The final six players in the 2023 PokerStars Players Championship have locked up over $1 million, with Argentinian pro Nacho Barbero running up a big lead after an incredibly strong finish to Day 4.
Barbero is one of only two players at this final table, along with Portugal’s Pedro Marques, who had over $1 million in lifetime live results coming into this tournament. For two others at this table – Germans Niclas Thumm and Max Menzel – Platinum Pass entries mean this already life-changing sum is pure profit.
Brazilian Philipe Pizzari and Belarusian Aliaksandr Shylko round out this crop of newly-minted millionaires.
They each fought their way through very strong competition on Day 4 of this tournament, which started with 52 players on Thursday afternoon. the playdown from 24 to 16 alone, Fedor Holz, Chris Moorman, Blake Bohn, and Nadya Magnus each bowed out. From 16 to the unofficial final table of 9, tournament heavyweights Jeremy Ausmus and Sam Grafton went out back to back in 13th and 12th, respectively.
The chip dynamics heading into Friday could be very interesting. Barbero turned the aggression up to 11 during the playdown from 9 to 6, and he’ll start Day 5 with almost 60% more chips than Shylko, Pizzari or Marques, who are bunched up from second to fourth. Menzel will have 20 big blinds. And Thumm, who started nine-handed play on a critically short stack, rolled up pay jumps worth over $550,000 without having to be all in and called during that stretch.
Play will resume at 12:30 p.m. local time in the Bahamas. Here’s what you need to know about each of these six finalists.
Seat 1: Philipe Pizzari
Chips: 11,975,000 (48 big blinds, 3/6)
Brazil
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $353,892
Biggest Lifetime Live Cash: $241,800, 26th, 2021 WSOP Main Event
Other Prominent Results: 4th, 2019 $1,100 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown No Limit Hold’em event, $40,695
Pizzari is one of two South American players at the PSPC main event final table, along with Barbero. He only has a handful of live tournament results to his credit, but the PSPC is the second massive big buy-in field that Pizzari has been able to navigate himself through. In 2021, Pizzari finished 26th in the WSOP main event. After swinging around the chip counts throughout the event, Pizzari hit his peak by knocking out Thomas Eychenne to bring Day 4 to a swift end.
End of Day 1 chip count: 210,500 (22/680)
End of Day 2 chip count: 965,000 (2/255)
End of Day 3 chip count: 925,000 (32/52)
https://twitter.com/flush11sback/status/1535302928537423874
Seat 2: Niclas Thumm
Chips: 1,800,000 (7 big blinds, 6/6)
Germany
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $415
Biggest Lifetime Live Cash: $259, SFr 150 recurring tournament, Grand Casino Liechtenstein
No, that’s not a typo. Heading into the PSPC main event, Thumm, an accountant by trade who streams under ‘flushiisback’ on Twitch, had a grand total of two live tournament cashes for $415. In an interview with the PokerStars Blog, Thumm estimated his average online buy-in at $12, with occasional satellites and shot-taking at $55 or $109 tournaments. He won a Dare2Stream contest from PokerStars through a competition for Twitch streamers to win his Platinum Pass, and despite being on a short stack he’s already had an incredible spin-up from a freeroll.
End of Day 1 chip count: 108,500 (207/680)
End of Day 2 chip count: 324,000 (62/255)
End of Day 3 chip count: 645,000 (40/52)
Seat 3: Nacho Barbero
Chips: 19,325,000 (77 big blinds, 1/6)
Argentina
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $5,432,758
Biggest Lifetime Live Cash: $870,082, 1st, 2010 £20,000 EPT London High Roller
Other Prominent Results: 1st, 2022 $7,000 No Limit Hold’em Super Turbo Bounty for $587,520; 1st, 2010 $3,700 LAPT Punta del Este Main Event for $279,330; 1st, 2010 $2,700 LAPT Lima Main Event for $250,000
Barbero wielded his big stack like a bludgeon once the PSPC main event got down to nine players, and after his button shove with 
picked off Andrei Boghean’s 
big blind call-off, Barbero opened a wide range and kept making big hands. He enters this final table with the most chips and the most major tournament experience, having won a WSOP bracelet and multiple LAPT main events among his lengthy poker resume.
End of Day 1 chip count: 88,500 (295/680)
End of Day 2 chip count: 340,000 (47/255)
End of Day 3 chip count: 975,000 (30/52)
Seat 4: Max Menzel
Chips: 5,025,000 (20 big blinds, 5/6)
Germany
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $103,413
Biggest Lifetime Live Cash: $45,859, 4th, 2018 HK$3,000 Macau Millions Main Event
Other Prominent Results: 1st, 2022 ₱ 22,000 Road to PSPC Manila Main Event for $44,983
Menzel won his PSPC Platinum Pass as part of his tournament prize for winning the Road to PSPC Main Event in Manila, Philippines. The 37-year-old, who works for a German logistics company and travels the world, spent nine years living in China during which time he played cash games in Macau. He and his family now call Singapore home. He’s already earned 10 times his previous live tournament earnings at the PSPC after winning a tournament with a buy-in equating to just over $400, and Menzel stands to make another $250,000 pay jump if he can outlast the short-stacked Thumm.
End of Day 1 chip count: 151,000 (83/680)
End of Day 2 chip count: 130,000 (2/255)
End of Day 3 chip count: 1,015,000 (28/52)
Seat 5: Aliaksandr Shylko
Chips: 12,200,000 (49 big blinds, 2/6)
Belarus
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $423,369
Biggest Lifetime Live Cash: $106,769, 4th, 2021 €1,700 WSOP Circuit Rozvadov Main Event
Other Prominent Results: 4th, 2019 €1,700 WSOP Circuit Rozvadov Main Event for $86,798; 1st, 2022 Eureka Poker Tour €2,200 High Roller for $80,853
Shylko is the only player among the final six who started in the top half of the final 52, and he did a fair amount of the dirty work in the playdown from 16 to 6 with three eliminations to his credit. Prior to this PSPC, Shylko’s greatest successes happened in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, with a win and two WSOP Circuit final tables to his credit. He also managed to cash in both the WSOP Main Event and WSOP Europe Main Event in 2022.
End of Day 1 chip count: 94,000 (265/680)
End of Day 2 chip count: 450,000 (22/255)
End of Day 3 chip count: 1,520,000 (13/52)
Seat 6: Pedro Marques
Chips: 10,475,000 (42 big blinds, 4/6)
Portugal
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $2,953,467
Biggest Lifetime Live Cash: $813,371, 4th, 2018 €5,300 EPT Barcelona Main Event
Other Prominent Results: 1st, 2019 €10,300 EPT Barcelona No Limit Hold’em Event for $366,578; 2017 3rd, €2,200 PokerStars National High Roller for $352,775
Like Shylko, most of Marques’ successes all happened in one place – in Marques’ case, Barcelona. He won a €10,000 side event and final tabled three other events including the 2018 EPT Barcelona main event over a three-year stretch – making up about two-thirds of his lifetime live tournament earnings. Marques picked up back-to-back eliminations of James Mendoza in 11th and Marcello Del Grosso in 10th to build up his stack and bring the action down to a single table.
End of Day 1 chip count: 111,000 (194/680)
End of Day 2 chip count: 125,000 (183/255)
End of Day 3 chip count: 1,200,000 (20/52)