Tyler Brown Wins 2023 WSOP Event #3 $1,000 Mystery Millions for a Million Dollars

Quite simply, Tyler Brown just made the best play of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) that we have seen. With his tournament life on the line, not to mention the million-dollar top prize, Brown called all-in on the turn with just ace-high as he got the better of the overnight chip leader Guang Chen heads-up last night. With all the dramatic final table action thrilling fans in the Thunderdome and an online audience of thousands on PokerGo alike, it was one of the most entertaining moments of this year’s WSOP so far.

Making The Final Table

The Mystery Millions is an event unlike any other on this year’s WSOP schedule. Event #3 on the list of 95 bracelet events only cost $1,000 to enter and had a million-dollar top prize, but that wasn’t even the unique part about it. Anyone who made Day 2 and then eliminated another player would win a Mystery Bounty prize, taking their turn to draw an envelope from a drum which could be worth anything from $1,000 to $1,000,000.

This year’s immense turnout of 18,188 entries was so large that not one but two million-dollar bounties would be included in the selection of prizes from the start of the Day 2 action. Across four Day 1 flights, the field was reduced by 18 times, with only 1,005 players remaining in the hunt for those million-dollar bounties, including last year’s sole winner of the prize, Matt Glantz. This time around, Glantz got nowhere near it, but another big-name player was only one digit out – Dan Shak winning $100,000 after busting one victim.

The two lucky players who won the million-dollar bounties turned out to be Shant Marashlian and Patrik Liang, both of whom won their life-changing money on Day 2 of the three-day event. By the third and final day, 30 players remained and both of the big bounties were gone. There was, however, one last way to win a million dollars – to take down the tournament. Day three whittled its way down to an eight-handed final table, and almost immediately, Tam Ho departed in eighth place for $121,683.

Seven players remained in the hunt for that seven-figure prize.

Shak Attack Before Brown and Chen Rise

It was the most experienced player in the final seven who busted first, Dan Shak eliminated for $154,940 when his pocket eights were picked off by Guang Chen’s pocket jacks. Chen, who came into the final day as the overnight chip leader, was still dominant, but after the eliminations of both Tauan De Oliveira Naves in sixth ($198,320) and Rhian Fineis in fifth ($255,210), it was Tyler Brown who sat atop the leaderboard.

Guang Chen had lost his lead, but he wasn’t about to relinquish his former advantage for long. Busting Steven Thompson in fourth place for $330,150, Chen quietened the crowd on the rail, many of them having been there in support of the enigmatic Thompson. Chen soon took out Ryan McKnight in third place too, his queen-ten dominating then defeating McKnight’s queen-six to send play heads-up.

Chen’s stack was bigger than that of Brown by some distance, but despite that fact, only three hands would take place in the final duel They say you’re only ever a couple of hands away from disaster in No Limit Hold’em and so it proved for Chen as a brilliant bluff was about to be picked off to his cost.

Brown’s Hero Call Stuns Poker World

The “Shot Heard Around the World” famously took place a quarter of a millennia ago, but back on American soil, Tyler Brown’s epic call made it to all the territories across the globe that love poker.

With a board of 3-3-2-Q showing, Chen made a massive bluff with king-nine, setting Brown all-in. Brown didn’t know it, but he was ahead with ace-five… but could he make the call? Incredibly he did exactly that, taking around 90 seconds to commit his chips. Here’s what happened when he made that call.

This INSANE call might have just made Tyler Brown a millionaire.

With all the money on the line, Brown finds an INCREDIBLE call against Chen Guang with just ace-high and one card to come. pic.twitter.com/SqlAMhGveN

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) June 6, 2023

Surviving the river to win that hand, Brown had ten times Chen’s stack and soon after, Brown clinched the bracelet.

Chen shoved with ace-jack, Brown made the call with queen-seven and hit a seven on both flop and river to ‘trip’ his opponent up and claim the WSOP gold, to raucous cheers from his rail. A monumental moment for Brown himself, it was a thrilling end to an epic event, by far the most populated at the 2023 WSOP to date.