After an up-and-down ride at the final table, Matthew Higgins navigated his way through a fast and furious final day in Event #63: $1,000 Mystery Millions No-Limit Hold’em to take home a cool $1,000,000 first place prize and claim his first gold World Series of Poker bracelet and largest career cash to date, per The Hendon Mob.
The Mystery Millions attracted 22,811 entries, the fourth largest field in WSOP history, and generated a prize pool of $16,919,343.
Twenty-four of those players returned to battle it out in Day 3 for the title, with Higgins entering heads-up play against Dominik Panka with a near 3:2 chip lead, before closing out victory under the lights of the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
“I can’t describe it, just overwhelmed, feeling very blessed,” Higgins said of his win. “I just historically run so bad in the summer like, run bad in this building, but hey, then everything changed.”
$1,000 Mystery Millions Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matthew Higgins | United States | $1,000,000 |
| 2 | Dominik Panka | Poland | $640,000 |
| 3 | Leo Lombardozzi | France | $490,000 |
| 4 | Thomas Hall | United Kingdom | $375,000 |
| 5 | Brian Smith | United States | $290,000 |
| 6 | Vinay Boob | India | $225,000 |
| 7 | David “ODB” Baker | United States | $176,000 |
| 8 | Imre Makranyi | United States | $140,000 |
| 9 | Edward Pak | United States | $110,003 |
Winner’s Reaction
Higgins is no newcomer to the poker scene, as could be seen from the huge following on his rail. He has numerous WSOPC rings to his name and, prior to today’s win, close to $3,000,000 in live earnings, with his previous largest career cash being just over $222,000.
“This morning when I woke up, I just knew (I would win)” commented Higgins. “This is a huge confidence builder. Like I said, I’m in probably on a $300,000 downswing since I won the Choctaw Main Event in November, so it’s huge. Massive.”
Higgins thanked his massive rail for the support during the final table and added, “My fiancé, she misses a lot of this stuff to take care of this stuff at home, so I can do this, obviously do this for my kids.”
Higgins’ Journey to the Bracelet
From the returning players, several big names bit the dust before the unofficial final table of ten was formed. Ren Lin was sent to the rail in 23rd place, running into the quads of Imre Makranyi. Narcis Nedelcu was not too far behind Lin in 19th place.
Play slowed down with the unofficial final table approaching and all the major bounty scalps having been claimed. After about three hours of play, the final table was formed when Christopher Basile was eliminated as the unofficial final table bubble boy.
Higgins came into the unofficial final table as the chip leader, but Panka was a close second.
First to be sent home in tenth place was Joey Weissman. He jammed with King-Jack suited into Leo Lombardozzi’s Ace-Ten suited, and even though Wiseman hit two pair, Lombardozzi hit a better two pair.
Panka pulled close to Higgins for the chip lead when he sent Edward Pak home in ninth place, with his pocket Kings holding against Pak’s Ace-ten.
Panka and Higgins battled it out for the chip lead throughout the final table, and it looked like Higgins was going to pull away after he sent Makranyi to the rail in eighth place.
25K Fantasy Draft player and all-around poker legend David “ODB” Baker was unlucky to be sent home in seventh place when his jam with ace-seven was outdrawn by Panka’s Queen-Jack.
Quickly following Baker to the cage was the start of the day chip leader Vinay Boob when his jam with ace-King couldn’t improve against Thomas Hall’s pocket sixes, and Vinay was sent to the rail in sixth place.
Brian Smith was not too far behind Vinay in fifth place, calling off Panka’s small blind jam in the big blind with king-three and not improving against Panka’s ace-six suited.
Panka steamed into a massive chip lead when he cracked Hall’s aces to send him home in fourth place in a brutal fashion. Panka’s jam with queen-six suited ran into Hall’s pocket aces but Panka rivered a flush to send Hall packing.
Higgins got a double from Panka to put things on more of an even keel when his king-queen suited held against Panka’s jack-nine suited.
Higgins then retook the chip lead from Panka when he sent Lombardozzi to the cage as the bronze place finisher. Higgins’ pocket tens held against Lombardozzi’s jam with ace-queen.
After taking the lead, Higgins steamrolled the heads-up match against Panka and never really gave him a chance.
The battle lasted less than ten hands, and it came to an end when Higgins limped with aces and allowed Panka to hit a pair before all the chips went in to get his hands on his first WSOP bracelet along with a payout slip for a cool $1,000,000, not forgetting the final $10,000 bounty that he collected.
