Steven Thompson shoved all in from the small blind with    for his last 64,000,000. Guang Chen in the big blind looked down at    and made the call.

Steven Thompson:   
Guang Chen:   

The board ran out      . Chen's ace high remained the best hand, busting Thompson.

Guang Chen	331,000,000	24,000,000
Steven Thompson	0	-126,000,000

The remaining four players have been sent on a 10-minute break. They will return to blinds of 5,000,000/10,000,000 with a 10,000,000 big blind ante.

Ryan McKnight raised under the gun with   . The action reached Rhian Fineis in the small blind who three-bet all in for a total of 81,500,000 with   . Tyler Brown woke up in the big blind with    and cold four-bet shoved covering both players. McKnight folded and Fineis was at risk.

Rhian Fineis:   
Tyler Brown:   

The board came      . The tens held and Fineis exited to the rail in 5th place.

Tyler Brown	315,500,000	167,500,000
Ryan McKnight	67,000,000	-12,000,000
Rhian Fineis	0	-85,000,000

Steven Thompson in the small blind with    raised enough to put Tauan De Oliveira Naves all in. Naves looked down at    and snap-called for his last 39,000,000.

Tauan De Oliveira Naves:   
Steven Thompson:   

The flop came     giving Naves the lead with a pair of jacks. However, the   on the turn completed Thompson's straight meaning Naves would need some help on the river. The   fell on the river sealing Naves' fate as he exited in 6th place.

Steven Thompson	228,500,000	18,500,000
Tauan De Oliveira Naves	0	0