Belarussian Aliaksandr Shylko won the 2023 PokerStars Players Championship, taking home the massive $3,121,838 first-place prize after a three-way chop. The $25,000 buy-in capped off an exciting return to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure at Baha Mar in The Bahamas with a 1,014-player field and a $24,843,000 prize pool. Shylko chopped with German Max Menzel and Brazilian Philipe Pizzari, who also took home more than $2 million each.
1st Aliaksandr Shylko — $3,121,838
2nd Max Menzel — $2,859,990
3rd Philipe Pizzari — $2,524,871
4th Nacho Barbero — $1,551,300
5th Pedro Marques — $1,251,500
6th Niclas Thumm — $1,001,200
7th Thomas Eychenne — $801,000
8th Petar Kalev — $621,300
9th Andrei Boghean — $449,700
“I wanted to win so much,” Shylko said after hoisting the trophy. “It was the biggest moment in my life.”
The most surprising hand of the final table featured well-known professional Nacho Barbero, who entered the day as the chip leader. Barbero was distracted by his friends on the rail and didn’t see that Shylko opened the action with a raise, and he slid out a very large bet out of the small blind, intending to put the player in the big blind all in. To his shock, Shylko moved all in, and Barbero was forced to fold with 9-3.
Barbero ended up finishing fourth, earning $1,551,300.
The poker world now turns its attention to the capital of France, where EPT Paris kicks off on February 15 at the Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile — just two miles from the famed Eiffel Tower.
*Photo courtesy of PokerStars
