Artur Martirosian Flip & Go's His Way to Second WSOP Bracelet ($110,591)

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Dec 14, 2023 5 min read

Another gold bracelet winner has been crowned on the penultimate day of the 2023 World Series of Poker Paradise at the Atlantis Resort & Casino in The Bahamas. Only 96 players out of 767 entries had survived their pineapple flip to secure a portion of the $567,580 prize pool and returned to their seats for the final day of Event #11: $800 Flip & Go.

Some of the contestants were chasing the elusive WSOP victory, while others had a shot at additional bonuses courtesy of GGPoker. After running hot on the final two tables, rising poker prodigy Artur Martirosian defeated Dongwuk Moon in heads-up to claim his second WSOP gold bracelet.

In September 2023, Martirosian won the $10K HU Championship on GGPoker and he has now doubled his tally. This year alone, Martirosian reached two final tables in the live editions and cashed eight times. The top prize of $110,591 sometimes only represents one buy-in when he competes in high-stakes competitions but it also comes with the shiny hardware.

Runner-up Moon became a fan favourite during the ongoing $5,000 Main Event Championship in which he cashed for $13,900 for his 146th place. The consolation prize was far higher this time, as he collected $70,000 for the efforts.

Also featured on the final table were Event #9: $100,000 Ultra High Roller winner Masashi Oya and Adam Swan, who reached his third WSOP live final table in 2023.

Final Table Result Event #11: $800 Flip & Go

WSOP Paradise Main Event Hands of the Week

Winner's Reaction

The online crusher, who has become known under the moniker "mararthur1", appeared on the live poker scene in 2017, and his big scores started flowing in 2020. Ever since he has racked up more than $12.5 million in cashes to enter the top 100 of the all-time money list.

"The amount of bracelets doesn't really show your skill level,"

Martirosian confirmed that he feels very comfortable during live poker sessions and that showed today.

"I don't know, but the last few years I enjoy live poker more and more. I give my best all the time," the new two-time champion said. He has been known to be one of the most aggressive players at the tables but that isn't his only recipe for success, as reiterated with the help of a translator.

"Yes, the aggressive style helps a lot, but sometimes you have to change the gears and change the style."

The WSOP bracelet wasn't necessarily the first thing he had in mind when traveling to Paradise Island in order to compete in the tournaments during the two-week series.

"I didn't think about it [the bracelet], I just came here to play poker. The next bracelet will be in the summer, I hope. But the amount of bracelets doesn't really show your skill level or how good you are at the game, because you might be lucky with some of them. But it is obviously nice to have it as a trophy for home."

With two WSOP bracelets and one EPT Main Event under his belt, the next goals for his poker resume are as firmly set as his travel plans to Las Vegas the next day.

"World Poker Tour and Triton are next. I just can't win Triton, it is my unluckiest series," Martirosian said with a smile on the face.

Action of the Final Day

With seventy five big blinds starting stack and 30-minute levels, the opening stages unfolded in exhilarating speed. During the first four hours of play, two thirds of those who had qualified through their respective Crazy Pineapple flips had already visited the payout desk. That included such big names as David Williams, Shaun Deeb, Chris Brewer, Maria Ho, Erick Lindgren, Jeff Gross and Josh Arieh.

The next two hour session at the tables whittled down the field of hopefuls to just one dozen and Artur Martirosian skyrocketed to the top spot with one third of the chips in play. He was responsible for the eliminations of Dov Markowich, Rene Majed, Aram Oganyan, and Wai Lo. Oganyan was caught three-bet jamming 45 big blinds with ace-king and Martirosian prevailed with pocket kings. He then also held with queen-nine suited for flopped top pair and turned straight draw against the naked nut flush draw of Lo.

Yuval Bronshtein missed out on securing a $25,000 bonus by GGPoker when he finished in 12th place and Dong Meng followed soon after. The run-good of Martirosian then extended further when he found kings again, besting the ace-queen suited of Oktay Koeysu in a preflop contest.

Once the field combined to a single table, all of the short stacks kept doubling. It was then Matthew Aquino who was knocked out by Sunghak Lee and Adam Swan subsequently locked up the aforementioned WSOP Paradise Parlay bonus, since he had an 8th and 2nd place finish in Las Vegas earlier in the summer already. It wouldn't take long for the next all-in showdown to unfold and John Armbrust lost a classic flip with ace-king suited against the pocket queens of Dongwuk Moon.

Swan exited the final table with a smile on the face and “back to Vegas” after his short stack ride came to an end against Lee. Masashi Oya then eventually lost an all-in for his tournament life after previously escaping several times and Juan Baraza was the next short stack to bow out. In four-handed play, Lee and Moon had pulled ahead while Martirosian dropped to third place.

Lee's fortunes changed when Yin doubled through him and then ran with ace-eight into the pocket kings of Martirosian. A short-lived three-handed tussle saw Moon jump into a big lead when he jammed into Martirosian before his queen-ten suited turned a flush to knock out Yin. That gave the jovial South Korean a four-to-one lead over Martirosian in the duel for the coveted WSOP gold bracelet.

In the first hand of heads-up play, Martirosian doubled in a flip and then regained the lead through another double-up soon after. There would be no comeback from Moon when his jam with queen-seven ran into another big hand of Martirosian, and that concluded the tournament.

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