The first-ever World Series of Poker Paradise bracelet was awarded in the wee hours of Tuesday, Dec. 5. Brazil’s Allan Mello made history as the first player to capture a bracelet in the Bahamas, emerging victorious from a field of 3,496 entries in the hybrid live and online $1,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em ‘Millionaire Maker’ event.
Mello earned $1,000,000 along with the hardware, by far the largest recorded score of his career. Prior to this win, his top payday was a tenth place finish in the 2023 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event for $112,600 back in January.
“I can’t believe I won this,” he told PokerNews live reporters after coming out on top. "I dreamed of this. Finally, I got my first bracelet and my biggest win of $1 million! So I am very happy.”
This event began on GGPoker as part of the 2023 WSOP Online festival. The final 100 players from the sea of thousands that turned out all made the trip to Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island to face off in person.
Mello held the lead when the field combined onto the final table. After Roland Israelashvili (9th – $50,000) and Arnaud Enselme (8th – $65,000) were sent packing, Mello picked up pocket kings against the pocket tens of recent WSOP Europe main event fourth-place finisher Kasparas Klezys (7th – $81,100) and held to narrow the field to six.
Mello then won with Q-10 suited against the A-K of Clemen Deng (6th – $103,500) to further add to his stack. Nazar Buhaiov busted Maxime Parys (5th – $128,000) to keep within reach of the Mello for the time being, but another big hand saw the Brazilian pull away once again. Maksim Vaskresenski got all-in preflop with 9
3 trailing Mello’s A
9
. Neither player improved on a king-high runout and Vaskresenski was eliminated in fourth place ($158,500).
Morten Norland’s run came to an end in third place when his pocket eights clashed with the pocket kings of Mello. The kings held up and Norland was sent home with $263,500 for his efforts.
Heads-up play began with Mello holding roughly a 3:1 chip lead over Buhaiov. The early going saw Buhaiov close the gap and then move ahead, only for Mello to score a couple of crucial double-ups to regain the lead. The final hand saw Buhaiov attempt a river bluff with ten high, only for Mello to pick it off with third pair to secure the pot and the title. Buhaiov earned $593,500 as the second-place finisher.
Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings |
| 1 | Allan Mello | $1,000,000 |
| 2 | Nazar Buhaiov | $593,500 |
| 3 | Morten Norland | $263,500 |
| 4 | Maksim Vaskresenski | $158,500 |
| 5 | Maxime Parys | $128,000 |
| 6 | Clemen Deng | $103,500 |
| 7 | Kasparas Klezys | $81,100 |
| 8 | Arnaud Enselme | $65,000 |
| 9 | Roland Israelashvili | $50,000 |
Photo credit: WSOP / Tomas Stacha.
Copyright © 2001-2024
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
.jpeg)
