Millionaire Maker Winner Pavel Plesuv Becomes Moldova's First WSOP Champion ($1,201,564)

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Jun 28, 2023 3 min read

The 2023 World Series of Poker at its home at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas has crowned a new champion. Moldova's Pavel Plesuv has won his first bracelet for himself and his country after he was the last player standing in Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold'em. Although this is his first bracelet, Plesuv has found high success in prior WSOP events.

With the victory, Plesuv secured his biggest live cash to date. He stormed through the field of bracelet winners and went wire-to-wire on the final day to capture the $1,201,564 up top. Plesuv outmanoeuvred 10,429 other entrants over five days to claim the biggest slice of the $13,905,360 prize pool.

Plesuv was supported by a rail of friends and family as he seemed unstoppable, marching his way to the bracelet.

Event #37: $1,500 Millionaire Maker Final Table Results

Winner's Reaction

"It feels amazing...I had some deep runs at the WSOP but no bracelets. So, it’s really nice to win my first bracelet in such a big field, and for such a big amount, my best cash. It feels amazing." Plesuv told PokerNews after the triumph.

“Keep studying and keep believing in your dreams,"

"First of all, I will pay my taxes," Plusev explained when asked what he was going to do with his seven-figure score. "Second, I will have some beer and a party, and I will continue supporting Ukraine and people in need. Maybe I’ll buy a house. We will see," he added.

When asked if he felt there was a tipping point or hand that was crucial to his win of the tournament.

"Follow your passion, and the results will come,"

“Honestly, I don’t have this feeling that I will definitely win. The stacks were pretty shallow, and it is swingy. If I lose this A♦2♦ vs A♣A♠ hand, I will not be the chip leader. I’d say the turning point where I got the chip lead and was far ahead of the others was at two tables on the second feature table. We got big stacks there close to each other, and I was getting good hands in good spots to accumulate some chips.”

Rounding out the winner's interview, Plesuv gave inspiring words for all the recreational players and grinders out there.

“Keep studying and keep believing in your dreams. Follow your passion, and the results will come. Don’t let results affect your life too much. You can extract a lot of good things, even when you have a losing streak."

Recap of the Day

The day started with Andreas Kniep putting the pressure on the rest of the table, and the first elimination could be credited to Kniep he beat Vitor De Souza Countinho in a flip to him. This eliminated the Brazilian in seventh place for $222,749.

The next casualty was Myles Mullaly, who saw himself on the wrong end of a two outer.

Anton Smirnov was departed next. He lost a flip to be eliminated in fifth place for $373,524. Shortly after, Plesuv coolered Kniep out of contention after cracking the latter's aces.

Paul Gunness was eliminated in third place for $650,058. His Ace high hand lost a flip against Plesuv

The heads-up battle was a short affair, and on the final hand of the night, Plesuv bested the pocket jacks held by Florian Ribouchon to seal the victory.

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