Alex Kolev has been on fire in the high-stakes live tournament tournament in recent months. The Bulgarian poker player’s three highest points, each with seven numbers, have come since the beginning of May.
Coliffe’s latest and biggest success has seen him defeat a field of 176 entries in 2023 World Series of Poker $50,000 from the No Limit Hold’em High Roller event to win his first bracelet and $2,087,073.
“I am so grateful and so excited to be here. It has always been my dream to win a bracelet, and to do it in this event against this kind of field is the best it can be.” Poker News Reporters live after coming out on top.
The streak began on May 1, when he emerged victorious on the €100,000 Super Buy Reel at Monte Carlo European Poker Tour Festival in the amount of $1,108,827. Just seven weeks after that, he finished fourth in the $250,000 buy-in event at The WSOP for another $1,632,005. Kulev now has more than $6.9 million in lifetime tournament winnings, with more than $5.5 million in live tournament cash earned in 2023.
In addition to hardware and money, Kolev also earned 1326 card player Player of the Year points for this latest victory. With two titles, nine final tables and 3,247 points, he is now the 26th player ranked 26th in 2023. POY Arrangement submitted by Global Poker.
He also brought home 800 PokerGO Tour Point to win, and climb to 5th place in the high stakes leaderboard.
The third and final day of the event began with Kolev the chip lead among the five remaining competitors. 2021 WSOP Main event champion Koray Aldemir got it all up with the jacks up and pulled the nut facing Gergely Kulcsar’s failed nine-mile ride. Aldemir was eliminated and finished in fifth place ($533,561). The German professional has now racked up more than $22.5 million in lifetime earnings after this latest deep run.
Then Kulksar hit out Daniel Smiljkovic (4th – $713,413) to build up a solid game lead with a three-armer. Kolliff fought his way out on top in time to play the pot against bracelet winner Jake Schindler. Koliff raised the button and canceled with an A-9 when Schindler paid three of the big blind with an A-8. Kolliff fumbled the ninth and held from there to knock out Schindler in the third ($957,491).
The heads-up game started with Kulev at odds of almost 2:1, but he quickly extended that to more than 4:1. In the final hand, Kulev lifted the button with an A
9 Kulcsar paid approximately 16 large blinds with A.
5
. Kolev called and the council ran out 922
37 To secure fate and the title of Kolev.
Kulcsar earned $1,289,909 as the runner-up. It was his second appearance of the summer, having also reached singles play in the $5,300 Hybrid Online and Live Hold’em event that was part of the WSOP Connected Schedule.
Here is a look at the payouts and ranking points awarded in the final table:
| place | player | earnings | POY points | PGT points |
| 1 | Alex Coliff | $2,087,073 | 1326 | 800 |
| 2 | Gergely Kolksar | $1,289,909 | 1105 | 700 |
| 3 | Jake Schindler | $957,491 | 884 | 574 |
| 4 | Daniel Smiljkovic | $713,413 | 663 | 428 |
| 5 | Koray Demir | $533,561 | 553 | 320 |
| 6 | Johannes Straver | $400,562 | 442 | 240 |
| 7 | Brandon Whitmire | $301,859 | 332 | 181 |
| 8 | Moshe Rafaelovich | $228,347 | 221 | 137 |
Visit the Card Player 2023 World Series of Poker page for schedules, news, interviews and the latest event results. WSOP Sponsored coverage Global Poker.
Image credit: WSOP / Matthew Berglund.
