Boris Kolev Wins WSOP Paradise $3,000 Six-Max For Second Career Bracelet

Boris Kolev became the second-ever multi-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner from his home country of Bulgaria this week, taking down the 2023 WSOP Paradise $3,000 six-max no-limit hold’em event for his second piece of hardware. The victory saw Kolev pocket $424,550 from the prize pool while entering into a tie with fellow two-time bracelet winner Yuliyan Nikolaev Kolev for the most WSOP wins by a Bulgarian player.

This event drew a field of 755 entries, more than doubling the $1 million guarantee to create a final prize pool of $2,265,000. The top 114 finishers cashed, with six-figure paydays for the top four.

Kolev now has more than $3.4 million in career tournament earnings after taking down this event, placing him seventh on Bulgaria’s all-time money list.

In addition to the title and the money, Kolev also secured 1,368 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was his first win and third final-table finish of the year. With 1,796 total points, he is now ranked just outside the top 250 in the 2023 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

This event played out over the course of two days at the Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas. The final day began with 45 players still in contention, all having locked up at least $8,500 for their efforts.

Notable players that fell on the way to the final table included bracelet winner Darren Rabinowitz (41st), bracelet winner and 2018 WSOP main event sixth-place finisher Aram Zobian (38th), three-time World Poker Tour champion Eric Afriat (26th), bracelet winner Nikita Luther (25th), 2017 PokerStars Championship Bahamas winner Christian Harder (24th), bracelet winner Christian Rudolph (23rd), two-time bracelet winner Erick Lindgren (22nd), two-time bracelet winner Yuval Bronshetein (14th), three-time bracelet winner Georgios Sotiropoulos (12th), bracelet winner Rafael Reis (11th), bracelet winner David Miscikowsi (10th), bracelet winner Alex Keating (9th), and recent mystery millions champion Jin Hoon Lee (7th).

Kolev entered the official final table in third chip position but knocked out Mark Burford (4th – $123,200) on his way to setting up a heads-up clash with Australia’s Daniel Neilson. Kolev trailed when cards got in the air for the final two players, but he managed to battle his way ahead in time for the final hand of the event. Neilson was all-in with KQ leading Kolve’s J10, but a 987610 runout saw Kolev flop a jack-high straight and hold from there. Neilson earmed $259,100 as the runner-up finisher.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Winner photo credit: WSOP / Matthew Berglund.

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