Bradley Gafford wins the 2023 Poker Mini Main Event

Bradley Gafford is the year 2023 World Series of Poker Mini Main Event Champion. The San Diego, California resident surpassed 5,257 entries in a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout tournament to win his first entry. WSOP The gold bracelet and the grand prize is $549,555.

It was the biggest championship result to date for Gafford, as he easily surpassed the $97,386 he earned for finishing second in the $1,100 buy-in event at Where are the millions? last spring.

Demand was high for this tournament, which packed into the busy weekend leading up to America’s Independence Day and the full-size main event. As a result, the line for late registrants snakes across much of the distance between the Paris Courses and Horseshoe Las Vegas areas. Check out a social media post from poker player Elvis Toomas for a video documentation of the massive queue:

Small main line. For your information The video begins at the horseshoe. Set the main event line at 10670.5 pic.twitter.com/hkLfbLNPy1

– Elvis Thomas (@elvistoomas) July 2, 2023

By the end of the first day, the field had narrowed from several thousand entries to 426, all of whom were already in the money. The top 789 contestants cash in the event, with deep notables including bracelet winner Aditya Sushant (115th), John Reading bracelet winner (21st), two-time bracelet winner Timur Margolin (15th).

The final day started with Jeremy Olyon in the lead with only five competitors remaining. Spelling the coin before flipping end Oliver Berens, whose AQ hit the pocket scores for 14 runs _WSOP Circuit-Golden Ring winner Joshua Richard. With scores full of nines by the turn, Reichard was dead drawing Perens with one card coming in. Berens earned $147,129 as the fifth-place finisher.

Jennifer Abad was next down, as KJ was unable to beat Richard’s A-3. Abad failed to improve at all, while Richard hit a triple to take the punt down and narrow the field to three. Abad earned $193,103 for her fourth-place appearance.

Gafford was the clear short stack when he started with three hands, but found a pair of double runs through Reichard to escape the danger zone. Then he called it all up with AQ facing a button hit from Reichard, who was carrying a 106. Reichard missed the par, but lost at the turn and river and Gafford’s rising ace earned him another double.

In another lead engagement, Reichard jammed again from the button. This time, Gafford connected for a pocket score, which held out to a favorable 8-6 for Richard. Gafford, however, outgrew the chip lead.

Reichard won the next big award with his A3 It is superior to K.4 From Oleon (3rd place – $255,215). Even with that knockout, Gafford held the lead over Reichard with the single going into play.

Reichard worked his way up to the lead just in time to get the deciding bet of the match. fail 1063Gafford examined him with a question10 Richard will bet hold 102. Gafford raised checks and then called Reichard’s lip. 7 turn and 5 River Hand Gafford kept him ahead.

Left with less than four big blinds, Reichard was quickly eliminated with his A-9 which Gafford beat 4-3. Reichard earned $339,646 as the runner-up. This was his biggest score to date. His lifetime income increased to over $2.7 million.

Here is a look at payments and POY Points awarded at the final table:

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Winner’s photo credit: WSOP / Danny Maxwell.