Patrick Liang and Shant Marashlian are each $1,000,000 richer after they pulled the two top prizes in the $1,000 Mystery Millions event at the 2023 World Series of Poker.
This is the second year that the WSOP has held a Mystery Bounty tournament with a $1,000,000 top prize. This year’s edition drew 18,188 entries for a prize pool of $4,587,950. Matt Glantz was the big winner in 2022.
Marashlian was the first to pull a $1,000,000 prize, and one would expect that the random draw of a life-changing sum of money would change the winner’s demeanor, but Marashlian was cool as ice in his post-pull interview with PokerNews.
”I’m Thinking About Taxes Already”
“I’m just kind of calm. I’ve been telling everybody I’m in the zone. I’m trying to play, so I’m kind of focusing on a lot of things,” Marashlian said. The win adds a considerable amount to his career earnings of just over $200,000.
Marashlian isn’t taking much time to think about the million dollars. At least not yet. In fact, there’s some thought already of the burden that comes with winning.
“I don’t know if I’m being cynical, but I’m thinking about taxes already.”
But even before that, there is more work to be done for Marashlian.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with the money just yet because there’s a lot of poker to play.”
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Liang Goes Back-to-Back
A few moments after he found a $25,000 prize, Liang returned to the stage for another pull from the mystery bounty chest in the center of the Paris ballroom. His peel of the envelope showed a “$1,” and then six more zeros to give Liang the second and final $1,000,000 bounty of the $1,000 Mystery Millions event at the 2023 World Series of Poker.
Liang’s first order of business was to give $1,000 to everyone at his table.
“I think I’ve been very blessed to share. So, like, you know, I believe that what you do comes around,” he said in an interview with PokerNews after the dust settled from his fist-pumping win.
Most of Liang’s $300,000 in lifetime earnings came in Asia where he has built an impressive string of tournament results. His two previous cashes at the WSOP were in 2022 with small finishes in the $600 Deepstack and the $400 Colossus. The big prize is a boon of rungood for Liang after a couple of years of bad luck.
“I was very unlucky like two years back with many things I had. I had a brain tumor two years ago, so I was blind for a couple months. So, I mean, life was very tough for a while.”
The $1,000,000 bounty prizes may have been what players turned out for, but it can still be a tough moment to digest with more poker to play.
“Well, I’m still in the tournament right now, and I’ll be honest with you, I’m not really thinking straight. I’m still, like, shaking in all my friends there messaging.”
His friends and followers may not be able to believe it right now, but Liang had shared a feeling that something special was in the works.
“I told some people that something special was going to happen, but I didn’t know what, so I didn’t want to say what, but I talked to a lot of people said: I’m coming this year. Something’s going to happen.”
Liang was right, and while there is still more work to do, he already has his plans set for the rest of the summer.
“Go to dinner with my friends and celebrate maybe, and just keep playing poker. This is just the beginning of the series.”
Big Bounty Winners So Far
| Bounty Prize | Winner |
|---|---|
| $1,000,000 | Shant Marashlian |
| $1,000,000 | Patrick Liang |
| $500,000 | Klint Teveraei |
| $250,000 | Eric Baldwin |
| $100,000 | Noah Hovick |
| $100,000 | Kenneth Mapoy |
| $100,000 | |
| $50,000 | Nikolaos Angelou |
| $50,000 | Cassio Pisapia |
| $50,000 | Kevin Towler |
| $50,000 | Bill Murray |
| $50,000 |
The Mystery Millions event will return on Monday for the Day 3 finale. Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team for live updates and the latest news from the 2023 WSOP at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
Live Reporting Executive
Las Vegas-based PokerNews Live Reporting Executive, originally from Chicago, IL