It took a couple of extra years to pull off the second edition of the PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC), but in the end, it meant seven-figure paydays for six players on the final table of the storied event. From the first running of the PSPC in 2019, it instantly became an iconic game, with the first edition turning into the biggest $25k live poker game ever.
When the dust settled, Belarussian Aliaksandr Shylko was the player with all the chips and a first-place prize of more than $3 million. He had to battle against PokerStars Platinum Pass winner Max Menzel from Germany heads-up for the title. Both players and Brazilian bronze-medal winner Philipe Pizzari mitigated the variance a bit with a three-way deal that saw the massive final pay jumps shorten.
This 2023 edition of the PSPC was supposed to be at least the third running of the game. The initial rerun of the big event was planned for 2020, this time scheduled as part of EPT Barcelona. But reality sucked out on the river for that one when the COVID-19 pandemic forced a near-complete shutdown of the live poker scene for over a year.
Nearly all the major live tours shuttered their doors for most of 2020 and 2021, canceling tournaments around the globe, and PokerStars was among them, forcing a delay of the monumental game’s return. With the live scene going back to normal through 2022, the path was clear for the biggest $25k live game to make its epic comeback.
$14 Million for Final Nine Players
In the end, 1014 entries were recorded for the massive event, building a total prize pool of $24,843,000. That was a bit off the original record-setting total of 1039 entries and $26,455,500 in prizes, but still a very respectable prize pool.
It was big enough to mean that the final nine players would share in more than $14 million in total prizes, with six players guaranteed $1 million or more for their efforts. The prize pool was so big that 27 players ended up at least $100k richer when it was all said and done.
Argentinian showman Nacho Barbero was likely the highest-profile player to make the final table, and he brought the most enormous stack to the final day. He could only manage fourth in the end, with the title going to Aliaksandr Shylko from Belarus.
Chop The Variance
Once Barbero was out of the way, the final three players in the game evened out the variance by cutting a deal that guaranteed all three players at least $2.5 million no matter what happened. The Belarussian bagged about $3.1 million for the win, but $2.85 and $2.525 for second and third were still excellent scores for Max Menzel and Philipe Pizzari.
2023 PSPC Final Table Standings
| Place | Player | Country | Platinum Pass | Prizes (Deal) | Orig Payouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aliaksandr Shylko | Belarus | $3,121,838 | $4,053,200 | |
| 2 | Max Menzel | Germany | Yes | $2,859,990 | $2,542,300 |
| 3 | Philipe Pizzari | Brazil | $2,524,871 | $1,911,200 | |
| 4 | Nacho Barbero | Argentina | $1,551,300 | $1,551,300 | |
| 5 | Pedro Marques | Portugal | $1,251,500 | $1,251,500 | |
| 6 | Niclas Thumm | Germany | Yes | $1,001,200 | $1,001,200 |
| 7 | Thomas Eychenne | France | $801,000 | $801,000 | |
| 8 | Petar Kalev | Bulgaria | $621,300 | $621,300 | |
| 9 | Andrei Boghean | Romania | $449,700 | $449,700 |
Despite missing out on the deal, Barbero still secured $1.5 million for his efforts. Portugal’s Pedro Marques and Germany’s Niclas Thumm were the other new millionaires to emerge from this year’s PSPC.
While this year’s champion was not a Platinum Pass winner, two Pass holders found their way to the final table, with Menzel scoring second and Thumm banking just over $1 million for sixth.
More than $75 Million at PCA
It took a lot longer than initially planned and happened halfway around the world, but the second edition of the PSPC is finally in the books. It was just a tiny bit smaller than the inaugural edition of the PSPC, but the game made up around a third of the total for the bigger PCA festival.
The PSPC was the most enormous prize pool of the series, but there was a lot of other action across the 70 events. In total, more than $75 million in prizes were handed out in the Bahamas in 2023, with 14 games handing out prizes of more than $1 million. Those 14 prize pools accounted for nearly $70 million of the total series’ prizes.
Though it was originally planned for 2020 across the ocean in Barcelona, the second edition of the PSPC has finally come and gone. With nearly $25 million in prizes for the big game alone and more than $75 million across the entire week, it is clear that live poker is back in a big way.
Bummed you weren’t there? Sign up for PokerStars and start preparing for next year’s Platinum Pass Giveaways!
