The 2023 Wynn Millions began on February 20 and is scheduled to last until March 19. While the $3,500 buy-in, $3 million GTD Wynn Millions Main Event, which begins today, is attracting a lot of attention, a number of side events have been taking place over the past few weeks.
The $1,600 buy-in, $1.5 million GTD Mystery Bounty took place from
February 23 to 26, and Ryan Wolfson emerged victorious. With 1,270 participants contending more than three beginning days, a $2,463,800 prize pool was made. Nipun Java (14th place, $12,303), Eric Baldwin (15th place, $12,303), Qing Liu (18th place, $9,300), Ben Palmer (21st place, $8,125), and Adam Hendrix (22nd place, $8,125) were among those who made relatively deep runs and obtained a share of the regular prize pool.
At the last table, a deal was reached that saw Ryan Wolfson of Westbury, New York, receive $130,080 in prize money in addition to nine bounties, totaling $163,580 in prizes.
In the $600 H.O.R.S.E. tournament, 92 runners generated a $47,380 prize pool for the top 11 finishers. Ryan Laplante finally wins the Wynn Trophy. Svetlana Gromenkova (10th place) and Ke Chen (11th place) were the two players who were able to cash out for $1,279 each but did not make it to the final table.
Even though poker pro Ryan Laplante had made it to the final table 19 times in Wynn tournaments, he had never won the coveted trophy. All of that changed when he made a heads-up deal with Tony Phan, who got $12,400 in prize money, and won the tournament with $12,401.
Joseph Cheong Wins the $600 NLH $200K GTD Early Title Between
February 21 and 23, 805 players competed for a prize pool of $414,575, which went to the top 88 finishers. Tuan Mai (13th, $5,511), Chris McNulty (18th, $3,608), Cole Ferraro (20th, $3,608), Jeremy Pekarek (29th, $2,412), Ben Palmer (35th, $2,412), and Rachel Whetstone (39th, $2,118) were among those to cash in but not make it to the final table.
The last table contained a few notable poker players including Elvis Toomas (seventh – $10,737), David Jackson (fourth – $23,258), and James Van Alstyne (third – $32,876). In the end, Joseph Cheong won the tournament for $74,670 by defeating Vinny Pahuja in heads-up play.
Peter Costa, a former winner of the Australian Millions, takes home the $232,800 prize for the top 27 finishers in the $1,100 Seniors NLH $100K GTD, which was held on February 27 and 28 and attracted 240 participants. Michael Ruter (10th place, $4,598), Danny Bigelow (14th place, $3,562), CY Williams (19th place, $2,863), and Arnie Friedman (25th place, $2,363) were among those to cash in but not make it to the final table.
A three-way agreement was made at the final table, and Peter Costa won the tournament for $44,179. You probably recognize Costa as the winner of the $221,862 Aussie Millions Main Event in 2003 if that name sounds familiar.
Costa posted on social media, “Just before the mass shutdowns due to COVID in 2020, I decided that I had unfinished business with poker.” Despite the fact that I was getting older, it was only a matter of when rather than if… This year, I was determined that the unfinished business needed to be finished.
He went on to say: I was just enjoying the moment because it was a fun time with really nice people. Looking back on this event, it was really fun to see the numbers decrease, with me and my short stack mostly being mere observers.
That year, he won $115,662 in the $300 Limit Hold’em event at the California State Poker Championship, among other things. Limit Hold’em at Bellagio for $112,000 at $2,500; $101,520 was won in the $5,000 Championship Event at the 2002 Hall of Fame Poker Classic; a pair of victories for nearly $40,000 at the 2002 Four Queens Poker Classic; and earning $78,275 by winning the Late Night Poker Series 6 Grand Final.