Canadian up-and-coming poker player Pablo Mariz stole his first gold at the annual Millionaire Maker event on Wednesday evening after a gripping Heads-Up duel against one of the most well-known names in the poker world, Dejuante Alexander, and left the tournament $1,221,407 richer.
The 27-year-old poker player managed to win his first gold bracelet in his career and became a millionaire with the help of his talent and hard work. His previous accomplishments include participation in the WSOP $1,500 Tag Team No-Limit Hold’em where he finished as a runner-up, which estimates his winnings in the tournament to $64,300. Another event which he attended is Event #19: $1,00 Pot-Limit Omaha in 2016, where he finished 58th.
Interestingly enough, he played in the Event #14: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Millionaire Maker last year, but the luck was not yet on his side. His win in this year’s edition of the tournament instantly makes him the current leader of the WSOP’s Kings Casino Rozvadov Player of the Year, promising great future for him. Mariz win changed not only his life, making him an overnight millionaire, but also his short-term plans. He had booked a room for the first two weeks of the WSOP, but now thanks to his fresh stack of money, he can afford to remain till the very end of the series.
This is the first win for Canada at the WSOP event which has its 48th edition this year and met and exceeded all expectations of both the spectators and the players. Speaking of them, there were 7,759 poker players signed up for the tournament in total, which made Mariz task not the easiest, but still attainable for a player with his skills. The event managed to gather a prize pool of roughly $10,477,350. The WSOP $1,500 buy-in Millionaire Maker tournaments has enjoyed tons of attention and popularity among the players ever since its first edition back in 2013.
Pablo Mariz faced a lot of ups and downs during his participation in the series. At an earlier stage of the WSOP $1,500 Tag Team No-Limit Hold’em, during Day 4 he was short of stacks and he was endangered of busting out, but he handled the situation like a professional poker player and held the lead for a bigger chunk of the day, among 14 other players. Later there were only 9 of them left for the final table.
After finishing second, his direct rival D.J. Alexander received the consolation prize of $754,499, and he could not reach the gold bracelet. He already has a WSOP Circuit ring in his collection, which he pocketed during the 2015/2016 edition of the tournament.
