Paul Berger Wins The Last Bracelet Of The Summer

All good things must come to an end eventually, and after a fantastic summer of poker, it’s time to say goodbye to WSOP 2023. Wrapping up this year’s World Series was the $1,000 Super Turbo No-Limit Hold'em event, which was won by Paul Berger. This is Paul’s first-ever bracelet, so there will be at least one player leaving Vegas on a high.

Fitting End To The Series

This year’s WSOP was full of action, with chips flying back and forth at a rate of knots. It was fitting that this was the event to round out the summer, as it was non-stop poker action from start to finish! It took just twelve hours to whittle down 1,482 entries to a single winner, and by the time the final table was being played out, it was the only table running in the Horseshoe Casino.

Plenty of big names entered this event, trying to end their summer with a bracelet win, including Davidi Kitai (222nd - $1,601), Justin Bonomo (198th - $1,601), Allen Kessler (197th - $1,601), Felipe Ramos (155th - $1,751), Viktor Blom (103rd - $2,137), John Juanda (95th - $2,316), and Daniel Negreanu (80th - $2,838).

However, it was American player Paul Berger who ended up taking the very last bracelet of the series, and he was up against some stiff competition on the final table. Hon Cheong Lee,  Michael Liang, and Santiago Plante all have over $1 million in tournament winnings, and Yuri Dzivielevski is a multiple bracelet winner. 

In keeping with the fast pace of the tournament, it only took two hours for the final table to play out. Tai Cao, Alex Zhang, and Hon Cheong Lee were eliminated in quick succession, and it didn’t take long for Kafton Ramsamooj and Michael Liang to follow them out the door. Miguel Cardoso and Santiago Plante were eliminated within ten minutes of Liang’s exit, leaving Dzivielevski and Berger to battle it out for the bracelet.

Dzivielevski got off to the better start, taking an early chip lead, but things would swing back and forth between the pair over the next few hands. However, just after Berger took the chip lead for the second time, Dzivielevski jammed with QJo from the button and was called by the A6o of Berger. The flop came K93, giving Dzivielevski a gutshot. However, the turn and river were no help to the Brazilian, and he was eliminated in second place.

Winner’s Reaction

While any poker player knows that you need luck to win a poker tournament, Paul Berger is lucky that he even entered the event at all! He only came to the casino to cash out his account balance as the series was ending, and he happened to notice this event taking place, so he hopped in. Just over 12 hours later, he was posing with the bracelet, having won over $200,000!

When asked whether the bracelet or the money was more important, Paul said, “The money is more important because I donate it, so the fact that I've got the biggest score of my life and it'll go to a good cause is very cool.”

Paul has said that the majority of this win will go towards helping an orphanage in Nepal, and the rest will be going to other charitable causes. We couldn’t think of a more amazing way to round out the summer, and we would like to congratulate Paul on his win and applaud his decision to donate the money to those less fortunate.

Event #95 $1,000 Super Turbo No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Results

That’s a wrap on this year’s WSOP; who do you think was the stand-out player of the series? Will you be making the trip to Vegas for next year’s World Series? Let us know on social media and stay tuned for all the latest WSOP news and events.

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