Event #40: $250,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold'em

The 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Event #40: $250,000 Super High Roller, the highest buy-in event of the summer, saw a record field of 69 entrants, up from the 56 that registered in last year's event, create a prize pool of $17,181,000, with the eventual winner pocketing $5,293,556.

On Sunday, the final nine returned to the event center at the Horsehoe and Paris Las Vegas to try and claim the top prize, but it would be high-stakes poker pro, Chris Brewer, who would eventually do it. Brewer put on an artful display of short stack maneuvering throughout the day to earn a new career-high score and his first-ever WSOP bracelet.

Brewer became emotional in his post-win interview, commenting, "I'm sorry, I've had some really tough ones. It just feels good."

Brewer's had some close calls in the past and was developing a reputation as being "unlucky," in so much as being voted "most unlucky player" by a WSOP poll, but said, "Oh, I don't think so, I think I'm getting pretty lucky nowadays."

Prior to winning, Brewer had just north of $10 million in lifetime earnings, with his biggest win netting him a bit over $1 million at EPT Paris.

Final Table Action

Nine players returned to battle it out, but only seven would make the PokerGo live broadcast, as Steven Veneziano would exit in ninth after calling it off with top pair against the flopped two pair of Chance Kornuth.

Last year's runner-up in this event, Brandon Steven, would be the next to go when his flush draw failed to improve against the flopped trips of polarizing figure, Martin Kabrhel. Steven would take home $574,899 for his efforts.

The first casualty of the live stream was four-time bracelet winner, David Peters, whose ace-nine dominated the ace-eight of Kornuth, but Kornuth would ultimately make a flush to send Peters to the rail in seventh.

Dan Smith battled back from the short stack at the beginning of the day to become one of the chip leaders, only to be out in sixth place when his kings fell to the turned set of queens of Artur Martirosian, which left Smith with crumbs. Smith would be out a few hands later when his ace-queen failed to hold against the ten-six of Martin Kabrhel.

Kornuth would finish fifth for his first ever seven-figure pay-day, saying, he was glad to get that monkey off his back. Another first for Kornuth was having his Dad watch him at the final table, something he said he's never done before. Kornuth was able to fly him out in time to see his son win over $1.2 million dollars. On Father's Day, no less.

Martirosian would be responsible for the next two eliminations, sending Alex Kulev out in fourth after his queen-jack failed to improve against the pocket eights of Martirosian and Kabrhel hit the payout desk in third after shoving queen-deuce suited from the button and running right into Martirosian's ace-king.

Heads-up play began with Brewer at a more than two-to-one chip disadvantage until his pocket three's held up against the ace-ten of Martirosian. That created a one-eighty in the counts, giving Brewer the two-to-one chip lead and leaving Martirosian at risk. Things would come to a head when Martirosian called a pre-flop jam from Brewer with ace-king against Brewers ace-seven. Martirosian was in great shape to continue the match until Brewer would catch pure lightning in the form of a runner-runner straight after a king-high flop. Martirosian took home $3,271,666 as a consolation prize.

That does it for PokerNews' coverage of Event #50: $250,000 Super High Roller, but our live reporting team is still on-site, offering updates from every bracelet-awarding event of the 2023 WSOP.

Artur Martirosian raised to 2,400,000 from the button and snap-called when Chris Brewer jammed from the big blind.

Artur Martirosian:   
Chris Brewer:   

Martirosian was way ahead and became the even bigger favorite following the     flop. The   turn gave Brewer a gutshot straight draw to keep him in with a chance at the bracelet.

A miraculous   river hit the river to give Brewer the straight and he celebrated with his rail.

"I can't believe I won it," Brewer said as he became the latest bracelet winner at the 2023 World Series of Poker.

Chris Brewer	103,300,000	34,100,000
Artur Martirosian	0	-34,100,000

Chris Brewer limped in from the button with    and before Artur Martirosian made it 4,800,000 from the big blind with   .

Brewer responded with an all in and Martirosian folded his superior ace.

