At the moment, 24-year-old Yinan Zhou bluffed one in all poker’s hardest opponents, busted his poker idol and have become the first-ever World Collection of Poker (WSOP) Paradise Tremendous Important Occasion as he gained the $25,000 buy-in occasion within the Bahamas for $6,000,000 and his first bracelet.
The primary-ever Tremendous Important Occasion, a $50 million assured occasion that fell wanting that lofty and historic purpose by $550,000, drew 1,978 runners throughout 4 stay beginning flights and three on-line flights.
China’s Zhou grew up watching clips of Justin Bonomo and even modeled his desk posture after poker’s second-most-winning participant. Zhou bought to play with Bonomo on the closing desk as we speak and halted his pursuit to inch nearer to all-time cash chief Bryn Kenney.
“I performed on the closing desk with my idol and busted him,” Zhou informed PokerNews in a winner’s interview. “That is superior.”
He additionally pulled off a powerful bluff in opposition to chip chief and sixth-place finisher Michael Addamo, who a couple of years in the past was nominated for “Gamers Selection for Hardest Opponent” on the GPI awards.
“I am feeling calm, to be trustworthy,” Zhou stated. “Once I began the ultimate desk nine-handed … I (felt) very nervous, particularly the massive river bluff in opposition to Addamo. However after we bought down to 6, I (felt) very calm … I simply take pleasure in(ed) this closing desk.”
WSOP Paradise Tremendous Important Occasion Ultimate Desk Outcomes
Boeree Makes Historical past on Day 5
Regardless of not often enjoying tournaments, science communicator, podcaster and former PokerStars ambassador Liv Boeree made the ultimate desk and even had the help of the world’s richest particular person behind her.
The 2017 Tag Workforce bracelet winner in the end completed fourth for a career-best $2,800,000, which is the most important money for a lady in match historical past after Wenling Gao’s runner-up end within the 2020 GGPoker WSOP On-line Important Occasion for $2,748,605. Boeree’s payout is about 1/165,714th of Elon Musk’s web value, or sufficient for 23 years of Burning Man Extremely VIP Expertise tickets.
Some 2,300 miles away, Boeree’s different half, former Musk aide Igor Kurganov, made a run on the WPT World Championship in Las Vegas and spoke to PokerNews’ Calum Grant about his relationship with the highly effective tech entrepreneur.
All eyes have been on Bonomo he was threatened with disqualification on Day 4 over his Palestinian keffiyeh. Bonomo did not deliver a Palestinian flag to the ultimate desk like he had teased, however he did say “free Palestine” into the digicam after falling in seventh place for $1,300,000.
Earlier on X, Bonomo promised to donate a portion of his winnings to Palestinian causes. When requested if he knew how a lot of his seven-figure rating he deliberate to donate, he informed PokerNews he did not know but and nonetheless had some accounting to do.
A win for Italy’s Mustapha Kanit would’ve put him on the prime of the nation’s cash listing, however the eccentric professional fell in third earlier than a heads-up battle between Zhou and Brazil’s Marcelo Aziz, who had a narrative for the ages as he freerolled into the occasion on-line earlier than incomes a $4,600,000 payout for a runner-up end.
“I Take Pleasure in My Nation”
Zhou, who began enjoying poker in 2018 as an 18-year-old and has performed “hundreds of thousands of fingers on-line, each money video games and tournaments,” was the second Chinese language bracelet winner of the sequence. Lei Yu, who Zhou described as a “Chinese language tremendous professional,” took down Occasion #6: $5,000 Deepstack No-Restrict Maintain’em for $293,050.
Ren Lin even paused his heads-up match in opposition to Nick Schulman in The Nearer to congratulate Zhou and hop in a couple of winner’s photographs.
“I take pleasure in my nation,” Zhou stated. “Possibly this yr is excellent for us Chinese language gamers.”
On Streets We Name the Zhou
Zhou’s bluff in opposition to Addamo, who’s often the one doing the bluffing, passed off with seven gamers remaining and noticed Addamo main out on the flip with prime pair as Zhou raised the Australian with simply ace-high. Addamo known as and checked on the overcard river, solely to fold the most effective hand when confronted with one other wager.
How did Zhou have the braveness to make such a transfer? “As a result of I come right here for (the) win. I am not (coming) right here to fold.”
That wraps up the first-ever WSOP Tremendous Important Occasion on the tail-end of an thrilling cease in Paradise. Take a look at the stay reporting hub because the final tables are damaged down within the Atlantis conference heart.
Connor Richards
Editor & Reside Reporter U.S.
