Braxton Dunaway runs away with the Monster Stack Poker World Championship title

Braxton Dunaway tops massive field of 8,317 entries in 2023 World Series of Poker The $1,500 No Limit ‘Monster Stack’ Hold’em event, he scored five of the six available knockouts on the final day on his way to earning $1,162,681 and his first gold bracelet.

Prior to this massive victory, the 40-year-old Texas resident’s biggest direct score was 5th in 2019 WSOP Choctaw $1,700 for the main event vs. $68,390. With this latest win, Dunaway now has nearly $1.5 million in lifetime cash.

In addition to hardware and money, Dunaway also won 1,320 card player Player of the Year points for leading in the event. This was his first POY– Qualifying result for this year, but it alone was enough to see him climb the rankings and finish 167th in 2023 POY Leaderboard submitted by Global Poker.

This event took six days to complete, with two starts and four more days of work. The final day of the event started with seven players remaining and Nicholas Gerrity leading.

Four-time bracelet winner Joe Cada was the first to fall. 2009 WSOP The main event champ took it all with AK leading AJ of Dunaway, but Jack on the River finished his run in seventh place. The $186,149 payday he earned at the event increased his lifetime earnings to nearly $14.4 million, with more than $13.7 million of that in cash. WSOP.

The next knockdown also saw the AK outrun by Dunaway’s low ace-high. Joshua Adcock’s AK was dominating his opponent’s AQ, but the queen on the turn left Adcock in the rough and with one card coming. The river was no help and Adcock was sent to the rails in sixth place ($240,695).

Gerrity lost a coin flip with an A-6 in the pocket doubles of bracelet winner Jesse Rokowitz. Neither player improved and Gerrity was eliminated in fifth place, earning $313,297. Loic Dobrigna quickly followed suit when his A-2 hit a QQ to Dunaway, who fumbled a combination and cruised close to winning the bowl and narrowing the field of three. Dobrigna took home $410,493 as the fourth-place finisher.

Nearly two hours after Dobrynya was eliminated, play ended in three hands when Rokowitz called it all out on the turn with the second pair and a force. He was up against an open straight draw and Dunaway’s overcard. River brought in a Queen, connected to this plus card to give Dunaway the best hand. Rockowitz earned $541,376 for his third-place bid, increasing his lifetime earnings to nearly $2.3 million in the process.

The head-to-head game began with Dunaway holding a nearly 5:2 chip advantage over Colin Robinson. It didn’t take long for Dunaway to turn this feature into the title. In the final hand, he went in limping by 97 from the button. Robinson raised from the A’s big blind2 And Dunaway called. The flip came 732. Robinson called the selection on a pot from Dunaway and brought up the round of 9. Robinson checked with the bottom pair again and Dunaway bet with the first pair. Robinson and K. Complete the painting. With him checked again, Dunaway bet enough to put Robinson all in. After some thought, Robinson made the call with a pair of deuces and read the bad news. He finished in second place, earning a career best score of $718,649 for his efforts.

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

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 credits: PokerGO / Enrique Malfavon.