High-stakes pro Chris Brewer had built an unfortunate reputation for running poorly in big spots in live tournaments over the past few years.
From his famous bubble exit in Super High Roller Bowl VI to his viral defeat at the hands of Doug Polk in the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship (Event #8) during this 2023 World Series of Poker, Brewer has been known to suffer some excruciating exits in his career.
But after a pair of high-stakes victories on the EPT earlier this year and a 2023 poker resume littered with six-figure scores, his reputation for taking the sickest beats is fading into memory and maybe now, he’ll start being the one delivering them.
And there is no more remarkable example of this than what took place on Sunday night.
In a fortunate turn of events, it was Brewer doling out an incredible bad beat to tournament savant Artur Martirosyan to take home his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet and a career-high score of $5,293,556.
It was a heads-up cooler. The pair got all the chips in the middle, Martirosyan holding the dominating 
over Brewer’s 
. Brewer held the chip lead but was likely to drop back to a 2:1 disadvantage. The 
gave Martirosyan a 98% chance to win the hand.
The turn came the 
, giving Martirosyan backdoor flush possibilities as well but also providing Brewer some life to the gutshot straight – provided it wasn’t a spade. That left Brewer with just three sixes in the deck to win.
When the 
spiked the River, Brewer exploded, threw his hands into the air, and shouted, “Let’s f***ing go!” before catching himself and walking over and shaking hands with Martirosyan who received a $3,271,666 payday as the runner-up.
“I feel like I got so lucky,” Brewer said in his post-victory interview. “Everything today just felt like it was going to go my way.”
“This is the one I want to win more than any other,” Brewer continued. “Money, prestige, everything about it, it means so much. I’ve had so many tough ones – it feels really good.”
Brewer was overcome with emotion. His relief and joy were visible as his voice broke. And maybe that perhaps, in one big moment, a curse was finally broken.