Canadian Restaurateur Wins Over $1m in WSOP
Benny Chen, a 32 year old amateur poker player from Prince Edward Island has whet the appetite of tens of thousands of participants in this year's World Series of Poker tournament with his rags to riches story.
Chen entered one of the WSOP 2013's most lucrative events, dubbed 'the millionaire maker' for its $1 million prize pool on a $1,500 buy in, and beat a field of 6,343 players in Event 6 to take home nearly $1.2 million.
The restaurant manager nearly saw his dream fade when he failed to make it through in flight A of the event, but on his second entry, things showed an incredible turnaround and he went on become the first Canadian poker player in the event to win a million.
Chen is now the third Canadian to win a WSOP bracelet in WSOP 2013, joining Daniel Negreanu and Charles Sylvestre and the Canada WSOP winner is celebrating his life-changing sum.
Event 6 in WSOP
Event 6 in the 2013 WSOP schedule has become one of the most highly anticipated events in the competition. The 'millionaire maker' was the brainchild of the WSOP promotional staff, hoping to attract more players to this annual Vegas happening.
Thanks to the two Day 1 flights into the event which allowed for re-entry, the players descended on Event 6 in droves, registering over 6,300 players and making it the largest non-main event in WSOP history.
According to Seth Palansky, the Vice President of Corporate Communications for Caesars Entertainment which owns the WSOP brand: "This really was a tremendous success, and it is events like these that really help broaden poker's base and to reach new people."
WSOP Breaking Records
While WSOP organizers knew that Event 6 would be a big crowd-drawer, it did not anticipate just how many would take advantage of a tournament that had a small $1,500 buy in and a guaranteed first place prize of $1,000,000.
The Event managed to shatter records, not only by the number of participants who entered which made it one of the biggest tournaments in poker history, but also the largest single starting day field in poker history.
Event 6 was the eighth largest poker tournament in the game's history, with every player at the final table earning six figure sums, and the top 648 finishers taking home at least $2,700.