Chris Brewer	52,900,000	9,700,000
Artur Martirosian	50,500,000	-9,600,000

Artur Martirosian opened to 2,400,000 from the button and Chris Brewer defended with   .

Brewer check-called for 1,700,000 on the     flop which brought in the   turn. Brewer checked and Martirosian picked up the flush draw. The latter sized up to 12,000,000 and Brewer folded the best hand.

Artur Martirosian	60,100,000	5,700,000
Chris Brewer	43,200,000	-5,700,000

A big pot developed when Artur Martirosian raised from the small blind with    to 2,400,000 and Chris Brewer three-bet to 7,500,000 with   . Martirosian made the call.

The     flop was magic for Brewer, as his top set would dominate the top pair of Martirosian.

Brewer took advantage of the situation and put out a bet of 4,000,000, which Martirosian called.

Brewer set the trap and checked the   turn and Martirosian took the bait and bet 5,000,000, with Brewer calling.

The   river would slow the action and both players checked, with Martirosian seeing the bad news.

Artur Martirosian	54,400,000	-18,000,000
Chris Brewer	48,900,000	18,000,000

In a limped pot to the     flop, Artur Martirosian checked his    and called when Chris Brewer bet 1,000,000 with his   .

The   turn checked through to the   river. Martirosian then check-folded when Brewer bet 4,000,000.

Artur Martirosian	72,400,000	-3,000,000
Chris Brewer	30,900,000	3,000,000

The first hand of heads-up play saw Artur Martirosian call from the small blind for 500,000 with    and Chris Brewer check his option in the big blind with   .

Brewer flopped a flush draw and check-called a bet of 1,000,000 from Martirosian on a board of    .

Brewer completed his flush on the   turn and both players checked, with Brewer moving all-in on the   river and Martirosian folding.

Artur Martirosian	76,400,000	-2,000,000
Chris Brewer	26,900,000	2,000,000

Martin Kabrhel raised to 14,000,000 from the small blind and called off the crumbs he had behind after Artur Martirosian moved all in from the big blind.

Martin Kabrhel:   
Artur Martirosian:   

Both players paired up on the     flop but Kabrhel was still the underdog. The   turn and   river didn't aid Kabrhel and the polarizing figure was ousted in third place.

Artur Martirosian	78,400,000	14,400,000
Chris Brewer	24,900,000	0
Martin Kabrhel	0	-14,400,000

Martin Kabrhel limped in from the small blind with    and Artur Martirosian checked his option with    from the big blind.

The     flop checked through to the   turn. Kabrhel bet 1,300,000 and was called.

The   river paired the board to give Kabrhel the winner. He opted to check which prompted Martirosian to fire for 1,800,000. Kabrhel called and took in the pot.

Artur Martirosian	52,500,000	-7,100,000
Chris Brewer	27,400,000	-500,000
Martin Kabrhel	23,400,000	7,600,000

Poker Hall of Famer Jennifer Harman has seen the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in all of its iterations. Harman won two bracelets when the World Series played at Binion's Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas and made several final tables after the transition to Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in the mid-2000s.

Now, 27 years after her first WSOP final table in 1996, Harman finds herself at yet another World Series rendition at the rebranded Horseshoe Casino on the Strip. And while the golden U-shaped emblem outside the hotel is by and large the same, Harman said the modern venue doesn't compare to the WSOP's original home.

"It was such a cool atmosphere playing at Binion's; it's just nothing like that," Harman told PokerNews. "Now it's just like, you know, poker blew up and it's more ... it's still a really cool atmosphere, but it's just different. It's not a small room, musty, that kind of stuff. But it's still really cool. Poker's still really popular, so that's a pretty awesome thing."

PokerNews caught up with Harman last week as she played Day 1 of Event #25: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship at the 2023 WSOP to ask about her summer schedule, pick for the Poker Hall of Fame and her memories with the late Doyle Brunson.

Read More About Jennifer Harman at the 2023 WSOP